I think that Mike Ciresi is an amazing advocate, an excellent business man, and a truly admirable Minnesotan, which is why I was more than interested to see him drop his name in a race for Senate he actually had a shot at. But I’ve also been incredibly consistent in advocating for candidates to abide by the endorsement. The reason is simple: in a state that doesn’t have its primary until September we simply can’t allow DFL on DFL blood to be shed while the Republican candidate sits by and raises money. Which is why I was more than a little nervous to see that Mike Ciresi funneled $2 million into his campaign from his own pocket this past week, bringing his total contributions to $2.5M.
Initial reaction: HOLY MOLEY HE’S RUNNING THROUGH THE PRIMARY! And, indeed, it seems that certain academics had the same thought:
David Schultz, a Hamline University professor who specializes in government ethics and politics, said the loan suggests “a long-haul strategy” laying the groundwork for a possible primary race. [Strib]
If this is the case, however, the Ciresi campaign is refusing to acknowledge it:
Sandberg said Friday that nothing has changed. “He will abide by the endorsement,” she said. [Ibid]
After taking a few deep breathes I’ve decided I’m willing to give the Ciresi campaign the shadow of the doubt. Yes, the most convincing analysis is that Ciresi is building up for the long haul, but this money could be a sign of other things. First of all, Ciresi’s fundraising when compared to Franken’s has been anemic which has likely forced him to spend into debt — this could be compensating for that debt. Also, if Ciresi wants to continue to challenge Franken for the endorsement on a functional level he’ll have to spend at a high rate; after all, most signs point to Franken leading in the delegate numbers and it’ll take a fair amount of direct mail and ads to make a credible challenge. And, although it seems naive, we can’t ignore that Ciresi’s campaign has said unequivocally that he will abide and hasn’t left him a Clintonesque gap in wording that would allow him a semantic way out of his statements to this effect.
Like I said at the start of this post, Mike Ciresi has many qualities that make him a compelling candidate. And while so far his campaign has been unimpressive, he deserves his fair shake. That being said, no DFL candidate should be allowed any slack for breaking his or her endorsement pledge, especially not this year. It is damaging for the party and for that candidate’s future career in Minnesotan politics. It’s a stance that I and many other DFLers across this state have been crystal clear about for quite some time and with good reason: Norm Coleman should not be allowed another term in the Senate.
The key fight will be in the Rules Committee for the State Convention, will it be Whoopi for the win or Paul Lynde for the block. I could see a scenario where Cerisi seeks to block the endorsement and force a primary. It would be very bad news for the DFL and great news for Smilin’ Norm.
As the Poli Sci profs keep telling us, rules matter.
While I agree with the logic of trying to avoid a bloody September primary I really do dislike the idea that a handfull of party activists will choose the DFL Nominee. In my perfect world the primaries would be in May and all the candidates would take part.
I’m happy to hear you say that and the same goes for Franken.
“handfull of party activists” is merely hyperbole.
Not very good hyperbole, at that.
Two million is peanuts compared to the four million the Franken campaign has already blown through.. Why isn’t Franken being accused of preparing for a primary?
Hey, I’ll be the first one to call Franken out if he breaks the endorsement or shows signs of planning to do so; I just haven’t seen it yet. Strong fundraising and network building is very different from injecting $2M of your personal fortune into a slowing campaign.
But let me reiterate: If Franken breaks the endorsement after Mike wins, I’ll be 100% on Mike’s side.
he needs to spend that money to be competitive in the endorsement, which is the nomination so he’s spending what he needs to do that. i don’t see anything sinister at all.
he wouldn’t run against franken with the endorsement. what chance would he have? franken’s got better name rec, more money, and the endorsement. i just don’t see it.
as for the convention - the rules will be: no ballot limits. that will be the wish of the JNP and Franken supporters and they will have the numbers to make sure that passes.
Or Jack’s side
My first thought was that he was going to a primary, but then I thought about it a bit more. I think he first of all needs this money for the endorsement campaign. Secondly, it shows a commitment by him to the race, should he be the nominee, that he is willing to invest his own money in it. I don’t think such a tactic is going to work, as the knee-jerk reaction is going to be to think he’s going to the primary.
Just to back up what you heard from the Ciresi campaign, Matt, Dominique Ciresi again said that his father would abide by the endorsement. Dominique made this statement to the delegates at the Big Stone county unit convention on Sunday.
I guess I still don’t understand why anyone needs a couple of million to win the endorsement. Jack’s campaign is doing quite well with a quarter of a million. A lot more money will be needed for the expensive media campaign of the November election, of course, but it is hard to imagine that Democrats from around the country wouldn’t want to donate to the Democrat running against vulnerable Norm Coleman. That would be true for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Ciresi or Franken. I would argue, in fact, that Franken’s 77% out-of-state donations reflect the mistaken belief that Franken is already the nominee.
Matt, I hardly find your comments to be objective. Not only do you never call into questions Franken’s statement of abiding by the endorsement, but your personal relationship with JD (paid Franken staffer) shows all your comments to be bias. It tends to take a lot of nerve to write an article like that and not call out Franken at the same time for his actions. Any person who is striving to be held to the same standard as a journalist would have recused them self from this conversation a long time ago or at least cite your close relationship with the Franken staff. In fact, let’s look at the same StarTribune article you cited to see Andy Barr: “We continue to take [Ciresi] at his word. All DFLers know how important it is that this party unify in June to take on Norm Coleman.” Your statements sound awfully ike Franken campaign talking points to me.
Now lets take a look at the millions Franken has been raising….
Franken has been building national support bases and has raised millions of dollars largely from out of state sources. This is a delegate race, anyone who didn’t flunk out of Poli Sci would know instantly that this is the tactic of someone who intends to run a primary. After all, in a delegate race, who needs to attend events in New York City or Hollywood to get out their message? Franken then turns around and tells the people of MN that they should just stick with him because he has amassed a large war chest. Ciresi saw these actions, in the political business its called whoring your self out, and decided that he needed to neutralize Franken’s out of state money while at the same time remain beholden to just Minnesotans.
So lets recap; Ciresi has made countless statements that he will abide by the nomination, but no one has called Franken out to make his state the same just as many times. Franken has amassed millions of dollars from out of state (even though he has squandered most of it on telemarketing) and we are suppose to think Ciresi is the one not concentrating on the DFL nomination process. We don’t need you to give Ciresi the “shadow of a doubt” we need you to call on Franken just as publicly in his own blog column to be just as transparent with his finances and not run a primary battle like he appears is already doing.
Dwnhilldude: I never have once even pretended to hold myself to journalistic standards of impartiality. The whole point of this blog is that I AM biased. But, that being so, I still haven’t seen anything that indicates that Franken will break the endorsement. If I do, I’ll report it and condemn it. On the other hand, Mike Ciresi has gone to the primary before (albeit in very different, much more legitimate circumstances) and his injecting this sort of cash right now into his own campaign is suspect. I’m certainly not the first, or only one to say this.
Like I’ve said all along, Franken is building a primary campaign. Look at how he’s raised much more money than needed to win a convention endorsement. Note also how Franken has focused his campaign on a much wider audience that 2400 DFL state delegates and alternates.
Couple this with the fact that Franken is flopping at the county unit conventions and the outcome is obvious- Franken will be lucky to get 40% of the delegates to block a Ciresi endorsement.