Residual Forces

Matt Abe dug up some pretty interesting information about the MNGOP election performance.

Republican election performance: by the numbers
2004 Elections (Minnesota GOP Chairman: Ron Ebensteiner)

13 net seats lost in the Minnesota House (Governor, constitutional officers, and Senate were not up for election this year)
Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry wins in Minnesota
“…there was a complete lack of message from the State party. It seemed like the party was busier trying to catch the DFL in some little campaign law slip up than it was relaying a solid message to the public. There was no cohesiveness across the state. It seemed like each candidate was on their own…The ‘04 election cycle performance was a shame. I hope that the people who shall be electing the Chair this year remember this dismal performance when they cast their votes. Poor performance does not need to be rewarded, no matter the party affiliation.” —Andy Aplikowski in Residual Forces, February 25, 2005

2006 Elections (Minnesota GOP Chairman: Ron Carey)
19 net seats lost in the Minnesota House
6 net seats, and majority status, lost in the Minnesota Senate
Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty re-elected
Republican Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer defeated
Republican State Auditor Pat Anderson defeated
Republican Attorney General candidate Jeff Johnson defeated
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kennedy defeated
“This party had two devastating losses in ‘04 and ‘06 and that trend has got to be reversed. Part of that is because they have been fighting a defensive battle and not taking the offense. Not showing what the Republican Party stands for, not showing what we can do better than the opposition, the Democratic Party.” —Joe Repya, candidate for Republican Party of Minnesota chairman, quoted by Tom Scheck in Polinaut, April 11, 2007

Have a good weekend spinning that into an improvement folks. Especially when people start to remember how bad we thought 2004 was.