Odd Thoughts and Politics

Live Blogging DFL Feminist Caucus Meeting - 3/11/07

2007-03-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

Elections:

Marge Hoffa, the chair of the nominations committee has reported that Mari Pokernowski is running for President and Tammy Tesky is running for Vice-President. Cheryl Poling is running for Treasurer with the support of the committee.

Betty Folliard is speaking on behalf of Mari as an outstanding advocate and activist who has been so involved in the DFL Party, currently co0chair of the DFL platform commission.She truly is a feminist, is a person with courage who has the ability to stand up and fight. Korynne also seconds the nomination of Mari. Talks about her choice to have seven sons. Always ahve to be fearless and ready to work the machinary of the party.

Any further nominations for President .. motion for unanimous ballot.. motion passes and Mari Pokernowski is elected.

Tammy Tesky is elected by unanimous ballot as vice-president.

Cheryl Poling elected by unanimous ballot as treasurer.

Jane miles has been nominated from the floor for secretary. She has withdrawn in favor of Birebewa Mutebi, current Asst Chair of MY-DFL, and she is elected by unanimous ballot as the new secretary..

Coco Kinnell has been nominated and elected to the new position of Youth Coordinator.

Sky Miles is elected Communication Director. (for real, that is her name)

Jane Miles is elected web site director.

Neomi DeGolier is elected fundraising director.

Political Director is deferred, as is Membership Director.

Question: Would you run for higher office?

Otto said she has said she would never do several things, like downhill skiing. If she feels like she can make positive change she'll never say no.

Tarryl - I thought I never would run for office. Right now what I am doing I can make a tremendous amount of change. Right now don't intend to do that ... if I beleive I can make a better difference doing something else I would consider that but stay where I am. We are in a transition place as a party with people who have run before who will not be running again so there is a chance for a lot of new faces.

Lori - Only two and a half months into the job. She's just doing the best she can.

They just announced that the State Capital is now closed but Tarryl says its OK we can stay because she has keys.

Question: What would you do different?

Lori talked about the "tornado" her short campaign was. She was surprised by the role of money in the campaign.

Tarryl talked about having a person who was "fresh" for the end of the campaign. Also on having a consistent message that doesn't stray. Talked about the "message box" method taught at Camp Wellstone. She ran twice in one year, with the special election two days after Christmas in 2005. With the session timing that meant she had one day before the start of session to raise money for the next campaign.

Rebecca talked about how much sitting she did, being sedintary while traveling and calling for money.

Question: Why did you want to run?

Tarryl talking about how working with youth and how she saw the systematic barriers to youth getting themselves together. She saw the need to work on external structures. She worked at Lega Aid where she lobbied part of the year and rep'd clients the other part. She talks about getting Big P involved and little P involved. Talked about the difference of being on the inside. We have to change the mindset of people about how do you make the biggest difference. And her Grandmother reminding her of when she talked about when her mom got to vote for the first time.

Rebecca is talking about being recruited by people for school board and then Mindy Grieling to run for House. Tarryl has talked earlier about being recruited 100 times in 100 days. "Because I beleive strongly in the future and if the state doesn't communicate with local government in the future we can't meet our challenges."

3:30 pm - - Rebecca Otto is talking about running for Auditor. About how the office really fit who she is and the challenge of running for an office that no one seems to nkow how to run for. Calls the bottom of the ticket the Heart of the ticket. But being at the lower part of the ticket means a smaller budget. "I'm going to be a proud "Otto"". (Instead of changing her name to some sort of "son".) She had to localize the race to local media. Why the race is important to Tracy, Minn.

Tarryl talked about how to campaign, emphasizing person-to-person contact. How that helps poeple not see "the horns", referring to the reputation foisted on pro-choice women in the St. Could area. Also about how she ran two times before actually winning.

3:16 pm - - This is the 34th anniversary year of the caucus. The Founding Mother's, represented by Korynne Horbel, just presented Jackie Stevenson with flowers as recognition for her years of service.

3:12 p m - - Caucus President Jackie Stevenson is giving the opening address.Talking about all the "first" women we elected last year. Dream of a female Governor. Another female in Congress . With a response from some that we don't count that other person from the 6th CD.

3:05 pm -- Tarryl Clark

3:00 pm - - We are still waiting to start. The crowd is looking like a pretty good generational mix. Across the room from me sits a row of women who are also officers in the Minnesota Young DFL. Down the row is DFLFC Founding Mother Korynne Horbel.

In the hall I see Attorney General Lori Swanson and Asst. Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark.

2:38 pm - - State Party Associate Chair Donna Cassutt just arrived. We just found out that the Dennis Kucinich event that was sponsored by the 6th CD DFL has been canceled due to some mysterious plane trouble and we have already had a couple people arrive here as a substitution.

2:34pm - People are just gathering right now. Very fancy gold coffee being set-up That would be Jackie Stevenson in the foreground.

Jennifer Hudson should NOT be nominated for Best Supporting Actress!!

2007-01-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry, but that woman is the freaking star of Dreamgirls. She has more lines, the story is focused on her character more and she kick's a** in it!

Live Blogging Eleciton Day

2006-11-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

11:18 AM - - We are now getting some reports that Hispanic people are being challenged by republican's in Brooklyn Park.

10:26 AM - - Just in from DFL Chair Brian Melendez:

We are getting reports of Republican challengers aggressively insisting that election judges inquire into voters' citizenship, and asking that the judges take into account other extraneous information in determining whether a voter is eligible. The reports that we are getting are coming from Minnetonka and Hopkins, which means that the practice is probably occurring in other areas as well (since the southwestern suburbs aren't the first places that you would expect the Republicans to target with a voter-suppression campaign). If you discover any similar information about Republican challengers abusing voters or election judges, please call the DFL Voter Protection Team at 651.251.6384. Thanks.

