Given the attention given former governor Al Quie's endorsement of Randy Demmer in Minnesota's First yesterday and today, you'd think that the announcement met the standard definition of newsworthiness: timeliness, impact, prominence, promiixity, conflict, the unusual, currency.
While some wits may wish to argue that a past Republican governor endorsing a Republican running for office this year meets the criterion of "the unusual," Bluestem will decline.
In fact, Al Quie's endorsement of Demmer was once actually news--back in April, when the media dutifully reported it on the eve of the First District Republican endorsing convention in Mankato. At the time, there was even "conflict" involved, since Dememr and Allan Quist were involved in a heated battle for the hearts--dare i say minds?--of the delegates.
The Post Bulletin reported on April 15 that Quie endorses Demmer:
Randy Demmer's congressional campaign got a big boost on Thursday with news that former Minnesota Gov. Al Quie was endorsing him. The announcement comes two days before the First District Republican Convention where the GOP is expected to endorse a candidate to take on Democratic Congressman Tim Walz in November.
The Star Tribune noted theQuie endorsement of Demmer on April 17 in Walz's would-be foes face off in First District:
Demmer, 53, of Hayfield, touts support from Al Quie, a former Republican Minnesota governor and congressman from the First District. Quie wrote that Demmer, in his fourth term in the Minnesota House, "has the perspective and dedication to achieve real results."
And the Demmer campaign itself released a letter from Quie touting Randy on April 15. The letter can be found here on the Demmer campaign site.
Wikipedia notes that Quie once represented the First in Congress from February 18, 1958, to January 3, 1979. However, the district then was considerably more conservative. Following Quie's departure from federal office, Arlen Erdahl had the seat--but following redistricting in 1980, Tim Penny ended up beating Tom Hagedorn in 1982. How many people still living in the First were served by Quie, who left Congress before I graduated from high school?
And yet this second announcement of Quie's support for Demmer--an announcement made on the eve of the Republican endorsement in April--is trotted out by the Demmer campaign on the eve of the general election--and the press corps dutifully reports it as "news" once more. Did a single reporter JFGI?
Image: Another inspiration for the Young Guns program?
The one thing the reiteration of Quie's Demmer endorsement does is to undercut efforts by Tony Sutton and the RPM to call him a quisling like they did David Jennings and the other dozen Republicans who backed Horner, as does Quie.
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Oct 29, 2010 at 09:24 AM