Freedom: a better idea

There was a time in this country when we kids grew up learning about American innovators. Ford's Lee Iacocca had "a better idea." He captured the youth market with the Mustang, then when Ford scoffed at his minivan, he took it to Chrysler. Decades later, both products and their imitators are still going strong. The race to the moon inspired us and forever changed our life on Earth. Every year, American inventors earn more patents than inventors from all other countries combined.

Today, nanny-state socialist environmentalists who are pushing the compact florescent lamp (CFL), and the lawmakers and bureaucrats who love them, ironically sweep the dangers of the mercury and lead solder in each of the bulbs under the rug (figuratively speaking). These are some of the same people behind the effort to rid our medicine cabinets of mercury fever thermometers, rid our homes of thermostats with mercury switches, warn against consuming too much mercury-laced tuna, and lobby hospitals and clinics to eliminate vaccines preserved with thimerosol (which contains mercury). They justify other shortcomings of CFLs — high costs of manufacturing, inefficiency in frequent on-off applications, unsuitability in extreme temperatures like home ovens and your Minnesota garage during winter, the wastefulness of the disposable ballast — as a "net positive" in light of claimed reductions in greenhouse gasses, which is a whole 'nother adventure in junk science.

These problems should be discussed (the mass media won't), but they are not the worst thing about Congress banning Thomas Edison's incandescent bulb by 2014.

Just like smoking bans aren't really about public health, gun bans aren't really about public safety, light rail isn't really about relieving traffic congestion, ethanol isn't really about energy independence, the incandescent light bulb ban isn't really about reducing the mythical threat of global warming.

All of these misguided public policies in various ways expand government and reduce our freedoms.

Free markets and the profit motive has solved problems and improved the quality of life for over 200 years in this country. A year ago, Thomas Edison's General Electric announced a new incandescent light bulb technology, the high efficiency incandescent (HEI), that it claims is about as efficient as the CFL, but without the CFL's significant environmental, safety, and health hazards. Edison's successor inventors at GE Global Research are also working on a technology called OLED (organic light emitting diode), another low-cost, high-efficiency, "Earth friendly" lighting alternative.

Government rarely leads the way in innovation (except in the areas of taxation and redistribution of wealth). "Congress tends to jump on whatever the current buzz is in the 24-hour news cycle," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6), announcing her "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act," the necessity of which is a testament to intrusive hand of Big Brother.

Government should let the competition of free markets pick the winners and losers, and let the light bulb symbolize American innovation and know-how again.

Grandma Got Run Over by Obama

"I can no more disown [Jeremiah Wright] than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe." —Barack Obama

I am one of those (probably rare) persons who purposely listens to those 24/7 Christmas music radio stations, from Thanksgiving to New Year's, and enjoys it. So of course I just can't get this song out of my head...

Grandma Got Run Over by Obama*

Grandma got run over by Obama
Just so Barack could gain on Hillary
You can't believe he'd stoop low for endorsement
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

It began with Barack's "change" call
It gave him a big poll boost
Oprah helped him fill each grange hall
Then Reverend Wright's chickens came home to roost.
(Home to roost!)

Suddenly "black" was an issue
A speech on race he had to write
He told a story 'bout his Grandma
And became a politician overnight.

Grandma got run over by Obama
Just so Barack could gain on Hillary
You can't believe he'd stoop low for endorsement
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

The Dems know how to divide folks
Men and women, black and white
But what happens when they're both in the same party
And they're on the left instead of on the right?
(On the right!)

Now there's talk of an '08 "dream team"
To make peace 'tween rival groups
But who's on top and who's veep is the question
On the minds of Dem bigwigs and their ground troops.

Grandma got run over by Obama
Just so Barack could gain on Hillary
You can't believe he'd stoop low for endorsement
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

*Sung to the tune of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"

Madia leads Bonoff in delegate count

The CD-3 campaign of Ashwin Madia for Congress reports that he leads the DFL delegate count with 81.5 delegates, picking up 32 of 49 delegates at Saturday's eleven DFL BPOU conventions.

Minnesota Monitor reports that Madia's rival for the DFL endorsement, state Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka), holds 63 delegates. (By Madia's count, 8 of 18 delegates in Bonoff's home district SD 43 are pledged to Madia.)

