Monday, October 09, 2006

Minnesota's Mrs. Right?

DFL campaign literatureThe DFL sent this direct mail lit piece to SD 43 homes over the weekend. The cover says, "The last thing we needed was another 'Yes' man in St. Paul."

It struck me as odd that this piece, sent by the party of political correctness and gender sensitivity, doesn't acknowledge that two women ran in the 2005 election that sent Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) to Saint Paul. Oh well, campaign literature from the state and national level in both parties tends to be a little weird.

Incumbents generally have the luxury of sending positive messages that say, everything's OK, a vote for me is a safe vote, which this lit piece does well. Challengers must make the case for change, holding incumbents accountable to their records, energizing the base without turning off independents with an overly negative message.

The DFL's piece for Bonoff even appeals to the Republicans in SD 43 with a message that "Bonoff has shown the courage and the independence to do what's right for our families — even when it puts her at odds with her own Party [emphasis added]." With a wink and a nudge, the piece's tagline is "She's doing what's right for Minnesota [emphasis in the original]."

As Jesse Ventura might say, "She portrays herself and tries to call herself 'Mrs. Right,' Minnesota's Mrs. Right." That's a smart tactic for someone who has supported such wrong-headed ideas as I-394 light rail and the new $1.1 billion Hennepin County sales tax without voter approval.

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2 comments:

lloydletta said...

I'll agree with you on the Stadium Tax - and disagree on 394 light rail.

Scholar said...

MnPASS was a $10 million (with an "m") project, 20% of which was funded by the service vendor. User satisfaction is high, traffic flow is improved, and the project is expected to become self-funding and then generate excess revenue for other maintenance and transit. Why kill the MnPASS golden goose with a light rail turkey?