All About Eva

I’m waiting for the first Saint Paul DFLer to chuckle and say “Hah!  We pwn this town!”

I’m ready.  I’ll respond (with a nod to School Board candidate Chris Conner), “Yep.  You own 42% tax increases, sclerotic services, the biggest public school achievement gap in the country, graduation rates south of 50-50, 4,200 vacant houses, rising crime and 30% vacancies downtown.”

“Congratufrigginlations!  The bad news is, you have to try to fix your own mess for the next four years.”

Some people see a 30+ point loss for Eva Ng last night.  I see something different.

In 2001, the Saint Paul GOP had to grit its teeth, say “Randy Kelly is a DFLer, but he’s as close as we’re gonna get to something who believes what we do”; compared to Jay Benanav, the longtime Eastside DFLer was the second coming of Reagan.  (Four years later, we had to do the same; the flood of anti-Bush derangement scuppered the campaign; Ng did better than Kelly did four years ago).

The Saint Paul City GOP could have probably fit on the dance floor at Fabulous Fern’s back then.

In 1997, we had a Republican – Norm Coleman.  He won – but the Republican Party in Saint Paul had as much to do with that as the “Reform Party” had to do with Jesse Ventura winning the governor’s office the next year; the DFL kicked Coleman out, and the incumbent came to, and pretty much was, the GOP in Saint Paul.

And four years before that, in 1993?  Norm Coleman was a DFLer.  Compared to Bob Long, he wasn’t nuts – quite the conservative, in fact.  But no GOP candidate got within a mile of the final election.

1989?  1985?  1981?  1977?  GOP?  What GOP?

We didn’t win.  But we got an actual Republican on the ballot for the first time that I can remember (other than Coleman, who got on through the back door, and thank God for it).  It’s the best this party’s done in the run for mayor.

And we didn’t capture any school board positions – but we got three guys on the ballot.  It’s a start.

From small things big things one day come!

15 thoughts on “All About Eva

  1. Realistically, Eva didn’t have a chance to win; she was running as a conservative Republican in a town where the leftmost of the DFL has a strangehold. About the best she could do is point out the choking sounds that are the result of that stranglehold, and she did that with grace and dignity.

  2. As someone who lives outside of Saint Paul, I am angry that Saint Paul again chose Chris “The Beggar” as Mayor.

  3. Isn’t it sad that the lilly white DFL’rs in St Paul weren’t open minded enough to vote for a woman of color. You think we are in 2009, but in St. Paul, race and gender issues are the predominant reason that the straight, white guy with prominent family connections wins. Mitch and other open-minded types who voted for Ng should take and post pictures holding signs saying “We’re Sorry” and tilt their heads in shame (ala Tim Blair) for their bigot neighbors.

  4. Selfores, I enjoy using that line….that the DFL refuses to acccept a person of color….see Obe Sium (sp) vs Betty. That they aren’t racially mature enough to vote for a more qualified candidate, and instead chose the good-ole-boy.

  5. The next time some Saint Paul moonbat squirts tears about LGA, this election will serve as a nice, steaming cup o’ STFU and hand it over.

  6. “We didn’t win.”

    Maybe not today, but there are plenty of tomorrows to come.

    “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.” – Winston Churchill

  7. Unlike regressive, intolerant places like St. Paul; progressive, tolerant Queens looked past party and relgious labels and elected a Republican who is a pagan. Formerly-frequent commenter ‘Angryclown’ resides on planet Manhattan. Perhaps he will now move to Queens to be with open-minded citizens rather than being stuck with the mind numbed leftist robots that are his current neighbors.
    http://reason.com/blog/2009/11/04/pagan-republican-wins-in-queen

  8. “Score one for tolerance. Sure, it’s just the city council. And sure, it’s New York. But this guy is a full-on Pagan, for Odin’s sake, and he just got elected to a pretty important public office. As a Republican.”

    UFFDA……..

  9. I met Eva a couple of years ago at BPOU training,, she is very articulate and intelligent.. and I thank her for putting herself out there for us…
    Its very sad that a candidate of this caliber had to stand at the podium at the state convention and ask for help and money….. As much as Id like to see her take on Betty I wouldnt blame her if she never ran again.

  10. Nice post, Mitch! I like your positive spin on this race.

    Eva is a bright, intelligent woman and she will have her chance to do great things for St. Paul.

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