Choosing a candidate to endorse in MN-02 @Obermueller2012 or @Ganey4Congress #MN02

Tomorrow, in Rosemount, I will be one of the delegates selecting John Kline’s challenger.  At Rosemount High School, we will learn who the next Representative from the Second Congressional District will be, and for the first time in a decade, I think we will have a person representing us who is truly a Representative of the Second, not just a Congressman from the Second.

As a delegate to the DFL Second Congressional Convention, I have to make a choice between Patrick Ganey, Mike Obermueller, and Kathleen Gaylord.  I have yet to officially make my endorsement selection though.  I am leaning toward one candidate, but I am waiting to see them on stage at the convention.  Maybe I would have made my decision if I hadn’t been out of town last weekend when all three candidates debated in South St Paul.  And I might have been able to make my decision based on the MPR online forum Wednesday, if the questions asked hadn’t been so typical that I probably could have answered the questions for the candidates.

AS it is now, I’m up in the air.  I have already eliminated one candidate.  I will not be voting for Kathleen Gaylord.  I was disappointed that she never responded to my invitation to attend the last DFL58 meeting in Farmington.  Granted, it was short notice, but I think she should have responded anyway.  She didn’t participate in the MPR online forum.  It was a waste of time, but is she going to skip campaign opportunities if she gets the endorsement?  Her use of social media, at least Facebook and Twitter is practically nonexistent, and I think social media is extremely important.  Finally, I haven’t actually talked to her.  I’ve conversed with Patrick Ganey and Mike Obermueller on the phone, in person, via email, and even online in chat when one of my questions was posed to the candidates on the MPR online forum.  The extent of my interactions with Kathleen Gaylord was a message she left me that I didn’t even hear, it was told to me by a family member that she called.

Picking between Patrick Ganey and Mike Obermueller is difficult.  I was very impressed by Mike Obermueller from 2006-2010 as a candidate.  In addition, I learned things from him that would have been very useful in my own campaign, unfortunately it was too late.  I think he presents himself well, is well spoken, and I could see myself wearing an “I like Mike” pin or sticker on my jacket all summer and fall.  On the other hand, Patrick has really impressed me too for many of the same reasons.  He may not have the same experience, but his ability to learn and respond quickly has amazed me.  He comes across as a natural in front of people, and a very viable candidate.

So you ask, what are my concerns and why can’t I make a decision?  Honestly, I think either candidate can give John Kline a run for his money.  And although I am hopeful for a John Kline defeat in 2012, I wouldn’t wager any money on it.  I’m looking at how each of them respond based on the pressures of the endorsement race, because whether they are running for re-election, or more likely challenging John Kline again, the 2012 candidate needs to run again in 2014.

Do I have fears about either of them?  Absolutely.  I’m concerned that John Kline could use the fact that Patrick Ganey has only been a city councilor, never mind that John Kline had no political experience before running for Congress.  Mike Obermueller lost two of his three campaigns, even if it was a conservative district, and again, never mind that John Kline lost his first three elections.  Either of those could be used in a negative way by Kline, of course they could both be used in a positive way too.  Ganey isn’t a politician, and Obermueller has won in a conservative district — Tim Pawlenty’s district.

It will really come down to how they respond at the convention.  If I had to predict it right now, I think Mike Obermueller would win.  I have no idea what the delegate count is, but Patrick Ganey called me yesterday and asked me to support him again, but this time I got the feeling he was a little desperate.  My guess is that Mike is racking up the delegates and may win as early as the second ballot.  Of course keep in mind I thought Shelly Madore would eventually win the endorsement too, so my prediction means little.

Provided there is a wifi connection at Rosemount High School, I will tweet from the convention using #mn02 as the hashtag.  If there is no wifi, I’ll still tweet using my phone, but it won’t be as often, I’ll misspell words, be frustrated that the word complete deosn’t always work, and my battery will probably die early… (sigh) But follow me on twitter: @Quist_Galaxie

Follow CD2 DFL Candidates @Obermueller2012 and @Ganey4Congress. Kathleen Gaylord is not on Twitter yet.

Two of the three candidates asking for the DFL endorsement in the Second Congressional District are on Twitter.  Both have been on Twitter for less than a week, and both have less than 30 followers as I write this post.  I want to push more people to follow Mike Obermueller, Patrick Ganey and eventually Kathleen Gaylord.  I feel that Twitter is going to be a huge factor in 2012.