Sixty percent of the CD-3 delegates are needed for endorsement at the April 12 DFL Third Congressional District convention. Bonoff reportedly has a wide lead among "superdelegates," incumbent legislators and party officers who live in the district, but as of Saturday, Madia has about 65% of the delegates.

Certainly, Madia's nickname won't be "Ashwin who?" for much longer.

Madia's first-generation immigrant rags-to-riches story, the epitome of the American dream including a stint as a JAG in the United States Marine Corps, is apparently playing well in the Third District. Yet his positions on the issues are the mirror image of his would-be Republican opponent. Whether Madia or Bonoff wins the DFL endorsement, voters will have a clear-cut liberal/conservative choice.

State Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Eden Prairie) is the only Republican running for the party endorsement for the CD-3 seat, which is being vacated by the retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad (R).

UPDATE: Minnesota Campaign Report is maintaining a CD-3 DFL delegate "scoreboard" in its left sidebar.

Money for nothing

Thanks to classic Twin Cities agitprop like the following, the liberal DFL in the Legislature still believes in the "Minnesota Miracle," a.k.a. Money for Nothing:

"Given how tight money and budgets are these days, it's hard to imagine any county government turning its back on millions of dollars. But on Tuesday, there were indications that Carver and Scott counties would do just that by not partaking of a $100 million pot of money for metro-area counties that implement a recently approved quarter-cent optional sales tax for transit projects." ("Smaller counties not sold on new tax," StarTribune, March 12, 2008)

"Money for Nothing" is an illusion, but this year's session has been an orgy of redistribution of wealth. If you live outstate, vote against the sales tax increase. If you live in the Twin Cities, contact your county commissioner and urge him or her to oppose the sales tax increase. Otherwise, the DFL will keep singing their same old song...

Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it
You raise their taxes for the LRT
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and pork for free
Now that ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a mention in a right-wing blog
Maybe get a ho-hum from the voters next fall

We gotta get those trains to nowhere
Commuter rail to Saint Cloud
We gotta get those trains to Chi-Town
We gotta get that Central Corridor rail

Raise the sales tax without referendum
Raise the sales tax, the voters they won't care
Raise the sales tax for an open-air ballpark
It's for Pohlad, he's a billionaire!

We gotta get those trains to nowhere
Commuter rail to Saint Cloud
We gotta get those trains to Chi-Town
We gotta get that Central Corridor rail

Borrow money for new college classrooms
Borrow money for the Como Zoo
Get taxes for hockey in Bemidji and Duluth
Man we could have some fun
Pay Big Ag to burn our food for fuel
Metro roads and bridges can wait in line
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' and your pork for free

I want my
I want my
I want my LRT
I want my
I want my
I want my LRT
Money for nothin'!
Pork for free!

New blood revitalizes SD 43

When it came time on Saturday at Wayzata East Middle School in Plymouth to elect 76 delegates and alternates from SD 43 (Plymouth and northern Minnetonka) to the Third Congressional District and state conventions of the Republican Party of Minnesota, 147 candidates stepped up to the microphone for their fifteen seconds of fame.

The enthusiasm of first-time participants in the BPOU convention, elected at their precinct caucuses on Super Tuesday, February 5, was palpable. There were men and women of various ages, old timers who helped to elect retiring Congressman Jim Ramstad to the Minnesota House, and new parents with babies in tow (including 2006 HD 43B candidate Dave Johnson, and incumbent HD 43A Rep. Sarah Anderson, who were acknowledged by convention chairwoman and 2006 SD 43 candidate Judy Johnson).

Virtually every would-be delegate spoke earnestly of shared conservative values: smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, the culture of life. The mood was a mixture of a relaxed gathering of like-minded friends, combined with a sense of urgency to counter those who believe that government, not the individual, is the solution to our problems.

Former SD 43 senator and gubernatorial chief-of-staff David Gaither gave a stirring call for candidates to challenge incumbent Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) this fall. The BPOU will soon be vetting candidates for the endorsement; they were not ready for an endorsement on Saturday.

Sarah Anderson was endorsed by acclamation for re-election to her seat in the House. Her address to the convention revealed a thoughtful, dedicated Republican legislator with conservative values, as her husband listened in the delegate area with their infant son.

