Help Wanted
By Mitch Berg
I think this is going to be a humdinger of an election. Alongside my predictions from this morning – GOP holds both chambers of the Legislature – I think Chip Cravaack will stave off Rick Nolan, setting the stage for what could be an epic realignment in Minnesota politics.
Beyond that? I think Lee Byberg has laid the groundwork for what could be – let’s be conservative, here – a result that is unexpectedly good, and disconcerting for Collin Peterson. And I think it would have happened even without his improvident slander of pro-lifers.
And while I think it’ll take a complete economic collapse and mass civil disorder to make Minneapolis anything but a DFL playground, I think Chris Fields is going to surprise people with his results on November 7. He’s run a masterful campaign; in a just world, there would be no contest; in a district that wasn’t a one-party thug-ocracy, the statesmanly Fields would make short work of the whiny, petulant Ellison.
As to the 4th CD?
Here’s where we need your help.
Redistricting shaved Betty McCollum’s advantage down, but it didn’t gut it. The 4th Congressional District was as blue as the Oceana Ministry of Truth’s uniforms before redistricting, of course; and it absorbed a lot of purple territory in Stillwater and Woodbury (as well as a few bright-red districts full of Real Americans up in Grant Township).
Which is a huge improvement, don’t get me wrong.
And so Tony Hernandez has been fighting this campaign to win. And along with that, there’s been a solid effort by a lot of candidates at the legislative level. I think we’ve got a solid shot at four or five new seats in the legislature, either flips or open seats, as well as defending the seats we already do have.
And – this is huge – I think Blake Huffman, Dennis Dunnigan and Sue Jeffers have a solid shot at getting on the Ramsey County Commission. And if that happens, the Ramco Commission will have a conservative majority!
If there’s a habit from the Old Fourth that we need to put to rest, it’s the idea that Saint Paul and Ramsey County Republicans only turn out when they think it matters – competitive Presidential, Gubernatorial and Senate races. The media has done a painstaking, and fraudulent, job of trying to convince them that the Presidential and Senate races are foregone conclusions; they do it to try to convince Republicans not to show up at the polls.
This is where you come in.
The Hernandez Campaign is organizing a phone bank – along with several other campaigns and BPOUs in the 4th CD – to Get Out The Vote, starting tonight and running up until the election.
And we need people to sign up by clicking here and picking a time
Whether you’re a Paleocon, a Neocon, a Ronulan, a LIbertarian, or even an old-school Eastside Kennedy Democrat who’s had enough of the current regime, this is your chance to help convince people that this election makes a difference, and to help cajole them to the polls.
The fact is, Romney has a chance. Tony Hernandez has a shot at shocking the world – perhaps by winning, perhaps by showing the state that the Fourth is not a safe sinecure and convincing Betty that a nice cushy six-figure gig with a non-profit is a lot less work in 2014. And if we stick the landing on all five (or more!) of the legislative opportunities and the Ramco Commission, this will have an immediate and lasting effect on politics at the state level. .
October 26th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
Sadly I must predict that the GOP only holds one of the Legislative branches but that is enough to stop Governor Dayton’s $40 billion proposed budget. A state that will back President Obama 54-46 and elected Governor No in the GOP sweep of 2010 can do no less. Our Congressional delegation stays the same except that the 8th District returns to it’s rightful party and Mr. Nolan. At least he won’t be around for decades and the seat will have to be defended. Representative Cravaack really had no chance against the outside money, but the complaints against Citizens United ring hollow here.
Surprised that Amy doesn’t have a larger Obama profile. She needs his re-election to have a chance at Ginsberg’s Supreme Court seat and to assure a Republican victory in 2016 so that her 3rd term election is in an off year for the majority party. That way she is a sitting Senator (in the minority party) who can make the needed votes and speeches to satisfy the base while riding the anti-Republican wave to her 2020 Presidential run.
Franken, however, needs a Romney win to have any chance at surviving the 2014 election as the country will be in an even worse state after 6 years of President Obama.
October 29th, 2012 at 10:15 am
I think if Fields gets any more than 35% to Ellison’s 65%, it will be a miracle. Ellison beat Demos last time 81-19% I believe. While Fields will pull some of the black vote from N Mpls, there are still far too many partisan Dem voters (who, as you have said in the past, would vote for a set up wind-up chattering teeth as long as it had a D after its name) for any Republican to have a chance in CD5. I agree, it will take total catastrophic economic collapse and civic unrest (including bloodshed and bullets fired) in order to change CD5 to an R district, primarily because of the complete blue color that Mpls has made itself into the last 40 years. To top it off, Ellison has 50% of the favored protected class categories covered, so that gives shallow D voters who care about such things, even more reason to forgive and/or ignore his whiny petulance.
Ellison: You scumbag.
Berg: Rule #7, Keith…you just keep proving my axiom.