John Kline is on Twitter, and somebody regularly posts on his Twitter account.  I had to stop following him, or his aide, whoever it is, on Twitter because his posts were nothing more than political propaganda.  There was no real person or honesty, and he has just over 3000 propaganda readers.  Granted, many of his readers are right-wingers who need validation, and support him unconditionally, but I want the DFL candidates to have the same 3000 reader reach.

With just over 300 Twitter followers, I don’t have enough followers to make a real concerted Twitter push without retweets from major Twitter users.  However, I can circumvent the system a little because my posts are autotweeted by MN Progressive Project and Holly Cairns, who together have many more followers than I do.  My hope is to get that follower number quickly into the hundreds so that as we approach the April 28th endorsement, the feeds are all atwitter…

Follow Mike Obermueller on Twitter at @Obermueller2012
Follow Patrick Ganey on Twitter at @Ganey4Congress
Follow Kathleen Gaylord on Twitter at (Hopefully Coming Soon)
Follow me on Twitter at @Quist_Galaxie

The 2012 Race Is On! Three Candidates for DFL CD2 – Ganey, Obermueller and Gaylord

The race is on in the Second Congressional District.  With new boundaries that are rumored to give DFLers in the new district a little more hope, three viable candidates have emerged to challenge John Kline in 2012.

At one point a few months ago, it seemed all the Democrat’s hopes in the Second Congressional District (CD2) were pinned on the redistricting map being redrawn to include at least one of a couple of state Legislators who were ready to challenge John Kline if the lines were drawn to include them.  That didn’t happen. And when that didn’t happen, anxiety quickly grew in my mind about another inexperienced political novice challenging John Kline and his million dollar campaign cash balance.

But what ended up happening instead, was that a few people noticed the positive change in the District borders regarding favorability, and real known politician’s names were being mentioned.  Initially, Joe Atkins was in the news as a potential candidate.  I’m not sure how that rumor started, but about the time he announced he was not running I was contacted by a former legislator who asked if I would talk to a Northfield City Councilor about a potential run against Kline.

PATRICK GANEY

With Atkins decision, and with that conversation with a former legislator, it seemed my fears were being realized, John Kline’s political money-machine versus a first-term Northfield City Councilman, hopeless.  Then, I talked to Patrick Ganey on the phone and quickly realized he was leaps and bounds ahead of where 2010 DFL endorsed candidate Dan Powers was in his early days, and he wasn’t even sure he was running.  His communications skills were exceptional, and the fact that he raised money for a living didn’t hurt in my mind.  I invited him down to speak at our local DFL58 meeting a couple days later.

Patrick came to the meeting, had a message already, was able to respond to questions, and impressed the meeting attendees.  There was hope.  We invited him to our DFL58 convention, a couple days later, and did well there too.  He may be a political novice, but that certainly didn’t mean he didn’t have talent.  Since Patrick became a candidate, two others have announced. But, Patrick was the first to call me as a delegate to the CD2 convention and ask for my support.  He was the first to have a detailed website, and the first to have a Twitter feed @Ganey4Congress.  Being the first is a huge advantage.

So I am paying attention to Patrick.  The next Saturday after the DFL58 convention, I was sitting at Concordia University waiting for my son at a lacrosse goalie clinic.  While I waited I started scanning Twitter for a few updates on the Eagan endorsement races when I saw a tweet from The UpTake of a video of Patrick Ganey at that Eagan DFL convention.  I watched the video, and when the video was done, a video popped up from The UpTake titled “Obermueller considering a run for congress.”  I was shocked, and at the same time I made kind of a single chuckle as I smiled about the video.

See, I am a Mike Obermueller fan.  I have been impressed by Mike over the last few years, and was very disappointed when he lost his 2010 legislative race.  When I watched that UpTake video, I was really excited.  Just to be clear, I liked Dan Powers, and I thought Shelley Madore could have challenged John Kline with some money.  I volunteered for Theresa Daly, figured Colleen Rowley was a good choice, and thought maybe Steve Sarvi could pry away John Kline’s iron grip on military issues, but I was never excited about any of them.  That Saturday afternoon, I sat outside the Sea Foam Dome at Concordia College excited about a congressional candidate.

