Tag Archive for 'Susan Gaertner'

2010 Gubernatorial Fundraising Cheat-Sheet [Updated x2]

by Matt Martin | 17 Comments

After getting Bakk’s numbers this morning, I was in the process of compiling where all the various candidates are in their respective fundraising efforts when I noticed that Tom Scheck over at Polinaut had beat me to the punch [UPDATE: Scheck has an even better list now].  So, in the interest of saving myself the effort, I’m augmenting Mr. Scheck’s summary with additional information I had been compiling:

Tom Bakk (D):

  • Total: $361,927 (began fundraising in mid-2008)
  • 2009 Total: $208,682
  • Cash on Hand: $133,000
  • Other: none reported.

Mark Dayton (D): [NEW]

  • Total: $641,821 (committee registered in early 2009)
  • 2009 Total: $641,821
  • Cash on Hand: $16,772
  • Other: He loaned $570,00 to his campaign (!)

Matt Entenza (D): [UPDATED]

  • Total: Over $400,000 (began around January)
  • 2009 Total: $405,286 from contributors in 2009.
  • Cash on Hand: $73,917
  • Other: Matt made a $10,000 contribution to the campaign and loaned the campaign $70,000.

Susan Gaertner (D): [NEW]

  • Total: $200,411 (began in 2007!)
  • 2009 Total: $110,828
  • Cash on Hand: $4,347

Steve Kelley (D): [NEW]

  • Total: About $200,ooo (he never closed out his 2006 committee, so there are nominal contributions in 2007 and 2008, but he didn’t really start his push for this cycle until 2010)
  • 2009 Total: $187,249
  • Cash on Hand: $39,541
  • Other: Loaned $16,400 to his campaign

Margaret Anderson Kelliher (D):

  • Total: $254,000 (formally announced in September, not sure when she began fundraising)
  • 2009 Total: $254,000 from contributors in 2009.
  • Cash on Hand: $81,000
  • Other: She made a direct contribution of $250 to her campaign.

John Marty (D): [NEW]

  • 2009 Total: $105,895
  • Cash on Hand: $18,910
  • Other: None reported.

Tom Rukavina (D):

  • Total: $135,000 (announced exploratory committee in the summer of 2009)
  • 2009 Total: $135,000
  • Cash on Hand: $60,000
  • Other: None reported.

R.T. Rybak (D):

  • Total: $278,000 (started fundraising at very end of 2009)
  • 2009 Total: $138,000 (additional $140K raised in January, 2010)
  • Cash on Hand: $25,000
  • Other: None reported.

Paul Thissen (D):

  • Total: $370,000 (began fundraising in late 2008)
  • 2009 Total: $233,000
  • Cash on Hand: $85,000
  • Other: He also loaned his campaign $20,000

Marty Seifert (R):

  • Total: $262,753 (stepped down as minority leader in June to form exploratory committee)
  • 2009 Total: $262,753
  • Cash on Hand: $133,072.
  • Other: He also loaned his campaign $20,000 and transferred $20,000 from his now defunct MN House campaign

Tom Emmer (R): [UPDATED]

  • Total: $114,852 (began this summer)
  • 2009 Total: $114,852
  • Cash on Hand: $19,154.
  • Other: via Scheck: “His spokesman said he loaned the campaign and gave in-kind contributions that amount to roughly $10,000.”

I said it once, and I’ll say it again:  The DFL numbers are blowing the GOP numbers out of the water. In fact, just for fun, let’s compare totals here:

Party Totals (so far): [UPDATED]

  • DFL Candidates: $1,849,761 ($2,419,761 counting Dayton’s $570K loan to his campaign)
  • GOP Candidates: $429,463 (includes GOP candidates I didn’t bother listing above)

Let’s not get overly-confident, but let’s also not fall for the argument that our cluttered field has dampened enthusiasm, because that is obviously not the case.

January 26, 2010, 11:55 am | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Who cares about this whole “endorsement” thing anyway?

by Matt Martin | 31 Comments

The news of the hour is that Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner has announced that she will not abide by the DFL endorsement and will run in the party primary. The money-quote from her press release: “To be honest, I think my original plan to rely solely on the endorsement and convention process was too politically limiting.” Read: I don’t think I’m going to get endorsed.

With her announcement, the list of candidates not abiding by the endorsement jumps to four: Gaertner, Mark Dayton, Matt Entenza, and Steve Kelley. (edit: Apparently Steve Kelley hasn’t made a final decision on the endorsement, just saw this tweet from Tom Scheck: “A spokesman for Steve Kelley said Kelley is considering the DFL endorsement very carefully but has not ruled out a primary run.”)  Without delving into the relative merits and faults of the endorsement process (personally, I’m neither a loyalist nor a hater), this begs the question: does the DFL endorsement matter?

