Been up for an hour thinking random thoughts. Time for a little stream of conscience blogging, perhaps to make up for so little blogging for the past few weeks. I’m a potential candidate for Congress for goodness sakes!
Blogging is a bit of an addiction. I’ve had several other episodes of non communication. Maybe they were bouts of cold turkey. Maybe they were bouts of me forcing myself to concentrate on other important tasks at the expense of my addiction. Well, tonight – this morning – I feel like rewarding my eight loyal readers with something fresh. I may not write every day but I usually check my stats just to see if my eight still show up and they always do.
So, for my only Congressional stream of conscience thought here’s my quick reaction to the lopsided DFL endorsement of Rick Nolan. Wow! I had no idea the other candidates were so weak.
That news is several days old. I seem to recall that 20 % of the delegates at the Saturday convention voted not to endorse anyone. That’s a troubling sign for Nolan. Why didn’t they? These are the hard core DFLers who are anxious to remove Chip Cravaack. What kept them from giving someone their vote? Maybe its a modern day malady like all those Republicans who can’t get on board with Mitt Romney. Call it unenthusiasticitis.
Nolan who I’ve described as a Humphrey-like spectre from the past left Congress after only four terms back in the 1980’s. Its so long ago I can’t recall the details. One of the dozen comments about the DNT news story on the endorsement recalled something vague about Nolan having gotten some bad press for being something of a male swashbuckler. (that’s my dramatic interpretation of the somewhat more vague comment) If there is anything to it I’m sure it will be rehashed during the summer by some superpac.
I paid more attention back in the 1980’s to my old Mankato-area Congressman, tom Hagadorn. He cheated on his wife as I recall. His campaign manager, Vin Weber, took over for him. I knew Vin from my College Republican days. Vin told me he was allergic to marijuana. Today he’s a top level GOP strategist and sometime media talking head.
I’d say the DFL’s non-existant support for other candidates was the most telling. Tarryl Clark got zip and Jeff Anderson got 10%. I don’t see how either of them can expect to pull off a primary win if the folks who saw them up close and personal won’t support them.
If they decide to make it a three-way despite their poor showing I’ll be far more inclined to join them. It would be fun to see if I could pull more votes out of Duluth than Jeff without bothering to campaign.