10:19 AM - - Only problem to pop up so far, and it's not really a problem, is we are overflowing with volunteers. But we always find things for people to do!

9:30 AM - - Just finished running coffee out to two of the DFL GOTV site. I was delayed a bit when the coffee shop tried to give me a large cambrio fo de-caf. If I had shown up with de-caf coffee for the doorknockers I don't think I would have gotten out of there alive.

As soon as I find my camera cord I'll try to upload pictures of the activity.

Channel Five just destroyed part of my childhood

2006-10-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Picture a crisp fall Friday evening, we have cleared the dining room table of everything after dinner and spread out the newspapers. We have the pumpkins, tools to create jack-o-lanturn masterpieces, and cookie sheets at the ready to spread out the seeds for roasting. We wheel the TV around the corner from the living room to turn on the venerable annual Peanuts Halloween Great Pumpkin special. We turn on the TV and what to we get?

A 6th congressional district candidate debate.

And people wonder why other people get turned off to politics.

My theory (totally unsubstantiated) is that Michelle Bachman insisted on the time spot because her church is probably one of those that preaches against halloween. She probably passed out phamplets to trick-or-treaters that came to her door.

Just my theory ....

And use some "buttah" to do it!!

2006-10-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Damn, I knew there was a reason I liked Barbara Streisand!

A few people in the crowd jeered and told Streisand to stick to singing.
She told them, "Come on, be polite.'' But one heckler wouldn't let up and
Streisand let him have it.
She told him to "Shut the (expletive) up!''

http://www.startribune.com/457/story/733218.html

Reminds me of when my very proper, upper-class looking Mother used to drive past Planned Parenthood in Highland Park and flip off the anti-choice demonstrators. And since she was a professional pianist in her previous life it was an impressive finger too!

Another Item On My Christmas List

2006-09-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Feel free to comment with bad jokes .... there are many that are coming to me.

Or .... make suggestions for a special playlist to go with it. First tune that I thought of it was "The 1812 Overture"

ICarta Stereo Dock for iPod with Bath Tissue Holder

Now you can enhance your experience with your favorite music from your iPod. Make your bathroom more enjoyable with this ICarta stereo dock and bath tissue holder for your iPod! This iCarta stereo dock and bath tissue holder will distribute paper while blasting your favorite tunes. You'll need an iPod and the ability to sing while taking care of business. This revolutionary unit features four (4) moisture resistant speakers (two tweeters and two woofers) volume control and multiple audio in ports. When the newspaper or the occasional car, sports or men's magazine are not enough, adding your favorite music is the answer!

http://www.amazon.com/ICarta-Stereo-Dock-Tissue-Holder/dp/B000HX7ASU/sr=8-20/qid=1159549028/ref=sr_1_20/102-3306849-6916102?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Battling Bigotry with Bucks!!

2006-09-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Since Tuesday we have seen an escalation of racist and anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from the Republican Party and other sources. From Alan Fine's pathetic yet offensive press conference Wednesday to the revolting, open hatred spewed in some blogs it has been mind boggling. We now know that our opposition has decided that their only hope of winning is to appeal to the lowest commen denominator in our society.

But, what can we do? I know that it is not good for my blood pressure each time some of this venom spews out. Here is my solution:

Every time Ron Carey, the Republican Party, Alan Fine or any other purveyer of bigotry uses racism, anti-Muslim rhetoric or ethno-centrism to attack Keith Ellison I pledge to donate $5 to the his campaign. If enough of us do this we will be part of history in electing Keith Ellison to Congress as the first African-American from Minnesota and the first Muslim in the nation. And, when the opposition realizes that every vile word of bigotry they speak just raises more money for his election, they just might decide they have to campaign on issues rather than hate.

For those of us with financial limitations you can pledge an hour of volunteer time.

You can go to www.keithellison.org to donate or volunteer. Be sure to note "Mypledge to combat bigotry" in the attribution field.

Perhaps the next victory is in the 3rd CD Come November?

2006-09-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

From Betsy O'Berry, Campaign manager for Wendy Wilde:

An interesting fact to note:
With 13,914 votes in the September 12 primary, Wendy Wilde outpolled Republican
incumbent Jim Ramstad by 1,268 votes.

Wilde and her two DFL challengers garnered a total of 18,101 votes compared to
12,646 cast by Republicans in the 3rd District primary.

Two years ago, 48% of 3rd Congressional District voters selected John Kerry for
President. (Compared to 47% in the 1st CD, 44% in the 2nd CD and 42% in the
6th CD).

There are more Democratic voters in the 3rd CD than most people think. As a mom
working to bring common sense to Washington, D.C., Wendy Wilde is a candidate to
watch in a changing district!

For more information about Wendy Wilde's campaign, go to www.electmom.com

Betsy O'Berry

Mental Illness and Politics

2006-09-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

So, I have spent a good portion of the past couple of weeks dealing with mental health issues in politics. This is not calling my opponents crazy or anything like that. I am talking about working with people who have serious psychiatric illnesses. There are so many levels to trying to deal with these issues:

Level 1: As a Party leader I need to balance the safety of the the organization and our members with the right of all people, regardless of whether or not they have a psychiatric illness, to partcipate.
Level 2: Assisting local leaders, all volunteers, who may or may not have experience working with mentally ill people. There are a lot of misconceptions out there plus, sometimes, these people can behave in scary ways.
Level 3: Just the sadness of it all. In the cases I have had to deal with the past couple weeks the individuals in question are incredibly intelligent and really sweet people. I myself have a fairly mild case of depression. Two pills every morning and I am OK. But I remember how frustrating and almost soul crushing it can be to so caught up in feelings and thoughts that, on some level, you know do not make sense. And that was depression, I cannot begin to imagine the pain of more serious illnesses like Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder.