In a word, yes. While it’s painfully obvious that the endorsement will not be the party unifying, field-clearing event that some may wish it to be, that doesn’t sap it of importance for the candidate that does get endorsed. Increasingly, it’s appearing that the endorsement race is between Bakk, Keliher, and Rybak — not to discount the other candidates, especially Thissen who has an outside shot as a consensus candidate, but this is currently the political reality — and it’s difficult (although not impossible) to envision a path to the governor’s mansion for any one of those three candidates that doesn’t include a DFL endorsement.

The endorsement lends the candidate an added air of legitimacy and a great deal of momentum that will be crucial in the pivot towards the primary. Without either Dayton or Entenza’s ability to self-finance (and Dayton’s massive head-start in name recognition), the endorsement becomes a crucial weapon in a primary battle. Sure, the endorsed candidate still has to contend with a primary battle, but I would assert that he or she will be in the best position of any DFL primary contender, at least at the outset of the primary race. (The ability to self-finance a gubernatorial race simply isn’t the all-destroying ace-up-the-sleeve some imagine it to be)

Now, let me make something else clear: I actually don’t hold anything against Dayton, Entenza, Gaertner, or Kelley for not abiding. It’s a very crowded field and, without getting into who cast the first stone, that makes the calculus complicated. That being said, I find it hard to see how Kelley or Gaertner win the primary without the party’s endorsement. I’ve been a huge Steve Kelley fan for some time and Gaertner has consistently been one of the most impressive candidates on the stump, but neither one has sufficient momentum or resources to go it without the endorsement boost. But, hey, I would be pleasantly surprised if either one of them pulled-off the underdog triumph.

Bottom Line: At the end of April (the convention is April 23-35) we’ll most likely have a three-way race in the DFL gubernatorial primary — Mark Dayton, Matt Entenza, and the DFL endorsed candidate — with the DFL endorsed candidate the presumptive front-runner. Various other permutations are definitely possible (say, Keliher snagging the endorsement and Rybak deciding to run in the primary), but I’m comfortable pegging this as the most likely.

All political maneuverings aside, no matter what happens between here and there, I’m feeling pretty dang good about where this race will be in September.

January 5, 2010, 2:19 pm | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: .

The AFSCME Debate

by Zack Stephenson | 44 Comments

AFSCME hosted a debate among the DFL candidates for Governor up in Duluth the other day, and MPR was kind enough to post the audio.  Overall, the debate was very civil, and most of the candidates did not engage each other.  The one exception to this was R.T. Rybak, who took a shot at the all of the current and former legislators in the field, saying “This is not a legislative job, its a chief executive.”  Rybak also slammed Dayton (and possibly Entenza) for their positions on the DFL endorsement.

Below are my impressions for each candidate:

Steve Kelley: Kelley didn’t show me anything new in this debate.  That’s not a criticism, just an observation.  He’s the same candidate he was in 2006.  He did have a couple of odd moments.  He  took a question about the state budget deficit and ended up talking about the public option in the national health care bill.   Later on he stumbled a bit when asked how he would deal with Pawlenty’s disastrous record with the Department of Human Serives.  Kelley said he has not decided on whether to abide by the DFL endorsement.

R.T. Rybak: Came right out of the gate strong and was the feistiest candidate by far.  I already mentioned his hit on the legislators, but he also took a direct shot at Dayton at the end of the debate when all of the candidates were asked whether they would abide by the DFL endorsement.  Dayton had called the endorsement process undemocratic and said he would not abide on principle.  Rybak responded, “I will absolutely abide. No games, no equivocation.  I don’t get this baloney that a party endorsement process isn’t a democratic process.  I don’t get that.”

Mark Dayton:  This was Dayton at his best, passionate and articulate.  He had a great line when asked about jobs, “Pawlenty believes the solution to the jobs problem is to furlough [AFSCME members] from their jobs and then not show up for his own.”  Zing.  As previously noted, Dayton will not abide.

Matt Entenza: He opened up the debate by noting that he is from Worthington, which is so far south that he “doesn’t like Iowa jokes.”  I’m not sure I can support a candidate who doesn’t like Iowa jokes.  On a more serious note, Entenza did a great job of using his compelling personal story to his advantage.  It was a strong performance from Entenza.  When asked about the DFL endorsement, Entenza gave his standard answer, which is that he will abide if everyone else abides.  Of course, he said this just minutes after Dayton said he would not honor the endorsement and would run in the primary.  Pretty obnoxious.  Closed circuit to Matt, just say you are not going to abide.  You are not scoring any points by playing this little game.

Tom Rukavina:  Was entertaining as always.  Described himself as “the love child between Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura” and then bragged about his union made underwear.  He had a great moment later when talking about Norman Borlag.  Said Borlag only graduated from the U because of financial aid.  Asked, “how many Norman Borlags are we cheating?”  Said he would abide by the DFL endorsement.

John Marty:  What struck me most about Marty was that he is clearly stuck in the past.  He took every question and used his time to talk about budget votes in the 90s and was also the only candidate to bring up the Time “the state that works” magazine cover.  Get into this decade Marty.  Will abide (and said if he didn’t get the endorsement he’d return to the Senate).

