I just read the MPR analysis of the titanic James Oberstar and his battles with mighty Republican oponents. I had to laugh.
“He had few serious challenges in his subsequent re-election bids. In 1984, he lost a primary bid for the U.S. Senate.His district is one of the nation’s largest. It stretches north from Chisago and Isanti counties in east-central Minnesota, through Duluth and the Iron Range to the Canadian border. He opposes abortion and is against the death penalty.James Oberstar was elected to the U.S. House in 1974 with 62 percent of the vote. He has been re-elected 14 times, all with ease. Oberstar’s three most recent contests are prime examples. In 1998 he defeated Republican Jerry Shuster with 66 percent of the vote in a race that also featured Stan “The Man” Estes. In the 2000 general election he faced another nicknamed challenger, “Cowboy” Bob Lemen, a native Texan who has settled in Grand Rapids. He beat Lemen with 68 percent of the vote. He outspent Lemen $1 million to $22,000. In 2002, he again beat Lemen by a 69-to-31-percent margin.
In 2004, Oberstar faced Mark Groettum, a Republican, and Van Presley, a member of the Green Party. Oberstar cruised to re-election, capturing 65 percent of the vote in the three-way race, the 5th straight election in which he captured at least 65 percent of the votes cast.”
The operative phrase here is “serious challenges.” I know these challengers. $22,000 for Cowboy Bob Lemon and Oberstar couldn’t do better than 65% of the vote? Back when Oberstar was first elected Democrats routinely pulled 85% of the vote. By the way. I just read that Jim only started this campaign with $300,000 in the bank. What did he do with the other $700,000? Must be payroll. It figures.