It all came home for me last night. I was working on a campaign database when one of my best friends called. They had just found his sister's body and since she had Bipolar Disorder there is a good possibility that it was suicide. I left the campaign and spent the evening with him.

A couple years ago another friend had a brother who committed suicide. In that case he had actually tried to get help. But because of cutbacks in social services by the Pawlenty Administration he was not able to be seen for several weeks. He didn't make it to the appointment .... the pain got too great and now we don't have him anymore.

I guess the two things I want to wrap up this rambling post with are:

1) We have got to get serious about health care, including mental health, in this country ... before we lose more people.

2) Please remember that the vast majority of people with mental illnesses are no danger to you, they are more likely to be victimized themselve than hurt others. We may have to make hard decisions about how to interact and facilitate their participation but never forget that they are human beings and citizens who have a voice that desperately needs to be heard.

86th Anniversary of South St. Paul Waterwork's Bonding Bill!!!

2006-08-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Why is this a big deal?

Because it came one day after Tennessee cast their votes that passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving women in the whole United States the right to vote.

The ballot for this bonding bill was the very first election in the United States where women could vote as a result of suffrage passing. Eighty-seven women voted that day and their votes were segregated from the men's just in case there was a mistake.

Gentle Warriers: Clara Ueland and the Minnesota Struggle for Woman Suffrage Barbara Stuhler

Looking for ERJ Commercial from 1998

2006-08-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Does anybody have a copy of the "Where's Timmy?" ad that Ember Reichgott Junge did for her AG race in 1998?

It was truly one of the worst political ads I have ever seen and it would be great to see it today.

Sign Wars Tracking - Participation Needed

2006-08-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

So, we are starting to get the first waves of lawn signs put up around the state and the claims of "x" has the most signs have begun. However, there is no way for any one person to be able to have a true picture of how the lawn signs are realling playing out on a wide scale basis.

So, I am volunteering to serve as the aggregator of information about how many lawn signs are where. I need people to simply post up where lawn signs are. Please don't be giving me individual addresses. Just tell me:

Block range (e.g. 1500 block of Clinton Ave S, Mpls)
# Ward and Precinct (if you know it)
# of lawn signs for each candidate

If you want to do a whole precinct survey just report the number for the whole precinct.

I will aggregate the reports into a spread sheet and report them out, it might even give me a chance to come up with some fun visuals!

Erlandson + HUGE SUV = Environmentalist?

2006-07-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

From the Strib:

"Ostrow pointed to education and health care; Reichgott Junge said universal health care and investing in children before age 6; Ellison listed economic justice and health care, and Erlandson said global warming and criticizing President Bush."

Um, he drives a Cadillac Escalade. Which means that he alone is spewing 11.90 to 13.20 tons of Greenhouse Gas emissions a year . This is a vehicle that the US Department of Energy give's a "1" on fuel economy (on a ten point scale)

DFL Process for AG Race

2006-07-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

So I posted on this a little over at MN Publis but thought it would do well to address it here.

This stuff about the party not recruiting candidates to replace
Entenza before he dropped out is annoying me.The DFL has a structure and a process. The highest ranking body of the DFL is the biannual state convention. The next highest body is the State DFL Central Committee and then the Executive Committee. A lower body, nor an officer of such, may overturn or act contrary to a decision of a higher body.

In other words, if the DFL Officers were to recruit a candidate to run
against a candidate for an office that was endorsed by the State Convention it would constitute malfeasance and be an impeachable
offense.

It is looking like the Central Committee will be meeting August 12th, not sure where yet. It should be an interesting three weeks.

Entenza

2006-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

My reaction to the whole saga of Matt Entenza dropping out of the race for Attorney General?

Sadness.

You see, the things that he ahs been accused of are very much at odds with my personal experiences with him. He always struck me as one of those politicians who actually wanted to make things better for people. He is one of those straight white men who actually understands what privileges he has just due to his gender, sexual orientation and skin color and he actively worked to counter that. He is not one of those liberals out to fix the world by making it like himself but rather he always was bringing in people and setting them into power.

In all the ranting about how much money he and his wife have I have wondered about two things: Are there people upset that he is not "man enough" to be ashamed that his wife earns more than him? And, are there people who are upset that he and his wife use that money on politics rather than on a lavish lifestyle of conspicous consumption? (Millions of dollars in stock options and they live in Merriam Park, a solidly middle class neighborhood in St. Paul.)

Honestly, I don't know if Matt did something wrong. If he did it is a heartbreaking thing because I know that he and Lois are basically good people. If it is proven he did something wrong my hope and expectation is that he will learn greatly from this. Hopefully others will learn a bit about forgiveness and allowing for the foibles of being human.

State DFL Central Committee Meeting

2006-07-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, we arrive in the morning to discover that, despite repeated inquiries over the past week, the air conditioning in the entire East end of Eden Prairie High School is on the fritz. At 9am the main hall was already at 80 degreess. But, after some masterful work on the fly by DFL staff the meeting was moved to the air conditioned gym on the West end. The AC had to be turned on so the room wasn't entirely comfortable but a lot better than what it could have been. The worst part was the acoustics but we got past that.

Bill Davis was elected Treasurer without opposition.

We had some substantial, passionate yet respectful debates over some resolutions. The most organization was thrown toward the Transit Funding Constitutional amendment
that will be on the ballot this fall. I suspect that advocates for the amendment thought they were going have an easy time getting the DFL to endorse the amendment and they seemed to be scrambling at the last minute when it became obvious through email discussions in the week prior that there was in fact some serious opposition to the measure. I admit it was entertaining to watch people who had been so sure of themselves and their political "savviness" have to scramble like that.

