The editorial board at the New Journal takes its text today from the trouble brewing in the battle to be the Republican nominee against Walz. We chuckled at this passage in A rush to boost endorsements:
Carey proudly praised them, saying, “Unlike the DFL Party, the Republican Party’s endorsement actually means something. . . .
. . . It is odd that Carey would mention the DFL’s endorsement. It is not the DFL that had First District Republicans scrambling to boost their endorsement system. It was one of their own, Sen. Dick Day of Owatonna, who had earlier in the week declared he was bypassing the convention and planning to challenge the endorsed candidate in the primary. He would be following in the proud tradition of Gov. Arne Carlson, the incumbent govenor who was not endorsed by his party for a second term in 1994. The Republicans, their precinct caucuses dominated by the “Religious Right,” selected Rep. Al Quist. Carlson bypassed the endorsement, trounced Quist in the primaries, and handily won his second term.
Day felt the precinct caucuses this year were too chaotic, and hardly more likely to produce the strongest candidate this year than in 1994. He is aiming for September, so Carey’s hope to avoid a First District primary battle is in vain.
Nor is this the first time Day's name crops up in an endorsement battle. Back when delegates in SD 52 passed over incumbent GOP state senator Gary Laidig in favor of the then-fresh new face of Michele Bachmann, Day and his minority caucus in the senate backed Laidig.
On the other hand, when Steve Drazkowski challenged the Senate District 28 GOP's endorsement of Steve Wilson in 2006, Day and the Senate minority caucus backed the endorsee. Wilson lost the nomination in that year's primary to The Draz, who was soundly defeated by Steve Murphy in the general election.
Update: Since state GOP Chair Ron Carey turns up in this post, we recommend a recent post by moderate First District blog Minnesota Central: Don’t tell Ron Carey, but Norm Coleman leads Earmarks race. MC observes:
Why do I mention Ron Carey ? When The Club For Growth issued their RePork Card on House of Representatives votes on earmarks, Carey was quick to issue a press release condemning Walz. Will he be so quick now to acknowledge Coleman’s use of earmarks ?
Looks like Republicans in the First will have to be both for and against earmarks at the same time. We're looking forward to what a classmate at the Ozark Famous Writers School used to call a "monkey show." It seems to be a very localized expression for a performance done with smoke and mirrors, monkeys optional.
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