MIKE OBERMUELLER

One of my favorite parade signs is Mike’s sign with the word puzzle images for his name.  Obviously it isn’t a great sign for getting his name out there, but it is fun and different.  There is little doubt that John Kline will have more money, so being fun and different is important.  Rudy Boschwitz had more money, but a hard working politician who had fun and had clever marketing beat him.

I’m not saying that sign is on par with Paul Wellstone’s green bus or his great ads, but at least it is outside the normal political box.  Mike is young and can win a tough race.  If he works hard and things go his way, he can do the same thing Paul Wellstone did and surprise a seemingly safe incumbent.

As we approached our April meeting for DFL58, I realized I should invite the new candidates to address our group too.  On very short notice, I invited Mike, and he quickly accepted.  Mike came to the meeting, showed up early, ate some pizza with us, talked with members and then spoke, answered some really great questions, and I think won over some delegates.

Mike talked about his family and about growing up. He cracked a few jokes. Mike talked about the stark contrast between his pro-labor and pro-education stances, and John Kline’s anti-labor and anti-education stances.  Mike presented himself as a very friendly candidate.  He smiled a lot, was quick with responses and funny.  He will be a very formidable candidate.  He still does not have a Twitter feed, and his old 2010 website is still up.

I like Mike a lot — I might have to steal some of Mike Huckabee’s “I like Mike” buttons for Mike Obermueller’s campaign if he becomes the endorsed candidate and doesn’t do his own “I Like Mike” buttons.  As I was saying, I like Mike a lot, but I am maintaining an open mind until the convention.  Patrick has really impressed me, and even though he doesn’t have the political record Mike has, I think he would be a great candidate.

KATHLEEN GAYLORD

There is a third candidate too, Kathleen Gaylord.  I don’t know Kathleen.  I’ve never met her or talked to her.  In fact the first interaction I had with her was my email invite to our DFL meeting last Thursday.  I invited her three hours before the meeting, but I never received a response.

I knew it was short notice, so I didn’t expect her to come, but I thought it was a little odd that I didn’t receive a response at all to my invitation, even after the fact, saying something to the effect that she wished she could have come, and maybe we could set up another meeting to get to know some of the delegates.  For the record, 8 of DFL58’s 13 convention delegates and 9 of the 13 alternates were at that meeting.

Of course, if it were me, I wouldn’t waste my time with a hit and miss meeting as much as I would be contacting the delegates one-by-one personally, so I’m not offended she didn’t come at all, I just thought it was weird not to respond.

Today I sent her another email.  Partially out of curiosity if she would respond, partially because I have no idea who she is.  I sent her an email with four questions about her campaign.  She responded in about an hour, so things are looking up.

Kathleen was the first candidate with a website.  It has very little content on it, but she has an extensive and impressive resume, and most importantly a donation page. She does not have a Twitter account that I could find.  Mike and Kathleen need to get Twitter accounts going!

I am a huge proponent of women running, and will count the fact that a candidate is a woman as an advantage over a male candidate.  I think it is a clear advantage.  I think it is doubly advantageous in the anti-women political climate the Right-wing has been forging this past year.  I think a female candidate might draw women who might usually consider themselves independent Republicans.

I’m sure I will get the chance to meet Kathleen in the next couple weeks.  With her impressive political resume, and the other two candidates, how can it not be a good year to be a Democrat in the 2nd Congressional District?

I have asked each of the candidates if they plan to abide by the CD2 convention endorsement providing there is an endorsement.  All three plan to abide by the endorsement.

I also asked each candidate if they plan to run in 2014, should they lose in 2012.  Obviously a candidate thinks they are going to win, they have to, but the only candidate to run against John Kline more than once is Representative Bill Luther, whom Kline beat on his 3rd attempt in 2002.  John Kline proved that you might need to run a few times to win, I just want somebody to try twice.  Patrick Ganey and Mike Obermueller both said they will run a second time, Mike said he would, but plans that it will be as an incumbent.  Kathleen Gaylord did not answer other than to respond that she “is in the race to win this year.”

I’m hoping for a win this year, and to support an incumbent in 2014 whoever he or she may be.