The pro-amendment resolution was put in motion and then someone immediately moved a subsititute resolution to oppose the constitutional amendment. That substitute motion failed but on a very slim margin, almost a 50/50 split. I am not clear on what happened next as I was out of the room but I came back into the room as a vote was being taken that resulted in the DFL taking no position on the amendment at all. Given the close margins that was probably the best outcome.

Of course Judi Dutcher was endorsed for Lt. Gov. Mike Hatch's speech was too long and the same one we have heard several times before. Next meeting I'm giving it for him!!

THIS is what I want for Christmas!!

2006-07-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

A Ronco Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler!

I honestly did not know they made these things anymore. I really need it to go on the shelf next to my Presto Tater Twister.

I don't know why but this offends me ...

2006-07-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Advertisement found on the back of my grocery store reciept:

Pregnant? Considering Adoption?
Please help us fulfill our dream of having a family. If you or someone you know is pregnant and thinking about adoption, a financially secure home full of love and laughter awaits your baby. MN Agency approved.

Call Kathy & Daniel toll-free .....

High Level Rant about Latest Ellison "Scandel"

2006-07-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

This was not the morning for me to see this .... I saw this on MDE this morning and since I was already in a non-hormonal bad mood to begin with this has just pushed the BP up a notch or two. So, in response ....

Yea, my license is suspended too. You see, the City of Minneapolis, unlike say, St. Paul, suspends your license if you do not pay ANY ticket. So, that pissant parking ticket you got two months ago for staying one minute over the meter time, the one you stuffed in your glovebox and forgot about? Well they just suspended your license over it. Or, maybe, like many of the district's residents, you live paycheck to paycheck and you could not afford to pay the ticket. That means that the City of Minneapolis not only is going to sock you for the damn ticket but also for the late fees, "court fees" and then make you pay an additional $35 to the State to get your license license reinstated. (This is another example of how expensive it is to be poor.) This may not be what happened with Keith but when you have a city that is so strapped for cash that it basically has to use the state as enforcers to collect a $20 parking ticket it means there is something else wrong.

Maybe its time we elected someone to congress who has a freaking clue that life is not all "Up With People" and Glossy head shots perfect. Someone who has made mistakes and lived a real life rather than living their life in plastic wrapped packages labeled "open only upon campaign for Congress".

Campaign Piece from Bill Davis

2006-07-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Just FYI .....

Also, Mari Pokernowski is not running so at this point it's looking like a quick election.

=========

My name is BILL DAVIS, and I am seeking your support for State DFL Treasurer. The election will be held on Saturday, July 15, at Eden Prairie High School. I am writing to you because I need your support and counsel.

As many of you have heard, longtime political activist Kerry Gauthier has submitted his letter of resignation for this position. Kerry has decided to pursue other political interest during this election cycle. All of us wish to thank Kerry for his dedication and commitment to the DFL Party over the last several years. Because of Kerry's decision to leave, a vacancy for the position of State Treasurer has occurred and, with your help, I would like to fill it.

The position of State Treasurer is not new to me, I served in this capacity as the State DFL Treasurer more than ten years ago, so I am thoroughly familiar with the duties and the level of responsibility involved. I can hit the ground running and that's important for the DFL Party. My strengths are designing procedures that facilitate the tracking of revenues coming in and going out of the DFL.

For over 16 years, I have served as the President/CEO for a private non-profit community base agency with an annual budget of approximately $15,000,000. As the chief executive officer I oversee the agency's budget and assure its compliance with all regulatory rules and procedures stipulated by state and federal law. While my fiscal director manages the day-to-day operation, it is my responsibility to completely understand and establish procedures and protocol for that department. In other words I know the correct procedures and I know the correct questions to ask and most importantly, I know then correct procedures are being properly implemented.

As State Treasurer I would like to assist the Chair by creating strategies that generate funds and designing fiscal policies that enhance overall accountability. And I will present fiscal reports so that you can clearly understand the fiscal health and well being of the Party.

With your support, I would like to return to this office and serve the DFL Party once again. I am very pleased with the overwhelming support that I am receiving from DFLers from all over the State. Your support is greatly appreciated.

As a resident and active member of the Third Congressional District, which extends from the Metro into Greater Minnesota and reflects the urban/suburban and rural blend of DFLers in our Party, I would bring a high degree of energy and a work ethic that will ensure accountability, commitment, competence, compassion, and the capacity to do this job and do it well. I have over twenty years of experience as a party officer at every level of the DFL Party and I have worked on numerous campaigns statewide and locally as well. I look forward to talking with you in the days ahead, in the meantime, please feel free to contact me ....

Again, I would be honored to earn your support.

VOTE BILL DAVIS for DFL STATE TREASURER on July 15th

One less candidate for DFL Treasurer

2006-06-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

News comes that Al Patton has decided not to run for DFL State Treasurer in order to focus is efforts as Treasurer for the Patty Wetterling Campaign. This leave Bill Davis as the only declared candidate and there is some significant movement toward supporting him. Mari Pokernowski has not made a decision.

More on DFL Treasurer Race

2006-06-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

Emails continue to pile up in favor of Al Patton on various DFL email lists.

I saw Bill Davis last night, first at the 3rd CD DFL office Open House, and then later at the 5th CD DFL Central Committee meeting. In both places he publically identified himself as a candidate. To date he is the only candidate I have seen actively campaign.

The only new name I have heard bandied about is that of Kathleen Murphy. She is an activist in the 4th CD, although she recently played a big role in Keith Ellison's convention victory. During the day she works as a lobbyist for women's health clinics.

The other tidbit from the 3rd CD event last night is that Betsy O'Berry has signed on to be Wendy Wilde's campaign manager.

More Web Scrubbing

2006-06-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

It appears that Mark Kennedy's crew are not the only practitioners of the fine art of web scrubbing.