Ramstad expressed heartfelt valedictory thank-yous to his hometown BPOU, and honored long-time SD 43 chairman Frank Weir with a Waterford crystal replica of the U.S. Capitol dome. Ramstad's would-be successor, current state Rep. Erik Paulsen, gave a lively stump speech. One of the delegates from my precinct wondered out loud whether Paulsen is a conservative; had I been online I could have reassured him with Paulsen's 91% rating from the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, and 100% from the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and Hennepin County Commissioner candidate and former representative from HD 43A Jeff Johnson also addressed the convention. I got to shake the hand of another notable member of SD 43, two-term U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz.

There are a lot of conservatives in SD 43 — more than anyone had realized — who are annoyed enough at the tax-raising, invasive government types in the current legislative majority to sacrifice part of a Saturday to show up to a meeting. They showed up on Saturday ready to work for candidates up and down the ticket. I hope that the various Republican party units will have the wherewithal to make the new people feel welcome, reenergize the veteran ground troops, and mobilize Saturday's abundant energy and goodwill during the eight months between now and Election Day.

Faust to challenge Anderson in 43A

The Plymouth Sun Sailor has reported that Clint Faust of Plymouth will seek the DFL endorsement for the Minnesota House of Representatives in District 43A. Republican Sarah Anderson is the first-term incumbent.

According to the report, "Faust, who has lived in Plymouth for 13 years, is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and financial advisor. He has been involved in the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce and has served on the board of directors of the Business Democrats."

The Sun Sailor reported Faust's potential campaign themes as property tax relief (presumably more local government aid funded by income and sales taxes), controlling health care costs (even more state health insurance), reducing the tax burden on the middle class (tax the rich), funding education adequately (blank check for Education Minnesota) and improving Minnesota's transportation infrastructure (tax for light rail trains instead of roads and bridges, bonding for zoo gorilla exhibits).

The incumbent House member in 43B is John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka). The state Senate is not up for election this year.

Both the DFL and Republican SD 43 BPOU conventions are tomorrow, March 8.

Lewis works to spark conservative reformation

Jason Lewis is building quite the conservative resource website at KTLKFM.com. It is rapidly becoming a hub for conservative activists, with Jason's blog, a calendar of his public appearances, a gathering site for his official interest groups (the Tax Cut Coalition, and "Jason's Juggernauts" women's self-defense group), and a top-notch list of links to information and conservative activist groups.

Tired and frustrated at waiting for conservative leadership elsewhere, Lewis is beginning to lead a conservative reformation in Minnesota politics, but not from where he would be subject to the slings and arrows of elected office. Instead Lewis is working from his bully pulpit of talk radio, the Internet, and a growing network of conservative activists. Overreaching by the DFL in the Legislature this session, and the crumbling of the Pawlenty veto firewall, may be adding fuel to Lewis's fire. Where will it go from here? Stay tuned.

Shock and awe

You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? —Malone (played by Sean Connery) in The Untouchables (1987)

To be honest, Republicans should give their grudging respect and admiration to the DFL in both houses of the Legislature for leveraging their majorities into some kick-ass legislative productivity.

The session just started on February 5. Today is February 28, and we have already seen the first-ever override of a Pawlenty veto, and on a $6+ billion tax increase no less (while the cat was away chairing the National Governors Association meeting. The timing was brilliant; what was he going to do, come back to Saint Paul or sit at the head table in Washington, D.C. with egg on his face while Minnesota burned? Either way, he was, pardon the expression, screwed). The Senate didn't even need any Republicans to vote for the veto override due to their veto-proof majority, but they got two to stick it to "Governor No New Taxes" anyway! This achievement alone is going to jack up the enthusiasm in DFL BPOUs statewide from now until November, but the cherry on top was putting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that puts appropriations for natural resources and the arts where they belong, safe from the inconvenient vagaries of representative government.

The pork-barrel bonding bill may top $1 billion, about equal to the anticipated budget deficit, a virtually unthinkable tab until this year. And transportation commissioner Carol Molnau will likely join Pawlenty's former education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke as legislative road kill, thanks to some skillful politicization (with the help of gobs of earned media in TV and newspapers) of the I-35W bridge collapse.

The DFL is showing the rest of us how to get things done in Saint Paul: get the majority, make the minority party governor irrelevant, and take care of business. "Reaching across the aisle" is for wimps. Or as Rep. Ron Erhardt (R-Edina, soon to be DFL-Edina?) so eloquently added insult to injury, "Tell the people who told you to call [to tell me to vote to uphold the Governor's veto] to go f— themselves and that they are full of s—." And if you can demoralize the Republican base for the rest of the session, you could very well keep (or expand) the majorities in November and it will start all over again in 2009 — which is a budget year!

