Last night, I went to the District 54 “Grill the Candidates” picnic, at Central Park in Roseville.
I didn’t get a count of the turnout, but it was packed, especially gven that it rained off and on for the first couple of hours. So yeah – great turnout!
Maybe it was the hot dogs. Then again, maybe it was the candidates; all the gubernatorial candidates, I believe; there are a total of nine, although I caught the speeches by Andersoon, Emmer, Kolls and Seifert, not to mention Laura Brod, whom rumor says is thinking of re-entering the race. Of course, there was a who’s who of other GOP celebs there; Tony Sutton, Michael Brodkorb, Barb Davis-White, Ed Matthews, Sue Jeffers, Enge and a slew of others.
The best part? Listening to the candidates, it sounds like they get it; “bipartisanship” is a trap; the GOP’s way forward it to provide an alternative to the DFL’s spendthrift ways.
And people are feeling energized in a way they were not for the past two years. I observed many times during the ’08 campaign; the GOP runs on volunteers, and after “must-win” full-court pushes in ’98, ’00, ’02, ’04 and’06, the habitual volunteers were completely exhausted. Between that and the nomination of the fairly politically uninspiring John McCain, the mojo was gone.
If the rest of the party is feeling the way people sounded last night, the vacation is over.
This is going to be a fun year.
Must have been weird to see so many dining room tables at a picnic.
We had a similar event on Monday in Plymouth. Turn out far exceeded our expectations.
http://sd43gop.com/images/stories/sd43%20meet%20n%20greet_small.jpg
Kohls not Kolls. Maybe you are thinking Jay K. Mr. Rebecca from the KTLK?
I heard even Big MAK showed up. Not to speak, just to eat some hotdogs.
Margaret, Mr. Rebecca is Reusse’s sidekick in the morning on 1500. They’re okay for a couple of liberals.
It’s been awhile since I’ve listened to weekday morning radio.
Mitch,
Fantastic evening! Thanks for being a part of it. Our crowd estimate was 300 based upon returned surveys and plates. This was good enough to convince some candidates to cancel other scheduled events. As one of them told me, “You don’t leave a party full of pretty girls to go look for pretty girls!”
I think you’ll be seeing events like this more often. Lisa, Mike and I will be working hard to get our template to other corners of the state.
Thanks again!
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