According to The View, Star Jones Reynolds never existed!!

Now THAT's a scoop!

Possible DFL Treasurer Candidates So Far

2006-06-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

Possibilities I have heard so far to replace Kerry Gauthier ....

Al Patton - From the rural part of the 6th CD. Al served as the leader of the Greater MN Caucus for several years and was the Chair of the 6th CD DFL for a few years.
Bill Davis - Executive Director of a fairly substantial non-profit in Minneapolis, Bill lives in the suburban 3rd CD. He was just elected an at-large director on the DFL Executive Committee at the State Convention. He also served previously as the State DFL Treasurer in the early 90's.
Mari Pokornowski - Active out of the rural part of the 6th CD. She has served as the Co-Chair of the DFL Platform Commission for the past two years. She was a rumored candidate for Associate Chair last year but chose not to run then.

A lot of people suggested Betsy O'Berry but she was the person who first put forth Al Patton's name last night via email.

Resignation of Kerry Gauthier - DFL Treasurer

2006-06-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

I just learned that State DFL Treasurer Kerry Gauthier has submitted his resignation in order to continue working on the Becky Lourey campaign. This is due to the fact that working for a candidate running against an endorsed candidate constitutes malfeasance of office.

I am disappointed. Kerry is a good man who has behaved honorably in addressing this situation. He did not try to use his position or attack the endorsement process. He recognized the process and the rules he agreed to and has stepped aside.

I for one will welcome him back into the party the day after the election.

Sunday was a Nice Day

2006-06-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

It turns out that I did indeed have the scoop earlier this month when I predicted that Hatch's Lt. Gov choice would be Judi Dutcher! (Thanks to Northern Debater for giving me credit).

I have been telling people that I am a strong supporter of Mike Hatch since the convention. I know he may not have the funnest personality in the world but whenever I have seen him speak I can tell that he truly cares about things getting better in this state. Some people try to smear him by saying he is too angry. Thing is, he is angry and it is stuff we should all be angry about!

But, with the addition of Judi Dutcher to the ticket I am now an enthusiastic supporter and will be working even harder for this ticket.

Of course I went to the announcement right after the Pride Parade. My carefully thought out playlist went out the window once my sister got a hold of my iPod. We were using her band's sound system and I learned at least 30 years ago that I can NEVER touch my sisters stereo so that battle was lost. In other words, do not blame me for the Shania Twain song!

BIG shout out to Miguel from Stonewall DFl for securing the parade vehicle I drove. GMC Seirra 4 x 4. When I picked it up Friday is had 132 miles on it. That's right, because of other people's schedule's I had to make the sacrifce and leave my little Camry at Walser Pontiac and Buick for the weekend and drive the afore mentioned truck all weekend. It was lovely until I needed gas. There are still a couple buttons I never figured out what they were for.

Updated Parade Playlist and News

2006-06-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

OK, the playlist now stands at:

The Irish Washerwoman
War (What is it Good For) by Edwin Starr
Time for a Change by The Brady Bunch
C is for Cookie by Cookie Monster
Danke Shoen by Wayne Newton
Romp Bomp A Stomp by The Wiggles
Dancing in the Street by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
One Way or Another by Blondie (DELETED 6/22)
Yakety Sax (Otherwise known as the Benny Hill Theme)
Stars and Stripes Forever (DELETED 6/22)
Down at the Twist and Shout
Minnesota Rouser (Sound file online!)
Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone
Free to be by RuPaul (ADDED 6/21)
We Shall Overcome (ADDED 6/22)

Pride Parade Playlist

2006-06-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Once again I have finagled myself into the role of providing the music for the DFL contingent in the annual Twin Cities Pride Parade. It helps a lot when my sister is the one with the sound system!

I should explain that in this role I eschew the stereotypical "gay" music that spews forth from the other contingents. In other words, I will NOT be playing "Y.M.C.A".

Here is what I am thinking of so far, please feel free to make comments and suggestions!

The Irish Washerwoman
War (What is it Good For) by Edwin Star
Time for a Change by The Brady Bunch
C is for Cookie by Cookie Monster
Danke Shoen by Wayne Newton (I really want to get a couple candidates up on the truck lip-syncing this!)
Romp Bomp A Stomp by The Wiggles

Why is this Show Still on the Air?

2006-06-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Why does Ember Reichgott Junge still have a weekly show on 950 Air America? She is a declared candidate for Congress and this would seem to violate the rules of equal time and such.

UPDATE: Apparently Ms Junge is paying for the airtime with campaign funds, according to the management of the radio station.

National BSC Day

2006-06-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

BSC = Bat S*** Crazy Day

I want one. I want one day year where I can just be freaking insane. Not in a dangerous way, mind you. I'll return to sanity the next day but I want one day in which I can be a nutcase.

C'mon people, BSC Day, join me in my crusade!

My Favorite Blog Entry of the Whole Weekend

2006-06-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is the best description of Rick Nelson I have ever seen!!!!

http://tildology.com/2006/06/10/and-the-lord-said-let-my-women-pee/

Weekend Wrap-up

2006-06-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

I know I implied that I would post Saturday evening and Sunday but I was just too damn tired. Just so you folks know, I have one of those nifty little step counters and I average about 3,500 steps a day (I know I need more, that's why I got it). Friday I did just over 11,450 and Saturday I did over 13,670! While a good thing, still ..... OW!

My previous prediction of Judi Dutcher as Hatch's running mate was reinforced for me Saturday by two things:

The big hug from her in the morning when I arrived at the convention center while she was putting on her Hatch for Governor button
The maniacal Hatch floor worker running through my delegation about the 4th ballot yelling "tell them it's Judi Dutcher, tell them it's Judi Dutcher!"

