DFL Guv Contenders Get Ugly
Three of the four DFL candidates for Governor participated in a forum this weekend. And boy was that feminist function full of venom.
In a sign of how bitter the gubernatorial campaign is likely to become, both Kelley and Sen. Becky Lourey of Kerrick accused Pawlenty of racism.
Lourey labeled Pawlenty’s attempt last year to force American Indian tribes to share their casino profits with the state as racist, and Kelley made the same charge about Pawlenty’s recent efforts to curtail illegal immigration.
Of course they played the race card, it is that time of the year again. No not Martin Luther King Jr. Day, election season. All the DFL can do is claim racism, class-ism, and sexism.
But we got a little more than the usual venom in this one. We found out just how far these DFLers (full of love and compassion for their fellow humans) would go.
One key political issue that divides the four Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates is their stands on whether they will move on to a DFL primary election in September if they fail to win their party’s endorsement this spring.
Doran, a millionaire political outsider who touts his appeal to independent voters, repeated his previous promise to wage a primary campaign regardless of who gets the DFL endorsement. And Lourey emphatically said she would be in that primary with Doran.
“Was I clear that I plan to go to the primary, no matter what?” Lourey asked the audience at one point. “It’s clear that there is going to be a primary, and I want to be there.”
Kelley promised he would not run in September if he fails to win the endorsement. And Swanson said she believed Hatch would honor the endorsement and not wage a primary campaign without it.
So two of the four are in it for the long haul. No doubt this will be good for Pawlenty.
Doran predicted former state finance commissioner Peter Hutchinson, who plans to run for governor as an Independence Party candidate, could deny Democrats a victory if he were to receive as much as 5 percent of the vote in the November general election. Doran said that, among the Democratic contenders, he was best equipped to attract independent voters who might support Hutchinson.
I also think this attitude will be good for Pawlenty. If the DFLer who gets the nod does spend their time courting independents and moderates, the fringe, kook, leftist base of the DFL will become soured and hate filled and demand heads to roll for not following through on the all out assault on everything Pawlenty.
Lourey, the only woman in the campaign for the DFL nomination, stressed her background, which combines a very liberal voting record with experience as a small-business owner.
“I present the sharpest contrast, the clearest choice,” Lourey said. “Think about those debates in November.”
Oh, don’t worry, we’ll remember them in November. Have no fear.
And what would a DFl function be with out the bowing to the altar of death to babies?
All three of the candidates promised to preserve legalized abortion in Minnesota — a key issue for the DFL Feminist Caucus — regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court might do.
Yes, in order for these candidates to get support from this group, they must cater their agenda to them. Kill the babies, or else.
“I’d veto any anti-choice legislation the Legislature was dumb enough to pass,” Kelley said.
Swanson called Hatch “pro-choice,” but she was less explicit than the three candidates about Hatch’s stand on abortion.
Appease your fringe base! Heck even Hatch is trying to. Lord knows he’s been all over the map on this issue.
I only hope these 3 out of 4 nutters keep it up. The longer and harder they have to fight for the support from the DFL base in Minnesota, the farther away from the average Minnesotan they will end up.
Pawlenty would be well advised to not race to out perform the DFLers in a race to appease the left. Stand your ground sir, they will quickly erode the ground that they are trying to claim. Besides, that is ground that most Minnesotans don’t want. It is the fringe that they are after.
