After the congressional straw vote was taken Charles Gessert spoke. He made the comment that he would have no difficulty supporting any of the three DFL candidates against Chip Cravaack. I had to agree although not so much because Cravaack is a disagreeable man but because he will vote the GOP line and his party has become such a disagreeable party.
All three candidates were at Woodland School tonight presumably because of its proximity with UMD and the more prosperous side of Duluth. Two of them got to our caucus which gave me a chance to form some additional impressions of them.
I’ll be eager to read the results of the congressional straw ballot race across the whole of the current Congressional District. If there is no significant reapportionment change it will give the best idea of the early strengths and weaknesses of the three candidates. Fox News gave a report that I suspect covered the Woodland caucuses meaning East Duluth. If that’s what the figures represent it is interesting indeed. Local candidate Jeff Anderson only got 44% to ex Congressman Rick Nolan’s 42%. I barely remember Rick Nolan’s tenure as a Congressman. It was over by the beginning of the Reagan Era and yet with only email and a few mailed brochures he equaled our City Councilman.
I have some theories that don’t help Jeff Anderson much for why the vote turned out the way it did but I’ll refer you only to my posts about Jeff related to the City Council’s blinders on the Red Plan. Passing the buck may not be a great recommendation for one’s “passion.”
Jeff came in and gave a little speech. The only thing I remember other than his litany of campaign related activity was his huffing and puffing followed by his comment that he really needed to do some exercise to get in shape. Hey, I’m going to swim a thousand yards tomorrow.
Rick Nolan came in and sounded like a 68 year old devotee of Hubert Humphrey giving a stem winder to people who agreed with him. The problem is that his style seemed terribly dated and I couldn’t help but think his oration suggested he couldn’t read his audience well. It will have zero appeal for UMD students on style even if they agree with its substance. My personal gripe with it was his old fashioned Democratic call to save Social Security. That to me sounded like a terrible do nothing about it but rhapsodize about it while ignoring its looming insolvency.
I must say I heartily was impressed with his turning his back on Washington after 1980 and returning home to the quite life of a businessman and town father and passing up the big bucks he could have made as a DC lobbyist.
If the District boundaries remain the same I could see Nolan failing to catch fire against Chip Cravaack who does exude a confident aura of humility, simplicity and pragmatism.
Finally there was Terryl Clark. Fairly or otherwise I think she has been successfully tagged as a “carpetbager.” Its not a very fair tag but its deadly. Besides that she lost to Michelle Bachmann two years ago by a whopping 13% gap. That tells me that she’s a lousy salesman. She will have a better year to sell herself but a foreign district to do the selling.
I’d support any of these candidates against Chip Cravaack. I’ll just wait to do it after the primary. Who knows what candidates might crawl out of the woodwork then?