It had better be Dutcher because there were quite a few of us that, when Becky Lourey dropped out, switched our vote to Hatch with the bulk of that decision coming from the understanding that it is Dutcher. Apparently my tablemate and I were not the only people in the convention hall who spent a minute just staring at our ballots before we wrote "Mike Hatch" (I'll have a seperate post about Mr. Hatch)

I admit to being personally disappointed in the result of the SOS race. Privately my vote went to Christian Sande. That was no reflection on the candidacy of Mark Ritchie whatsoever. Hell, Ritchie helped me with a paper last year that I got an A on. He will be a great Secretary of State. I had a lot of young friends who worked on Sande's campaign. After the convention adjourned I went to the Sande room and it was heartbreaking. I've been there and it hurts when you put so much effort into something and come so close. I'm not going to toss out any of the platitudes here. (If any of the Sande staffers are reading this and know who I am call me if you need me to come over to hug you some more)

The one thing I am going to suggest to the DFL in the future is that we try to achieve some seperation of competing campaigns in terms of room assignments. The Ritchie and Sande rooms were right next to each other and a couple of us had to rush to close the doors when the Ritchie vistory celebration started next door. (This is no reflection on the Ritchie people, they earned the right to celebrate, it's just real hard to hear that when you are grieving your loss.

End of Day One

2006-06-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am not able to blog during the day for two reasons. First, I am a user of a fairly old Mac iBook (Clamshell version) and the battery is just drained. If I unplug the beastie I have maybe five minutes before the battery drains out on me.

Also .... well I just got one of those little step-counters you attach to your belt a couple weeks ago. In an average day I have been doing about 3,500 steps. Today I did 11,750!

A fun part of my day was actually spent off the convention floor back by the Legion Suites where all the caucuses are meeting. It was fun watching the candidates breeze into the People of Color Caucus meeting and try to launch into their stump speech only to be told that they had a list of questions. The look on their faces when they realized they were going to have to really answer questions and be accountable. Precious.

I survived giving the speech. I literally was tracked down by staff people who told me I had to run to the podium to deliver my report. I don't run. It's not a pretty sight. But it's done and I expect that the only reason that there aren't pages and pages of blog commentary on it is because you are still in total awe. :-)

So, tomorrow will start off well. There will be a bit of special programming before the convention recovenes at 9:00 am. Keep an ear out for it starting around 8:30 am in the main hall.

UPDATE: 6:30am, Saturday .... It is too damn early to be trying to function logically but here I freaking go ....

Something very difficult for me to admit ...

2006-06-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago KMSP Channel 9 changed their late night line up and are now rebroadcasting The Tyra Bank Show at midnight and, God help me, I think I like it.

She's kind-of like Oprah but without the Jesus Complex.

The other day she was doing a show on germs and the bit was that they were testing various surfaces in houses. The fun part was when they went over where they found traces of feces, to which Tyra replied "You mean I have dooky on my remote?"

So, now, for the past couple of days, at the oddest times, thanks to this, the word "dooky" pops into my brain.

Dooky.

W.T.F?

2006-06-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hatch to postpone No. 2 selection until after DFL convention

This is just confounding to me. I really don't know what to say other than I think it is an amazingly bad idea.

Convention Jitters

2006-06-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

So I am trying to write my speech for the convention with the full knowledge that of the people who will actually be there by that time in the morning only about one third will be paying any type of attention to me. Maybe a striptease in the middle will get people's attention :-)

One day that I am not looking forward to is Sunday and the Secretary of State race. There seems to be so much rancor and bitterness already. I keep hearing tales of stockpiles of photocopied attack pieces by one or another candidate. I think the first thing we may need to do is change the agenda that day so the SOS race is first on the agenda, for Sunday, rather than last. A tough fight like that would not be a good way to adjourn the convention right after.

Secretary of State Race this Weekend

2006-06-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Judging from the witty repartee on MNCR it looks like we are going to need massive doses of "chill pills" this weekend when we get to the SOS race.

It always amazes me how there are some supporters of candidates who just take things too far and go over the edge like some the posters over at MNCR have. One of my best friends today was someone I met while we were working on opposing campaigns. Campaigns are, by their nature, temporary things.

Aside from the truth that after the convention adjourns on Sunday we will all need to unite and work for our endorsed candidates there is also just the plain old fact that we should not be treating each other like this.

We have two good candidates .... vote for the one you think will be the best SOS.

Most Excellent Weekend!!!

2006-06-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Started with spending six hours at the first screenings State DFL Nominations. The big news this year is the dramatic increase in applicants for At-Large Director coming from underrepresented communities. Two years ago we only had three people from such communities apply and to date this year we have had fifteen people from such communities apply!! I don't know who we will be putting forth but it is going to be a very difficult set of choices to make.

We did approve Chair Melendez's proposed slate of convention chairs and the convention is going to be very well run!!

I spent Sunday afternoon at the DFL Women's Hall of Fame luncheon. This event is always a highlight of the year for me. For those of you not familiar with it this event honors a set of women each year for their hard work and contributions as DFLer's to both the DFL Party and public service. Additionally they also recognize what they call "Rising Stars", women who are just getting involved in the DFL and in politics who are already impressing people. It is impressive to me that these Rising Stars are not always young women, the committee also recognizes Rising Stars who are just getting involved at an older age.)

Not a lot of new gossip at either event. People are impressed with the possibility of a Hatch/Dutcher ticket (please note that I am not publically supporting any candidate at this time).

Ruth Johnson was making the rounds at the Hall of Fame event but I was disappointed to see her in a pair of plain old pumps and not the infamous red boots!

One other reason I had fun at the event was because I got to sit in the back, switching tables a couple times between sitting at the Christian Sande table and sitting next to Mark Ritchie. In fact, I am going to create a whole new seperate post just about that race now ....

