And with all the prelims out of the way, we’re up to the grand finale of this, one of Minnesota Politics’ greatest traditions; the top ten conservatives that Minnesota liberals hate!<\/p>\n
And here we go:<\/p>\n
10. Laura Brod (2010 Ranking: 14)<\/strong>: Brod – a former legislator, and one of the sharpest, most articulate politicians in the state, is lurking in the wings for her shot at something. \u00a0And when she does, she’s going to rock the place. \u00a0And when conservative women are about to rock, liberals salute them – with boundless, \u00a0condescending, sometimes unhinged ire.<\/p>\n 9. John Kline (2010 Ranking: 15)<\/strong>: \u00a0Redistricting has cut John Kline’s fortunes back a tad. \u00a0Instead of winning the 2nd CD by 30 points, he’ll win by 12. \u00a0It was only 12 years or so ago that the 2nd was Tim Penny’s safe sinecure. \u00a0And in Minnesota, only Liberals are supposed to have sinecures.<\/p>\n 7. Keith Downey<\/strong>: Downey’s a fairly junior legislator – but during the shutdown, he made “Govenor” Dayton look like the gabbling marionette he is. \u00a0As his nominator, my staff blogger First Ringer, noted, “During the shutdown, the unions called their protests “Downeyville.” Not bad for a 2nd term legislator. Expect his name to rocket up this list if he runs for governor in 2014 as expected”. No argument here.<\/p>\n 8. Kurt Zellers<\/strong>: Speaker of the House – what some DFLers call “The Kelliher Seat”. \u00a0And he’s Conservative. \u00a0Say no more.<\/p>\n 6. Erik Paulsen (2010 Ranking: 21)<\/strong>: \u00a0What do you call someone who took a “purple” district and rode it into one of the safest GOP seats in the state? \u00a0Hated! \u00a0But nothing like…<\/p>\n 5<\/strong>. Chip Cravaack<\/strong>: \u00a0…someone who “steals” one of “their” s<\/em>afest sinecures from them. The DFL wants Cravaack defeated more than they want tofu at Festivus. \u00a0By far the strongest debut in this year’s poll, from nowhere (naturally – when the 2010 poll was going on, nobody had heard of Cravaack, even in the GOP, outside the 8th CD).<\/p>\n 4. Jason Lewis (2010 Ranking: 7)<\/strong>: \u00a0Lewis, perhaps more than any other pundit, upset the “great thing” the DFL had going for so many years. \u00a0He’s the father of modern conservatism in Minnesota – and clearly that’s neither been forgotten nor forgiven.<\/p>\n 3. Tom Emmer (2010 Ranking: 3)<\/strong>: \u00a0They had to outspend him 3:1 to beat him by 8,000 votes, even with a dysfunctional GOP behind him. \u00a0In so doing, they so exposed the incompetence and (likely) massive fraud in the DFL-controlled voting system that it set the wheels in motion to reform the entire toxic mess. \u00a0And Tom is still kicking their asses. \u00a0No wonder he’s holding steady at #3.<\/p>\n 2. Katherine Kersten (2010 Ranking: 4)<\/strong>: Liberals love their women to be the PC equivalent of barefoot, preggers and in the kitchen. \u00a0Kersten broke the Blue Ceiling at the Strib – the first columnist to be an “Out” conservative, in a bullpen that has always called Dave Durenberger a right-winger. \u00a0She rankled the establishment at the Strib, and in Twin CIties liberalism at large. \u00a0They hate being rankled.<\/p>\n 1. Michele Bachmann (2010 Ranking: 1)<\/strong>: \u00a0Not even close. \u00a0More votes than the next two finishers put together. \u00a0Not only that, but of everyone that voted for her, all but one put her in first place – for a passion index a point and a half higher than the next competitor. \u00a0Representative Bachmann is the perfect bete noir <\/em>storm; sharp, articulate (if occasionally a bit shoot-from-the-hip), attractive, female, paleoconservative, charismatic, smarter than they are (whether they admit it or not), and absolute master of all she politically surveys. \u00a0By holding, Thatcher-like, to rock-solid principle, she was a bright spot in two dark GOP elections; she’s persevered to win her last race by 12 points, and likely win her next one by 20. \u00a0And if there’s anything a Minnesota liberal hates more than a conservative woman, it’s a conservative woman who walks over them without breaking a sweat at their most depraved attacks. \u00a0More than that? \u00a0Their hatred only seems to make her stronger.<\/p>\n And in being so, she teaches all conservatives in this purple miasma a lesson; stake out your principles, explain them clearly, and stand by ’em.<\/p>\n And in that lies the doom of the DFL, if there is any future to be had for this state.<\/p>\n And they do very very much hate that.<\/p>\n ———-<\/p>\n Thanks for voting, and stay tuned; we’ve only two years away from the next episode of “Who Do Minnesota Liberals Hate?”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And with all the prelims out of the way, we’re up to the grand finale of this, one of Minnesota Politics’ greatest traditions; the top ten conservatives that Minnesota liberals hate! 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