I just watched Almanac North and have concluded that the Assistant Fire Chief Simonson has a chance.
Travis Silver is a nice tongue tied-young man, probably a Ron Paul devotee, who doesn’t really know why he’s running for the legislature. He’s probably running because someone asked him to file just so the GOP could have a candidate. His chief argument could have been one of mine back in 1976 to wit: that Duluth ought to have a Republican in the legislature and not keep all its eggs in the DFL basket. For crying out loud, Given the opportunity he didn’t even say “Jobs, jobs, jobs.”
I can imagine Travis getting barely 20% of the vote all the more for write-in candidates.
I mentioned the likelyhood that City Councilor Fosle and Chief Simonson could split the vote. Fosle didn’t show up on Almanac. He had some previous engagement. If he really wants to win he sure as hell should have skipped the previous engagement. My thought was he’s too chicken to show up or was afraid he couldn’t handle questions from Denny Anderson.
Simonson looked and sounded like a legislator. When the DFL endorses him they will put their shoulder behind his campaign.
I suggested that there was no way to get Kerry Gauthier’s name off the ballot. We’ll see. If the DFL can endorse Simonsen in time they may have an in to get his name on the ballot in the absence of a DFL candidate. The primary was in August which gives them close to a month before the ballots are actually printed up to make their case in court. They may be stuck with a write-in campaign but could probably win it. If they can set a new precedent they have a shoe in.
