Senate Districts holding conventions this weekend:
SD 33 - Shorewood/Excelsior/Wayzata/Orono/Medina - 16 delegates
SD 40 - Bloomington - 9 delegates
SD 41 - Edina/Bloomington - 19 delegates
SD 44 - Hopkins - 1 delegate
SD 45 - Plymouth - 2 delegates
SD 49 - Coon Rapids - 6 delegates
Predictions? Analysis? Thoughts?
Democrat Mike Ciresi is dropping out of the race for U.S. Senate, saying he doesn’t think he can win the party’s endorsement.
Ciresi has been trailing former comedian Al Franken, who has lined up the support of major unions and has raised millions more dollars. Ciresi recently announced he would loan $2 million of his own money to his campaign.
I was excited to see Ciresi get in this race a year ago. Between his prosecutorial skills and business acumen, he seemed to have the makings of a great candidate. Moreover, his years of devotion to Minnesota in both philanthropic and political circles demonstrated that he never forgot his roots.
Yet as the months dragged on Ciresi never seemed to reach that crucial breaking point in the race for the endorsement. This was, of course, largely due to Al Franken’s consistent ability to dominate the race through a mixture of celebrity and exuberant campaigning; but I have to say that even with this huge disadvantaged I was surprised that Ciresi’s campaign never really mounted a serious challenge to Franken. After all, he’s a great solution to the early worries about a Franken candidacy that some DFLers voiced and it would seem that Ciresi could have leveraged some great back-room talking points with nervous delegates. Apparently, the Franken campaign was just too dominant… or something. And as the convention neared, loyal DFLers (I’ll admit to being in this camp) became increasingly less tolerant of the Ciresi camp’s inner-party blood letting.
At the end of the day this seems to be a combination of unfortunate circumstances and lack-luster campaigning. I’ll leave the distribution of import of those factors for our readers to decide… What shouldn’t be ignored here, however, is the deserved political capital Mike Ciresi gains by putting the party before himself here. It’s a decision that is tough to make as a candidate and one that should be given all the credit it deserves.
What can be said with certainty is that Mike Ciresi is a truly admirable Minnesotan and tenacious fighter — a combination of traits that should (hopefully) ensure that this most recent bow from the limelight won’t be the final curtain on his public persona.
Sean Adds: I’d like to take a second to single out Ty Bates. Ty joined the Ciresi campaign early this winter as the organizer for the 5th Congressional District, from the first time he called me to the occasions that I got to meet Ty I was so impressed by his hard work, his attention to detail and his character. Ty would be a welcome addition to any campaign around the country — although it would be a real loss to the DFL and it’s candidates. Here’s hoping for good luck for Ty and everyone else at the Ciresi camp as they end this campaign that they’ve devoted so much time and hard work to.
The complete statement of Mike Ciresi on His Withdrawal from the U.S. Senate Race is below the break.
More »
Mark Drake, communications director for the Minnesota GOP, said the party opposed the legislation but did not urge that Republican lawmakers who voted for it be denied endorsements.
“The decision to endorse is up to the local party units, and we certainly respect their decision and stand by their decision,” Drake said.
But that ignores the fact that MN GOP Chair Ron Carey urged Kathy Tingelstad’s convention to postpone her endorsement, Deputy Chair Dorothy Flemming drove three hours to tell Republican activists to reject Rod Hamilton at the Cottonwood County Convention, and Deputy Minority Leader Tom Emmer went up to Jim Abeler’s convention just this weekend!
Abeler, who was already stripped of committee leadership positions, told KARE 11 he once again felt the wrath of the House Republican Caucus at Anoka City Hall Saturday.
Assistant Minority Leader Tom Emmer of Delano appeared at the District 49 endorsing convention.
“He came in and gave a seven minute fire and brimstone speech talking about the terrible Democrat transportation tax bill. And the crowd got fired up,” recounted Abeler on Sunday.
“It was almost like an attack dog was sent. I was astounded. I thought the retribution was over.”
I am not going to answer your question. I am not going to jump to some conclusion right now.
Peterson joins Rep. Ron Erhardt in considering a bolt from the GOP. Look at how Peterson characterizes the MN GOP:
The party has started to move more and more into an attack mode. There is no room for discussion, there is very little room to build consensus. It has gotten to the point that people demand, and want to control us…There is a battle for dominance, and if you don’t think just down the certain line of a conservative, there is something wrong with you.
More Peterson:
Its very strident, its very attack, its very destructive. Our caucus over here is a house divided. People are at each others throats. Not just over transportation.
Still more:
They’re just marching off the cliff. Its really too bad.
It’s a bit rough around the edges (Zack has more politically coined it “grassroots”) and we’re still working on the format, but I think it’s a fun first try. Also, we’re going to try to keep it to 5 minutes next time, but for now, take a look and let us know what you think!
The topics this week are the results from the CD3 State conventions this weekend and the odd GOP endorsement outcomes from this weekend.
So, without further ado, I give you Publius TV:
People Are Shouting
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