Earlier in "Bump in the road" Mike Parry vows to keep fighting nearly everybody after primary loss, Bluestem looked at part one of a two-part story about "Bump in the Road" Mike Parry, who decisively lost the MNCD1 Republican primary in August.
Our friends are reacting to a bit buried in both the original Owatonna People's Press story and the blog post:
“I never did think I would do well (in Waseca County).
Actually, his wins in his district formed the basis for his talking points about his own electability against Walz, and he bragged just before the election about how turnout in Waseca and Owatonna would help carry the day. In Owatonna, Waseca GOP voters could be active on primary day, Sullivan reported on August 6:
“During my two winning campaigns for state senate, the voters in Owatonna and Waseca responded to our common-sense message — holding the line on taxes, reducing spending, and growing the economy to help improve the job climate,” Parry said.
But now, he claims that "you never win your hometown":
You never win your hometown, knowing the people of Waseca, and the people that vote in Waseca,” Parry said. . . .
Really? Perhaps Congressman Walz can school Parry about that. In 2006, Walz trounced Gil Gutknecht in Blue Earth County, with 61.09 percent of the vote. He also beat incumbent Gil Gutknecht in Olmsted County; Gutknecht's home base.Gutnkecht had won his home town of Rochester in prior elections (the results for Gutknecht's closest challenge, in 1996, are not online).
In Mankato proper, Walz captured every precinct (1-5 here; 6-10 here;11-15 here; 16-20 here).
The same pattern repeated itself in 2008. Walz won every precinct in Mankato. He won Blue Earth County and Olmsted County (GOP opponent Brian Davis's hometown).
Now, 2010 was a tougher year but Walz won in Blue Earth County and every precinct in Mankato (check precincts here). Randy Demmer won in Dodge County but lost his hometown of Hayfield by three votes.
Former Congressman Tim Penny also always won Waseca and Waseca County. Quist, on the other hand, lost Nicollet County (his home) in the 1994 gubernatorial primary against sitting Republican governor Arne Carlson.
Perhaps the lesson here is that there's a name for people like Walz who win their home towns--and the other person's turf too. It's "Representative."
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