{"id":29138,"date":"2012-07-24T12:10:05","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T17:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=29138"},"modified":"2020-12-21T05:30:03","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T11:30:03","slug":"paul-supporters-your-best-days-could-still-be-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=29138","title":{"rendered":"Paul Supporters: Your Best Days Could Still Be Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last few weeks, since Ron Paul got eliminated from the running for the nomination, I’ve seen not a few Minnesota Ron Paul supporters waxing mildly suicidal that their guy didn’t pack the gear to go the distance in the primaries and caucuses. \u00a0Paul nabbed three states, if I recall correctly, including Minnesota – giving them what I think it was Shot In The Dark’s <\/em>associate editor First Ringer once called (I’m paraphrasing closely, I think, maybe) that delusion that you could pull it off that’s so well-known to insurgent dark horse candidates from Obi Sium to Ross Perot.<\/p>\n

Unlike most states, the Paul camp is running a candidate in a high-profile race here in Minnsota. \u00a0Unfortunately, Kurt Bills is a low-profile candidate – a freshman State Rep from Rosemount – running against the pleasant, innocuous, mistake-averse Amy Klobuchar and the media Praetorian Guard that shields her from inadvertent controversy. \u00a0The poll numbers show it. In a just world, Bills would be competitive – but in Minneosta, Republicans have to make their own justice. \u00a0 Not to say long shots have no shot – ask Chip Cravaack or (shudder) Jesse Ventura. \u00a0Work like hell for Kurt Bills – I know I will do my best too. \u00a0But Hollywood money, a decade of name recognition, and stifling\u00a0media\u00a0pollyannaism are a tough row to hoe, and the polls are, at the moment, showing it.<\/p>\n

And that’s why if you’re one of the flood of Ron Paul supporters in the Fourth and Fifth CDs that so stirred up the GOP’s pot last spring, I’d like your attention.<\/p>\n

Because you do <\/em>have a chance to shock the world.<\/p>\n

Tony Hernandez in the Fourth CD is one guy whose platform is completely amenable to any \u00a0Ron Paul supporter. \u00a0He’s running in a tough district, sure enough…<\/p>\n

…but it’s a district that is winnable. \u00a0Betty McCollum is a Zombie Democrat; she sleepwalks to 70-30 victories every two years pretty much because she’s a DFLer. \u00a0But redistricting made the Fourth much <\/em>more Republican-friendly, adding Stillwater, Woodbury and Afton to the mix. \u00a0It’s not the same district it was even two years ago.<\/p>\n

And here’s the deal – people just don’t care about Betty that much. \u00a0Fewer and fewer people turn out to vote for her every two years; I know DFLers who haven’t voted for her in a looong time. \u00a0She’s an empty skirt; when she give a speech, she’s like a substitute teacher who’s straining to control a class, and failing. \u00a0Her crowning “achievement” in a district with plummeting home values, a metro area school system with among the worst achievement gaps in the country, and unemployment lagging the rest of the state? \u00a0Saving us from the scourge of military ads in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Oh, there’s method to the madness; Representative McCollum sees that redistricting has changed her district, and is looking for a singular “Achievement” to show she’s “fiscally conservative” (cutting a tiny little fleck of spending, against the trillions in deficits she’s voted to create) while not cheesing off her base (she’s cutting military <\/em>spending, although only the most innocuous kind).<\/p>\n

She knows that there is a more conservative current in her district than she’s seen before.<\/p>\n

In part? \u00a0She knows you, the Paul supporters, are out there. \u00a0And she’s trying to placate you.<\/p>\n

So here’s the deal. \u00a0If you, the mass of Ron Paul supporters who swept into power in the Fourth, can pull together and each get a friend or two to come to the polls this November and vote Hernandez, you can do something for Ron Paul’s movement – including its future, Rand Paul – that Ron Paul himself couldn’t do: win a significant, Congressional office with someone not named “Paul”.<\/p>\n

And if you are Marianne Stebbins, the organizer from Excelsior who engineered the epic statewide Ron Paul sweep in the caucuses, and were able to get Ron Paul himself to throw down on Hernandez’ behalf – what the heck, maybe even come here and seriously campaign for Tony as well as Kurt Bills – it’d sure put a wind in your movement’s sails, now, wouldn’t it?<\/p>\n

Because antics in Tampa notwithstanding, whether you’re a recent grad who came out for Paul last spring, or a shadowy organizer from the Lake, you gotta know that it’s only by putting candidates in office<\/em> that you actually earn real, long-term relevance.<\/p>\n

And Betty McCollum is so freaking beatable<\/em>, why on earth not do it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last few weeks, since Ron Paul got eliminated from the running for the nomination, I’ve seen not a few Minnesota Ron Paul supporters waxing mildly suicidal that their guy didn’t pack the gear to go the distance in the primaries and caucuses. \u00a0Paul nabbed three states, if I recall correctly, including Minnesota – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,30],"tags":[208],"class_list":["post-29138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaign-12","category-liberty","tag-a-klo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29138"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76175,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29138\/revisions\/76175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}