North Star Liberty has obtained a double-secret list of DFL legislative priorities, for which the transportation bill merely paved the way. (Eat your heart out, Minnesota Democrats Exposed!) Now that's how to run a legislative majority: tell the minority to go f— themselves!

TOP SECRET DFL LEGISLATIVE PRORITIES FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SESSION:

• Make tobacco a controlled substance, legalize marijuana, and repeal all statewide smoking bans
• Declare Minnesota a "sanctuary state," and grant state funding for free liability insurance to illegal aliens
• Repeal the constitutional amendment requiring a balanced biennial budget (too much of a restraint on spending)
• Replace the I-494/694 beltway with a light rail line and bike trail
• "The State of Minnesota Bans Guns Within Its Borders Act"
• Reinstate an autonomous state school board, with the president of the teachers union as its chair; require homeschooling parents to join the union
• Replace the current House and Senate with a unicameral legislature based on Senate districts (the House just gets in the way); convert the House chamber and offices into a new Minnesota Department of Peace
• Get Jason Lewis and the Northern Alliance Radio Network off the air by enacting the Fairness Doctrine for talk radio stations in the state
• Increase the minimum wage and provide free health insurance for all, funded by a "maximum gross income" tax on the "rich"
• Enact "steps and lanes" and grant tenure for legislators (think of all the money we won't be spending on campaigns and elections); index the legislative per diem to inflation
• Lobby Congress for a state government bail-out bill in the hypothetical event that some unnamed state goes bankrupt due to private industry and most citizens not receiving welfare or a government paycheck leaving the state

Off with their heads

We hear constantly from incumbent legislators about "reaching across the aisle," and "getting things done." Our DFL friends are praising the six Republican House members and two Republican Senators who voted to override Governor Pawlenty's veto of the first and largest tax increase of the nascent session (the first of many, you think it ain't?), as "thinking for themselves" — yeah right, like Sen. Joe Lieberman "thinks for himself" about the Global War on Terror.

Like the looter who returns to the same store over and over again when he discovers an easy payday, the Minnesota Legislature in 2008 is going to tax and spend with impunity until they have driven every big corporation (and many of its most productive citizens) out of the state and transformed Minnesota into a New Scandanavian Socialist Utopia, bankrupting it and its citizens forever of their money and their freedom. But what beautiful trains and stadiums we will have!

Now is the time for the Governor and legislative leadership to hold accountable the six Republican House members and two Republican Senators for stepping over the Governor's line in the sand, and embarrassing him while he was out of town chairing a meeting of the National Governors Association.

But more importantly, now is the time for conservative Republicans to take back the party by getting up off the couch and showing up at the following BPOU endorsing conventions. Deny these tax-and-spenders their endorsement for reelection, and run conservative candidates in their places. In some districts, this will be a long war, so we best get started now. Check back here for updates.

BPOU	Date	Venue	Tax Raiser	Endorsed?
SD 48	Sat., March 8	Anoka City Hall Community Room, 2015 1st Ave, Anoka	Rep. Jim Abler (48B)	NO
SD 41	Sat., March 8	Southwest Middle School Auditorium, 4725 South View Lane, Edina	Rep. Ron Erhardt (41A)	NO
SD 41	Sat., March 8	Southwest Middle School Auditorium, 4725 South View Lane, Edina	Rep. Neil Peterson (41B)	NO
SD 22	TBD	TBD	Rep. Rod Hamilton (22B)	TBD
HD 13A	TBD	TBD	Rep. Bud Heidgerken (13A)	TBD
SD 49	TBD	TBD	Rep. Kathy Tingelstad (49B)	Not running for reelection
SD 21	TBD	(The Senate is up for election in 2010)	Sen. Dennis Frederickson	TBD
SD 18	TBD	(The Senate is up for election in 2010)	Sen. Steve Dille	TBD

Johnson wins Hennepin County endorsement, Koblick drops out

Note: This was going to be my Hennepin County Republican Convention liveblog, but there was no wireless network at the convention venue, so I am posting this ex post facto.

