I hear you, conservatives.  After years and years of giving time and money to the Minnesota and national GOP, you felt that in some respects the party left you.  I’ve heard the criticisms, and I agree with many of them (Bush did spend too much; the GOP became the party of slightly less bigger government; the GOP supported the likes of Ron Erhard for years) and disagree with a few (d’ya think Norm Coleman’s ANWR or ethanol subsidy votes were more important than Obama having a supermajority?)

And so many of you sat things out in 2006 and 2008.  For some of you, it was a practical thing; you’d been volunteering in every election since 1998, or earlier; your families, jobs, and personal lives had paid the price.  For others, it was that feeling of rejection.

But a week from tonight is the day you can start taking your party back.  It’s Caucus night in Minnesota on Tuesday, February 2 – a week from tonight.

And there, your votes matter, both for straw poll results and, most importantly, by electing delegates to go to your “BPOU” convention (usually equivalent to your House district or county); these, in turn, endorse State House and State Candidates, and elect delegates to your congressional district convention; there, you endorse candidates for the US House, and send delegates to the State Convention.  Where you endorse candidates for the big races; Senate (but not this year), Governor, and so on.

The kicker is this; while all politics is a matter of patience and persistence, groups of activists can make a huge difference the caucuses.  Two years ago, the Ron Paul campaign’s legions of highly-motivated activists made a huge dent in the Minnesota GOP; hopefully some of them will stay involved – and serve as an example to the rest of you.  Here, your vote matters to your party.

I hope you can join us there!

“But where’s do I go, Mitch?”

The MNGOP has it all right here.

You can also follow, and post on, your caucus on Twitter using the #MNGOPCaucus hashtag.  You can also add an MNGOP Caucus Twitter Ribbon to your avatar (I refuse to call it a “Twibbon”, I’m sorry) at this link, if you’re so inclined.

At any rate – if you don’t show up at a caucus on February 2, I don’t wanna year you complaining about the MN GOP’s course.