Hatch's Lt. Gov Choice

2006-06-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

So in the blogs and in other arenas people "in the know" with Mike Hatch's campaign have been saying that his Lt. Gov. choice is going to blow us away. I was having a conversation with one such person and I started throwing names at them ... is it:

Sheila Kiscaden "No"
Jan Smaby :-) "No"
couple other general names ... "No"

Judi Dutcher ... "I can't tell you who it is"

So, clear no's on who its not and then obfusication on the last name.

As Arsenio used to say" Things that make you go 'hmmmmmmmm'"

I feel the need to whine ...

2006-06-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

The toothache is just about gone but there is enough residual pain to make me moderately crabby. Which means that almost any little thing just pisses me off right now.

For perspective I am reading the new translation of "Night" by Elie Wiesel. I bought it the other night with the same gift card that I got the new Pink CD with. I like going in for those odd combinations. Kind of like the time all I picked up at the grocery store was kitty litter and tomato sauce.

The problem with having a mild toothache is that while I am in a crabby mood I cannot concentrate enough to get a rant going on anything. So I guess I will just leave this as that for now.

New US Senate Candidate

2006-05-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

I have spent the past few days in a toothache induced haze that was exasberated by my freaking 40th birthday so I apologize for the dearth of posts.

Let's see, in all the hoopla about Ford Bell announcing he is skipping the endorsement process and going to the primary I find out that we do have a new candidate for the DFL endorsement for U.S. Senate in one Darryl Stanton. Some may remember that Mr Stanton ran against Jim Ramsted in the 3rd CD in 2002 and/or that he ran for theDemocratic National Committee representative in 2004. He lost both times.

So far he has made no official announcement. The only campaign "activity" was an ad purchased by him in the DFL State Convention Program Booklet that goes to the printer.

Oh Yippee .... Mike Erlandson is Running

2006-05-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

I understand that this is the man's dream job. I understand that if this were the type of job you got promoted into rather than elected it might make sense for someone in his position to get it. But it ain't. Life's a bitch and you don't always get your dream job.

So, now we get treated to a three month tantrum by a man who wants to be in Congress so bad he is willing to abandon the principles he expected others to operate by when he was Party Chair.

The fact is, Mike Erlandson wants to be in Congress, but that is a very different thing from wanting to represent the people of the 5th Congressional District. One of the more hilarious comments apparently ehard at a pre-convention Erlandson Campaign meeting, from the former Chair of the MY-DFL, was the statement was that this needed to be seen as a grassroots campaign. I doubt Mike Erlandson knows where the tips of the grass is in the 5th CD, much less the grassroots.

Until recently this man commuted to his job in Washington DC, leaving on Mondays and coming back on Fridays. In other words, he spent the majority of his time not in the 5th CD.

No wonder then that his campaign thinks that a good way to kick-off his primary campaign is to have a fundraiser and a private club with a former leader of the US Senate who is not only not from the 5th CD, not only not from Minnesota, but in fact, not even from the freaking region!

Finally, with all the fundraising prowess that this man is supposed to have could someone on the inside team please urge him to get rid of the extremely lame "I Like Mike" slogan. This is a race for US Congress, not Junior High Student Council.

Jeezy Creezy Mike Erlandson

2006-05-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

Seventeen days out from the convention where he had his little meltdown and still no updates to the Erlandson for Congress website. (Part of me should not be surprised since the DFL web page under Erlandson consistently sucked too)

Before the convention we had lots of people telling us how Mike Erlandson would be a fantastic fundraiser, yet he cannot seem to pony up some change to have someone slip into the piece of crap campaignoffice.com template and update the website?

Hell, even Gary Schiff, who was gracious at the convention and is not now running for anything was able to update his website.

DFL Committee Happenings over the Weekend

2006-05-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

This last weekend the various committees for the State DFL Convention met and attempted to resolve several issues.

Constitution Commission

Voted to NOT seat the Beltrami County delegation as it was submitted by the county due to some dispute over who was allowed to vote on the delegates for the 8th CD. I believe that the entire county unit voted on them when it should have only been those people who actually lived in the portion of the county that is in the 8th CD. At least that was what the argument was about.
Voted to make the State DFL Affirmative Action Officer an automatic member of the State DFL Nominations Committee. Prior to 1999 this would have been a clear conflict of interest but now that the officers are elected in the odd year this person can serve and actually have a perspective that is both Statewide and focused on diversity.
Voted to remove the Executive Committee Alternate status of each CD's Secretary, Treasurer and Affirmative Action Officer.

Nominations Committee

Set the schedule of interviews for the At-large State Directors positions:

Friday, June 2nd - 5 to 10 pm, at the DFL Office
Saturday, June 3rd - 3:30 to 10:00 pm, at the DFL Office
Thursday, June 8th - 4 to 9:00 pm, in Rochester
Friday, June 9th - 8 to 10 am, in Rochester

If you want to set up an interview call the delovely and delightful Jan at the DFL office at either 651-293-1200 or 1-800-999-7457. Then go to www.dfl.org to find the questionaire.

I'll post more as I remember it or get corrected :-)

(I know, you all want to know what the Rules Committee did and I am working on finding out.)

Rant #2 - Conservatives and Pop Culture

2006-05-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Building off this post from Minnesota Politics blog ......

The erstwhile Katherine Kersten rips on State Senator Tarryl Clark for her comment that Michele Bachman is the "Devil With a Blue Dress On". Apparently Kersten has spent her life locked in the back room and studiously avoided any contact with that great evil Rock and Roll because anyone else her age will recognize that this is a reference to a song by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels.