Paul Thissen:  If you are wondering why everyone has been talking about Paul Thissen, you should listen to this debate.  Thissen sounded sharp, engaging and fresh.  Had a nice moment talking about his kid’s struggles with the health care system.  Will abide.

Susan Gaertner: Did a nice job using stories from her time as County Attorney and her personal life.  My favorite line of hers was, “I’ve raised three teenage girls, you think I’m going to have a hard time making the hard decisions?  I’m not.”  Will abide.

Tom Bakk: Spent the whole debate touting his union credentials.  Maybe not a bad strategy given this was a union audience.  Otherwise, he was pretty forgettable.  Said, “my plans are to abide by the DFL endorsement.”  Does that leave the door open just a bit? UPDATE: Sen. Bakk’s campaign emails to say “Sen. Bakk will abide by the endorsement.  The door is not open.”

Margaret Anderson Kelliher: This was not the same MAK I’ve seen in dozens of Capital press conferences.  She was very strong, sharp and showed some passion.  (that’s not to say she isn’t good in the pressers, she just usually doesn’t show a lot of passion).  She had a great answer when asked about the deficit.  A very nice performance.  Will abide.

The Bottom Line

Top performers:  Kelliher, Thissen, Entenza, Dayton, Rybak

In the middle: Rukavina, Gaertner

Not very good:  Bakk, Marty, Kelley

October 10, 2009, 2:34 pm | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Gaertner Makes Some Hires

by Zack Stephenson | 5 Comments

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner just announced some staff additions to her gubernatorial campaign:

I am pleased to announce that we have recently opened a permanent campaign office in St. Paul and added a full time Finance Director, Field Director, and two additional staffers to the campaign.

Our finance director, Berrett Gall, has a long track record in politics. He most recently worked as finance director for El Tinklenberg (against Michele Bachmann). Berrett has also worked for the DNC and for Congressman Earl Pomeroy in his native state of North Dakota.

Our field director, Nick Conti-Masanz, has worked on campaigns throughout Minnesota. Nick was most recently El Tinklenberg’s field director; he also served as a frield organizer for Patty Wetterling in 2006 and has worked in Congresswoman Betty McCollum’s Congressional office.

Gall has a lot of work in front of him, Gaertner’s fundraising numbers have been abysmal.

March 18, 2009, 12:54 pm | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: .

Campaign Finance Reports

by Zack Stephenson | 83 Comments

Tis the season for state level campaign finance reporting.  In the 2010 gubernatorial race (which will occupy much of this blog’s attention in short order) we’ve got a couple of filings of note:

Tim Pawlenty

T-Paw raised $750k last year.  That’s a lot of money.  There are a couple of ways to look at this.  Most obviously, it could be a sign that Pawlenty plans to run again.  I have to admit the potency of this argument, but I’m still a skeptic.  As we have noted time and time again, if Timmy has national ambitions (and he does) it makes very little sense for him to run again in 2010.  So why would he raise all that money if he’s not running for re-election.  One question to answer first: how much of that money can be transfered into a federal account?  I actually have no idea, but my gut tells me that most of it should be transferable (Minnesota has tighter campaign finance laws than the feds).  If it can be transfered, then the fact that T-Paw has a huge chunk of money sitting around means nothing in terms of his re-election prospects.

The DFLers

Susan Gaertner raised just $46k despite being in the race since 2003 (and that is just a small exageration).  I am already ready to write off her campaign.  John Marty raised $30k “in the last nine days of December.”  I actually have very little to say about this - I think a thirty point loss (even if it was 14 years ago) should probably be a disqualifier.  Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza both did not file, but we wouldn’t really care even if they had because they both can self-fund.  This brings us to the big surprise of the reporting period:  State Representative Paul Thissen raised $115,000 in “the last seven weeks” of 2008.  For a heretofore unknown state legislator, that is pretty damn impressive.  In fact, Thissen’s campaign has been pretty impressive overall during the last few weeks.  If he can keep it up (and you have to wonder if he can - how much of that 115k came from the Minneapolis legal community?  How much more can he raise with such a narrow financial base?), he might be able to make some waves in this contest.

Of course, the big fish have still yet to get into the race.  Some other commenters have suggested that Chris Coleman and R.T. Rybak’s mayoral re-election bids will prevent them from running for Governor.  Don’t believe it for a second.  Coleman and Rybak will stay quiet until sometime in the late spring or early summer (when it would be too late for a serious re-election challenger to emerge) but I would be SHOCKED if at least one of them didn’t get into this race by this time next year.  Speaker Kelliher is also a good bet to run, but she won’t make a move until the legislative session is over.

February 2, 2009, 2:13 pm | Category: MN 2010: Governor | Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Zooming in on 2010 (and Attempting to Focus)

by Matt Martin | 2 Comments
March 1, 2007, 1:26 pm | Category: White House '08 | Tags: , , , , , .