8:05 a.m. - Arrived at the Medina Entertrainment Center, there is a cashier's table to collect the registration fee, and a separate registration area. The lobby area is packed, there are easily 1000 people trying to get in for a scheduled 9:00 am start. Registration is paper-based, the volunteers are laboring mightily, but the lines are long and some are having trouble getting registered. One woman said she had to stand in line three times to get credentialed.

8:50 a.m. - There is no way that we will begin on time. Jeff Johnson has coffee and doughnuts waiting for delegates, and they were the really good, decadent kind, but I am doing so much meeting and greeting that the table is empty by the time I circle back. Johnson's continental breakfast table, delegate registration, and various candidate tables are all crammed into a small area, along with hundreds of delegates and alternates.

There is some hardball going on between the campaigns of Warren Limmer and Jeff Johnson, who are vying for the endorsement for Hennepin County Commissioner in District 7. Limmer is using campaign signs from his earlier campaign for Attorney General, a no-no. Johnson has distributed flyers with positive comments about him from conservative blogs, including North Star Liberty, Minnesota Democrats Exposed, Fraters Libertas, dreckless, and Residual Forces. Flyers tout each candidate's conservative credentials. Several copies of a poster from Limmer chronicle some back-and-forth between the candidates on the fate of Limmer's Senate seat in a special election, if he were to win.



Some of the buzz while we are waiting for things to start is around the state party's general anemic response to the DFL on the technology front. Several activists have been telling me for years that the party's statewide voter data base is chronically outdated, and various attempts to modernize have been met with resistance by the state party and some BPOUs. Activists are saying that it's going to be frustrating to volunteers to be flying blind (again) relative to the DFL, which is said to be light years ahead of the Republicans in voter ID and political micromarketing. Example: door-knockers for state Sen. Terri Bonoff, who in 2006 collected vital data from voters on PDAs. Once uploaded to the mothership, this data enables subsequent contacts — whether it is a direct mail piece, e-mail, or phone call — to be targeted to a voter who is not only leaning toward the candidate, but is also targeted to their pet campaign issue, all designed to pay off in a vote.

Judging by the convention registration process, somebody dropped the ball on getting delegate info organized after the overwhelmingly attended precinct caucuses on Super Tuesday, February 5. The registration volunteers were working off hardcopy printouts. There are no preprinted nametags, no laptops on a wireless LAN to help ID delegates or direct them to their BPOU and precinct, just stacks of paper.

Overheard from one volunteer later after the rush is over: "Every time I do registration, I remember how much I hate doing registration."

I'm sure that some first-time delegates are unimpressed, and this could have a negative effect later on when we call on these people to do a lit-drop, door knock a neighborhood, or take a shift at the phone bank.

Others are incredulous that the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce endorsed the tax increase bill that was vetoed by the governor last week. One furious business owner told me that the Republicans should not stop the DFL-led veto override, to let the Chamber feel their buyer's remorse (it could still happen).

9:52 a.m. - The convention is finally called to order, almost an hour late. Some of the tables are not clearly marked, so some of the delegates are unsure of where they should be seated. Yes, there is a map, but you have to cross-reference your BPOU and precinct from an Excel spreadsheet to a four-digit table number, then find the table number on the map. Some of the delegates are still in line to get credentialed.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, Pastor Jim McLeish gives the invocation. Tom Tipton sings a powerful Gospel-inspired rendition of the National Anthem, to loud applause.

One of the first orders of business is credentials, that is, reconciling the number of delegates and alternates with the number of each who actually showed up. We cannot vote to endorse until the credentials report is final.


10:20 am - Linda Koblick formally announces that she will not run for reelection for Hennepin County Commissioner in District 6, citing personal reasons. Koblick gave a heartfelt and eloquent farewell address, thanking her family and the grassroots, and emphasizing the need for suburban representation on the county board. She thanked District 7 delegates for the honor of representing them. Koblick's district voted to not endorse today, and to call another endorsing convention in a month.

Always a forceful and articulate advocate for suburban interests, Koblick (with Commissioners Penny Steele and Gail Dorfman) endured by all accounts a horrific fight against the public subsidy for the billionaire owners of a team of millionaire baseball players without the referendum required by law. Koblick will be sorely missed by Hennepin County conservatives, but she has surely earned an early retirement from her service.

10:43 am - Someone is giving a real stemwinder in support of John McCain for President, and he is not connecting with the audience or doing Sen. McCain much justice in his speech.

