Yesterday was great. The heading above cuts to the chase. That’s my total vote at last night’s caucus. 8 votes out of 75 delegates. As Roger told WDIO he’s been a Democrat for 36 years. He told the delegates last night he’d received their endorsement six previous times. He’s as good as a sitting incumbent and losing the endorsement would have been as good as an admission by this DFL hardcore of that this very nice, inoffensive fellow had been a mistake. There is no way he could have lost the endorsement.
Still, to lose ten percent of the vote under these circumstances to a controversial recent Republican is not a good sign for him. I still know hardly any of the DFL family with their long ties to Roger. That won’t be a factor in the August 10th primary. Roger won’t be able to control who shows up to vote. Independents, Republicans and angry people whose votes were stolen from them will all be able to cast a vote. And I’ve gotten one very important and public ally in Mike Jaros who won 15 straight elections to the legislature long before he handed his office over to Roger. When Roger took over he ignored Mike’s passionate, insistence that the Red Plan should be voted on and his criticism of its use of a regressive tax. DFL insiders might consider this an inconvenient truth but Duluth voters will find it very motivating
I’m an deeply in debt to Mike. Having called me out of the blue he proceeded to lobby for my improbable selection, made some calls to delegates as well as writing letters to all the local print media and buoyed up my morale with a postcard.
I had a hoot. I began the process by being interviewed by about ten member of a “screening committee.” They asked me questions they had sent me earlier. I spent the most time explaining why I wanted the DFL endorsement. As I told them it was a particularly important question. It was very friendly and they were very appreciative of my answers. We did a lot of joking back and fourth (one fellow introduced himself as Michele Bachman). One of the screeners told me afterwards that I had been very impressive. They reported back to the convention that they had unanimously decided to recommend Roger Reinert. Of course, they did. They were the supreme insiders who had to ratify the DFL’s past decisions.
It was what political parties do. Its not what unhappy voters in primaries do.
It became obvious that my principal challenge last night was to make sure that no one leaving the endorsing convention could have any complaints about me after I win the August primary. Other than the half dozen incumbent school board members and their close allies who showed up to vote against me I think I accomplished that handily with my spirited ten minute talk.
I don’t think too many of the DFLers really get their noses out of joint over candidates nowadays who challenge the official DFL endorsed candidates. Asked whether I would support the endorsee (if it wasn’t me) I pointed out that I was already on the ballot and that the unexpected rush of events prevented the convention from taking place prior to the filing.
Besides, among the delegates was Yvonne Prettner Solon herself who is bucking the DFL endorsement of Rep. Keliher to run as Mark Dayton’s running mate. She had been invited by Roger himself to endorse his candidacy. I didn’t mention at the convention that her husband Sam Solon was probably spinning in his grave over her support for the School Board’s closing of Central High. I did, however, mention yesterday’s news story in the Trib. I pointed out to delegates that when Mark Dayton was asked what he thought about letting School Board’s raise their own levies without referendums he drew a line at building bond referendums by saying these should be determined by public votes. I told the convention I hoped Dayton would talk to his running mate about this.
