Amen. When it is all said and done, it is not going to be the $100 from Mr. Teacher in Bloomington who will get him over the top, but the party machine and contributions from people in places like Alexandria, Virginia who wouldn’t know Madia if they saw him on the street.

And in all fairness to him, much of the same will hold true for Paulsen.

So is the state of politics today.

The DNC will pump big bucks in here to get this seat.

Wellstone never got a majority, either. I’d be careful with knocking the plurality point.

But dmc, your longer post up above (where you give the reasons you voted for Jesse) is right on. In today’s political world, you first need to pander for a party endorsement before you can take your message to the constituency.

Further, he more or less won with about half the cash on hand as the established candidate.

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2008/01/10/546/dflers_bonoff_madia_raise_sizable_sums_in_3rd_district_race

Yes, going to a primary certainly ups the ante. Then it becomes name recognition and short blurbs on TV/radio. If we were doing a primary it would probably be Franken - Cerisi now rather than Franken - Nelson-Pallmeyer. And I personally think Franken - N-P is a better “will of the people”.

And, we still could have a primary. Two years ago the DFL endorsed Andy Lugar for Hennepin County Attorney over Mike Freeman. Freeman took it to primary, won the primary and won the general election, so it’s not necessarily a killer.

You want to ensure that money is the overriding factor, dump the caucus and go to a primary.

And regardless of what the sideline sitters and Monday Morning Quarterbacks here are saying, “choice” is “choice” and those whom are chosen by the most are chosen by the will of the people.

Can we get off this “will of the people”. Given our system, it’s usually about $$. By the time one gets to November, you probably have a minority of people who’s first choice is the winner. Take the Presidential race, we originally had what 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans? That is when one truly has a choice. But good people get lost for lack of $$ and name recognition. As KH said, get involved then. Sorry, but ya gotta pick one of the two major parties to have any impact. I voted for Jesse, not because I thought he would be a good governor, he didn’t have a prayer to be that because both parties worked against him, so it was him against the world. I voted for Jesse because I knew he had a shot at it, and I wanted to express my displeasure with both political parties. Did it do any good? I don’t think either party really heard us. KH has the best idea given the constraints we have to work in. Green party et. al. will never have a prayer because the 2 in power have legislated it almost an impossibility for them to be viable. Madia is the will of the people who chose to get involved at this level. If you don’t want to show up until November, then your will of the people will be limited to those who are left standing.

The will of the people was for Jesse to be Governor.

Now, lets suppose Jesse had gone to the DFL or GOP conventions asking them to support his candidacy? Would he have been welcomed? Would he have garned 37% of the support from those attendees?

What is sad is that while the Independent who wants to make a difference has usually been more accepted in MN than other states, they still have a tidal wave of odds against them.

The days of the feel good story of a citizen becoming an inspiring populist candidate are gone. Today, you have to play the party game.

Sorry but that’s bs. You have every right to get involved with whichever party you wish and work within that party structure to push a candidate that supports your views. You have the Green Party, Independence Party, the GOP and the DFL at a minimum. It isn’t the problem of either the GOP or the DFL that these other parties are not organized or effective in the 3rd congressional district. If you really want one of them to be effective, get involved in it and work to make it so. Complaining that no one represents you is a strawman.

So, in the 3rd you have effectively 2 choices. Please, don’t expect anyone here to believe the DFL is the only party that is going to pick a nominee that doesn’t reflect the “will of the people” by the 7% who showed up. That’s garbage, too. Both major parties have put in place their own procedures for choosing their candidates. Candidates choose to run in their party nomination processes as set the year before. They know what they are getting into and if they don’t, it’s their own fault.

The GOP self-selected Erik Paulsen because….it’s his turn, apparently. The DFL is selecting a nominee right now under the process put in place last year. Both candidates are making their cases for the nomination.

Your choices are: GOP with their nominee of Erik Paulsen, the DFL with Madia (if Bonoff accepts the fact that she is out of it or looses on the first or second ballot) or David Dille who is running as an independent because he can afford to.

If you don’t want to work to create a 3rd party that represents you, you have to choose among those who are willing to do so.

So, consider it “disenfranchisement” of those who don’t bother to work the system or those who have other commitments in their lives or those who just want to complain because their pet issue isn’t pandered to but it’s the way it is.

I alway caucus with one party or the other and have always worked more than the average citizen to make my voice heard. The real truth, unlike what NothinButTheTruth writes, is that the parties have tried to force everybody to pick one side or the other to have a voice. The two-faced response to independents is one person like PlymouthDem saying we should join a major party in order to have input while NBTT says that being independent means we shouldn’t get a say in their party. As long as their are parties that put themselves above the will of the people I will do what I can to influence them without promoting them. That is my will. The will of Democrats is to support a party that promotes a system which disenfranchises of a majority of the countries citizens.

And I’m not complaining that the candidates aren’t good enough. I think we had 4 candidates in this race that all had merit.

What got me going off on this tangent wasn’t the candidates who were going to be put forth; it was the assertion that this is somehow “the people speaking”.

It’s not. But it is the way the system works and I can live with it. But when I hear someone invoking the phrase “the will of the people” in what essnetially is a party endorsing process, I’ll take issue with that assertion every time.

I don’t get how one can wait around until they have “a variety of candidates” during a general election but then complain that the candidates that others, who put in the effort to pick them, aren’t good enough.

It’s fine to be independent, but, if you want better candidates get involved in putting them forward.