Reminds me of the idiotic overreaction to NOLA Mayor Ray Nagin's remarks about NOLA being a "Chocolate City. Very few people who reacted even had a clue that it was a reference to a Parliment Tune from the 70's . In other words, it was cultural shorthand intended for the people Nagin was talking too! (Culture comes sneaking in odd ways sometimes. I once had to backtrack in a conversation with some international students and explian what I meant by "going postal")

I mean all this proves is that some people out there are just nerds who need to listen to more Rock and P-Funk (the world would be a better place in general if we all listened to more P-Funk!)

Rant #1 - Immigration

2006-05-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

I guess I just do not understand what the problem is. All this talk about protecting and enforcing "our border" is just silly. Borders are NOT REAL. They are arbitary lines drawn up centuries ago. If you want proof of how arbitary borders are just check out the history of the Northwest Angle.

Also, what the hell is all this crapola about security and protecting our border. I might beleive it more if all the hoopla wasn't concentrated on the US/Mexican border. Let's try to follow the logic on this....our borders need to be secure to protect from terrorists so we need to put National Guard troops on the border and build a 300+ mile fence but the terrorists who attacked us on Sept. 11th, 2001 got into the country via student visas? Of course we have caught terrorists trying to enter the country illegally ... FROM CANADA.

Random Thoughts

2006-05-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Given the needs of crime prevention, war and all other human needs in this country I really am not comfortable with the govt spening time and money looking for Jimmy Hoffa.
New cat trick in that my cat has figured out how to get either into the duct work or between floors. This morning I was sitting on my bed and suddenly heard him right above me. Went over to the furnace area, called his name and out pokes his head, between floors.
No great political news, at least none that I can share at this time ;-)

Note to the Idiot who woke me up at 5:30 this morning ...

2006-05-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

That was the most pathetic obscene phone call I have gotten in my life!

More Harping on Erlandson

2006-05-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

So, for such an "imposing" candidate it seems odd that there has been no update to his website since the 5th CD Convention.

The ironic part of that is that apparently the McCollum Campaign has been trying to get the Erlandson people to take down the quote/endorsement she provided prior to the convention. Its ironic because thequote is about his "character".

Question: is this poor housekeeping or a deliberate attempt by the campaign to get people to think that McCollum still supports Erlandson? Because she doesn't. Three days after the convention she attended the district's Unity breakfast and endorsed Keith Ellison.

4th CD DFL Central Committee Report

2006-05-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

The 4th Congressional District DFL Central Committee met last night for their first meeting since the convention. The two big items I gleaned from the meeting were:

The Annual Bruce Vento Dinner will be held Sunday, October 8th and will feature Al Franken. Tix are going to be quite reasonable at $30 for one or $50 for two. More information will be on their website soon!

The other news was in the election of their alternates to the State DFL Executive Committee. Unlike the rest of the DFL CD units the 4th CD elects their three alternates rather than having the Secretary, Treasurer and Affirmative Action Officer automatically fill those spots. Last night five fine people ran for the seats with Tim Morse, Ramona Zamora and Evan Cordes being elected. Ironically perhaps, Tim is the Secretary and Ramona is the Affirmative Action Officer so in any other DFL CD unit they would have been automatic alternates anyway.

What is Erlandson Doing?

2006-05-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

If he is planning to run in the primary then it might be a good idea to update his website, Considering that it has quotes on it from at least two people who are now supporting Keith Ellison, the endorsed candidate. Of course, maybe the idea is to just let people believe something that's not true, like he was a good party chair.

Interesting political weekend

2006-05-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

So, for years now I have been hearing my friends from Greater MN complain about how the people in the safe DFL, urban area don't understand the need for unity and spend too much time infighting. Yet, this past weekend the 6th CD DFL went 7 ballots with 2 candidates while the 5th CD went 3 ballots with 8 candidates! Who here understands unity now?

On the other hand, I am very pleased to see that Nancy Schumacher was elected as Chair of the 6th CD. She's a pistol of a broad who will keep those rowdy folks in line and make it a strong win for the DFL there. Contrary to what PowerLiberal thinks (http://powerliberal.blogspot.com/) my understanding is that she was actually an El supporter and was one of the votes that changed on the last ballot to try and force an endorsement.

I am also hearing the the 8th CD DFL has returned to the past with the election of Don Bye as Chair again, although that is not confirmed. Don was the chair of the CD for 25 years before leaving for health reasons four years ago.

Mike Erlandson is a Schmuck

2006-05-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Actually I would have stronger words but who knows if little children and the faint of heart might be reading this.

There seems to be this deliberate effort at myth-building that Mike Erlandson did anything but a faboulous job as DFL Chair. While he did manage to raise a lot of money that's really about all he did. And then he spent the money like it was his own private piggy bank to use to dispense favors. After his first year he pretty much stopped even pretending to have an open hiring process for DFL staff and just hired friends and cronies. A tactic that worked well for him since it seemed like alomst every former DFL staffer from the past six years who was hired by him was at the 5th CD DFL Convention working on his campaign (can you say patronage?).

It is also important to note that Mike Erlandson actually violated the DFL Constitution by not having the minimum required 2 meetings a year of the State DFL Central Committee. After all, those were just the party activists, people who did not matter unless they could write him checks that he could then turn around and bestow jobs and contracts on his cronies. Agree or disagree on a lot of things but when the legal documents of an organization say you have to do something and you don't that's called malfeasance.

And explain to me how someone can be said to be doing a good job as Chair when for the first time is decades, on his "watch" Minnesota becomes a Presidential battleground state in 2000 and 2004?

Yea, Erlandson raised a lot of money and looked pretty doing it. But otherwise, he barely kept the seat warm.

My New Hero is Pink

2006-04-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

PinkDear Mr. President(featuring: Indigo Girls)
Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell
What kind of father would take his own
daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work Hard work

Oh How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me Would you