11:05 am - They are still going through the credentials process. During this time, for each precinct, the number of alternates and delegates is announced, along with the number seated. In past years, each precinct would usually seat fewer delegates than their allotment. This year, most precincts seemed to be full, with some announced as "over," something I have rarely if ever heard in five years of going to these conventions.

11:08 am - Erik Paulsen gives a lively speech.

11:14 am - Robert Morgan from the Ron Paul campaign speaks, to some enthusiastic but not crazy applause and cheers. He was certainly better than the McCain speaker. Morgan is a recent transplant from California, eager to learn about caucuses (California is a primary state), and happy to be here despite the winter weather.

11:17 - We are still waiting for the credentials report.

11:34 - There are over 1000 delegates and alternates registered. The credentials report is still not final. People are getting restless. I am getting dehydrated and hungry for lunch. The convention suspends the rules to allow the candidates to speak before the credentials report is final. Without a suspension of the rules, this would be out of order.

Randy Johnson is endorsed for Hennepin County Commissioner District 6.


11:50 - Jeff Johnson speaks. He emphasizes accomplishing conservative reforms as commissioner, referred to his record in the Minnesota House, pledged to out-campaign his eventual opponent in the general election.

Credentials report is finally final. Of the 681 delegates seated in District 7, 409 (60 percent) will be needed to endorse.

11:55 am - Warren Limmer is up. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann endorses Limmer via recorded audio (Bachmann and Limmer were colleagues in the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus). Outgoing District 7 Hennepin County Commissioner Penny Steele steps to the microphone. She receives enthusiastic appaluse, and delivers an emotional farewell, before a strong seconding endorsement. She says that Limmer will be a strong campaigner. She emotionally announced that her husband's job was recently outsourced, and that she considered running for re-election, but decided instead that should Limmer win, she will run for his state Senate seat.

Limmer himself gives an impassioned speech, saying that he would not form coalitions, he is looking to fight the liberals on the county board.

12:08 pm - The convention votes to endorse in District 7. Ballots are being passed out.

12:15 pm - The first ballot is underway.

12:52 pm - Still no word from the tellers on the first ballot.

First ballot: Johnson 374 (54%), Limmer 310 (46%). 60% needed to win.

Johnson and Limmer address the delegates. Some of the veterans in the "power alley" of the SD 43 delegate area are recalling the 2002 Pawlenty-Sullivan endorsement battle, which went overnight, umpteen ballots until about 3 am.

1:55 pm - The chair announced "no endorsement," meaning a third ballot, then asked everyone to stand by for a recount, meaning maybe there is an endorsement after all.

2:13 pm - Recount:

Second ballot: Johnson 377, 58.6%
Limmer 261.5, 40.6%

A total of 388 needed to endorse. The number of votes needed to endorse decreases along with the number of ballots cast as delegates gradually filter out of the convention to resume their real lives. Many, including me, thought we would be out of here by noon.

The two candidates address the delegates. Limmer emphasizes his electability, Johnson emphasizes his core principles. Limmer and Johnson leave the stage together, smiling.

2:30 pm - Ron Carey, chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, addresses the convention. Interestingly, Carey announces that computerized voter ID will be a major effort this year by the party. He announced, to much applause, that he spoke against the endorsement of one of the Republicans who voted with the DFL to pass the transit tax bill, and he or she was denied endorsement. He asked for a show of hands from first-time caucus attendees, and it looked like almost half of the convention raised their hands.

2:40 pm - I leave to go vacuum the house, since I am in District 2, which is not up for reelection. Other male delegates report their wives calling regarding their honey-do lists: bathroom remodeling, a new refrigerator that needs to be moved to the basement.

On the way home, I hear from Mitch Berg on the Northern Alliance Radio Network that Jeff Johnson has won the endorsement on the third ballot, with 61% of the vote.


A post script: SD 43 had a reunion of sorts of what I called the Gaither A-Team, the group of campaign operators that helped to get David Gaither elected as the conservative senator from the "new" (after redistricting) SD 43 in 2002. It was great telling some of the old war stories and getting reacquainted. It remains to be seen whether we can get our groove back in 2008. All we need is a candidate for House District 43B. Stay tuned for the SD 43 BPOU convention on Saturday, March 8 at Wayzata East Middle School.