I went to the Minnesota GOP convention in Rochester over the weekend.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere could hardly have been more different than the 2012 convention, with its factions and intrigues and cliques full of giggly partisans with their secret handshakes and code words.<\/p>\n
This year, the code word was “pragmatism”; the GOP base is sick to death of losing.<\/p>\n
Dahlbmentum<\/strong>: \u00a0The big shock out of the gate? \u00a0The collapse of the Julianne Ortman campaign. \u00a0She fell under the statutory 20% minimum by the 5th ballot (candidates that don’t have 10% on ballots 2-4, and more than 20% after ballot 5, are dropped from contention).<\/p>\n But St. Louis county commissioner Chris Dahlberg came out swinging, leading the balloting from the first ballot through the end of Friday evening.<\/p>\n Friends from greater Minnesota tell me it could only have been a surprise to people in the Metro; Dahlberg has been working outstate delegates constantly and intensely. \u00a0And I think he was a protest vote as well; a backlash against the impression that McFadden – who had said he’d go to a primary if he didn’t get endorsed – was the hand-picked candidate of Norm Coleman and Vin Weber.<\/p>\n If you have any friends who were delegates, they will no doubt tell you all about it today, yawning as they do; the balloting continued until 2AM, with Dahlberg leading by 54-45 when the convention voted to suspend voting until 9AM Saturday; people were getting pretty exhausted.<\/p>\n It may have kept Mike McFadden in the endorsement chase. \u00a0We heard that the McFadden people had called out no-show delegates to get to Rochester, and with the morning’s first ballot the race was nearly even; by Ballot 10, McFadden and Dahlberg had switched positions from the night before, with McFadden in the fifties. \u00a0Around 1:30 in the afternoon – as the Northern Alliance was on the air – Dahlberg conceded.<\/p>\n So the Senate balloting ended half a day later than expected.<\/p>\n Maneuvering<\/strong>: \u00a0Then came the governor race.<\/p>\n The conventional wisdom called it a three-way race between Jeff Johnson, Marty Seifert and Dave Thompson (with Scott Honour and Kurt Zellers skipping the convention and going straight to the primary).<\/p>\n The first ballot reflected this; Johnson had a slight lead, but the top three were bunched in the low-thirties to high twenties. \u00a0Rob Farnsworth dropped out after Ballot 2 (he fell under 10%) and sent his delegates to Johnson (to whom it looked like most of them had already gone).<\/p>\n Ballot 3 saw Johnson extending his lead, with Seifert and Thompson falling further behind.<\/p>\n Here’s where it gets complicated.<\/p>\n After ballot 3, Dave Thompson withdrew and, in a superbly crafted concession speech, told his delegates to go to Johnson – strictly because Johnson and pledged to abide by their endorsement – and urged Seifert’s delegates to think hard about Seifert’s position (he’s always said he’d go to a primary if he wasn’t endorsed).<\/p>\n Not long after, Seifert took to the stage, and released his delegates, saying many of them had long drives home.<\/p>\n