Tag Archive for 'Tarryl Clark'

Holy Cow: Clark Announces over $600K in CD6 Fundraising

by Matt Martin | 10 Comments

The numbers are coming fast-and-furious this morning.  State Senator Tarryl Clark has announced a fundraising total of over $600K in her bid to unseat Michele Bachmann in CD6.  Let me break down the numbers that just popped into by my inbox:

  • Clark’s total fundraising to date: “more than $600,000 from a grassroots network of more than 5,000 individual donors in just 22 weeks.”
  • Q4: “$293,953 from an incredible 2906 donors – including 2622 new donors.”
  • Cash on hand: $389,000

No matter how you look at those numbers, they’re pretty stunning.  This is an off-year, people are hurting, Dems are in a bit of mud nationally, and yet Senator Clark has managed to energize supporters across the country.  Sure, this speaks to the dislike of Rep. Bachmann, but it also clearly indicates the Clark Campaign’s fundraising prowess.

Similar to the Gubernatorial campaigns, one has to look at the field as a whole to see the true breadth of support for Dems in this race.  Sure, there are 2, not 12, potential DFL candidates here, but one has to look at both to see the whole impact.  Maureen Reed, also vying for the DFL endorsement, recently posted her numbers:

  • $574,600 total in 2009
  • $207,800 in Q4 2009
  • $388,000 cash on hand.

The numbers coming out of either of these campaigns are impressive on their own, but combined they send a strong message that there is national interest in this race and DFLers aren’t going to let it slide by without a fight.  Don’t get complacent though, because this will be a fight.  There’s been an unfortunate attitude in the last couple CD6 cycles among Democrats:  Bachmann is nuts, how could we possibly lose?  Well, nuts or not, she’s won the last two with decent margins and this is not going to be a friendly year for us nationally. So, we need to dig our heels in, get out the boxing gloves, and duke this one out every inch of the way—don’t get complacent or cynical about this one!

And as one last addendum:  Please, please, please, someone keep the IP party out of CD6; I am SO sick of them ruining this.  I promise that the average IP voter will be happier with the DFL candidate than with Bachmann, and that’s the reality.  An IP candidate WILL NOT WIN in CD6; all they will do is make Bachmann win.  </ end rant>

January 26, 2010, 11:17 am | Category: CD6 | Tags: , .

Should we whittle down the field in CD6?

by Jeff Rosenberg | 48 Comments

Political Muse at Liberal in the Land of Conservative tells Maureen Reed “I brought you into this world, I can take you out.” Okay, he probably can’t, really, but that’s not the point. The point is that the blogger who was one of the first* to introduce Maureen Reed, with great fanfare, is now urging her to drop out.

I’m not quite ready to take the position that Reed needs to drop out… yet. After all, the election is over a year away. But the CD6 race is already presenting a question that is a perennial problem for DFLers: Is it better to have an endorsement battle — and possibly a primary — to find the best candidate for the general election, or would it be better to have a single candidate as early as possible so she can raise money and build name recognition?

To me, one of the big problems is Minnesota’s insanely late primary. If there were more time for a general election campaign, I would tend to say that the primary would benefit the party by weeding out weaker candidates. But with a primary in September, all a primary does is play into the Republicans’ hands — which is why Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have moved the primary to August.

Can we afford to have a contest for the DFL nomination in CD6? We can for a while, but we don’t stand a chance in this race if we have to hold a primary. One thing is for certain — Reed needs to stop wavering and tell us unequivocally if she will abide by the DFL endorsement.

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* “One of the first” is my wishy-washy way of not definitively saying he broke the story, as I don’t really want to get into an argument about who was first to report it.

October 29, 2009, 5:44 am | Category: CD6 | Tags: , .

More Tarryl Clark Buzz

by Zack Stephenson | 4 Comments

The St. Cloud Times has a pretty good-sized piece sizing up Tarryl Clark’s gubernatorial aspirations.  Bottom line: She has them.  This comes as no surprise to the Capitol crowd, who have had a front row seat to Clark’s ambitions for years now.

Clark would be a solid candidate (and geography would be to her benefit in a general election), but I think she’d have a tough time lining up against the other heavyweights in the probable-run category: Chris Coleman, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, R.T. Rybak and Tim Walz.

Speaking of R.T., rumor has it that he’ll be up for a cabinet post if Obama wins in the fall.  So far, speculation centers around HUD, Energy and Transportation (of course, there is another Minnesotan who might be a candidate for Sec. of Transportation in an Obama administration).  Here’s hoping R.T. gets a cabinet spot, and not just because we love the guy and think he’ll do great things for the country.  It’d also be nice to thin out that gubernatorial crowd a little bit.

One last note on the St. Cloud Times story.  The article notes that King Banian of St. Cloud Scholars is considering a challenge to Clark in 2010 if she seeks reelection.  Banian hosts a radio show with Michael Brodkorb each week that I’ve been a guest on a few times.  He’s a nice guy and I appreciate the invitations on the show.  I have no doubt, however, that Tarryl would eat his lunch.

July 7, 2008, 10:19 am | Category: MN State Senate and Misc. Local Politics | Tags: , .

MN DFL Senate ‘08 Review: Tarryl Clark

by Matt Martin | 17 Comments
January 30, 2007, 11:58 pm | Category: MN 2008: Senate and MN State Senate | Tags: , .