Minnesota Governor Election 2018

[VAStationDude]

Whoever runs for governor should have a simple message on a couple achievable policy positions. Dayton had tax the rich and won in a gop wave year. Clinton ran to the left of where Obama was in 2008. She was obviously much less likeable and ran a much worse campaign.

Obama best Romney on the message he was a rich asshole. Trump had corrupt Hillary. Clinton didn't focus on one attack.

[mplsjaromir]

Clinton's problem along with most Democrats is that they show very little conviction to help the poor - in turn the poor show very little conviction to show up to the polls. Pretty simple.

[MNdible]

Hillary Clinton wasn't a moderate, and there were so many crazy variables in the last election (Hillary's unfortunate baggage, the craziness that was Trump) that I'm honestly not sure if there are any lessons that we can take away from that fiasco.

[Tiller]

Clinton's problem in a nutshell: voters who wanted a more moderate Democratic Party saw her as too liberal, and voters who wanted a more liberal Party saw her as too moderate. So, really we just tried both--and neither.

Like Didier said, moderate isn't really the right word, because this isn't a simple left-right dichotomy. The primary messaging against her had an anti-establishment grounding.

Meanwhile, her policy messaging was technocratic and fiddly, and her overall messaging was vague and undefined.

Her decisions to let Trump's mistakes dominate the discourse, thinking they would sink him, and to focus on attacking Trump, being the "Not Trump" candidate, definitely hurt her messaging. She never got a good message across, one that could make it through the noise. Messaging is key for every election. #MessagingMessagingMessaging

One advantage Bernie would have had relative to Hillary was his rhetoric being as steerable as an aircraft carrier - - not at all.

[amiller92]

voters who wanted a more moderate Democratic Party saw her as too liberal

Hm. I'm not sure this group exists with any significant numbers.

[MNdible]

Really? Based on your extensive polling of the group of young people you hang out with in South Minneapolis?

There's a very large block of centrist voters, and while they may not have a particularly strong opinion on the Democratic Party itself, they're always looking for a moderate candidate.

[amiller92]

Really? Based on your extensive polling of the group of young people you hang out with in South Minneapolis?

They're middle aged and older, but yeah. I don't recall anyone who self-identifies as a Dem saying they thought Hillary was too liberal.

There's a very large block of centrist voters

They're really isn't, but whatever.

[Tiller]

Yeah most people (conservative and otherwise, I may be young but my anecdata includes a lot of conservatives from the blue collar work I do) thought most "progressiveness" from Hillary was just lies to placate the Sanders wing.

[MNdible]

If only Clinton had, like, an eight year voting record in the US Senate that we could use as some sort of gauge.

Meanwhile, per progressive think tank Republic 3.0, 20% of the electorate are moderates.

[mplsjaromir]

I'm not sure using the voting record in most conservative legislative body in the western world as good barometer of what is progressive. The only two laws Clinton introduced while in Senate were a bill to criminalize flag burning (almost certainly unconstitutional) and a bill to ban violent games. The Clintons have been reactionaries whenever it has counted.

The Clinton strategy of targeting church going suburban women was a disastrous choice, she improved over Obama in wealthy suburbs and cratered everywhere else. There hasn't been broad based economic growth in this country in 40 years and an entire generation has not seen a decent job market. Putting out the same tired ideas of tax credits and incrementalism will not will elections. I hope that is obvious to Democrats.

[EOst]

I'm not sure using the voting record in most conservative legislative body in the western world as good barometer of what is progressive.

Does it matter at all that the United States is also the most conservative (major) country in the Western world?

[mplsjaromir]

No.

The point is that being senator from a liberal state does not mean voters are going to associate you with being liberal.

[Didier]

Are we all underestimating Michele Kelm-Helgen's impact on the next statewide elections?

[twincitizen]

Yep. Let's maybe avoid going with Tina Smith. Erin Murphy voted against the stadium, FWIW

[Didier]

Lori Sturdevant wrote about this in December, and the more it plays out the more prescient her warning seems to be.

Minnesotans have an uncommon aversion to self-dealing by those in positions of responsibility in government — as people born and bred in Minnesota politics (and named Mondale and Kelm) ought to know.

It has ever been thus. What caused the rapid downfall of the old Farmer-Labor Party in the late 1930s? The error wasn’t excessive liberalism, as some believe, but excessive cronyism in Gov. Elmer Benson’s administration.

What caused Wendell Anderson’s star to come crashing down just four years after he carried all 87 counties as governor? Appointing himself to the U.S. Senate in 1976 was seen as self-dealing.

Remember Phonegate? Several legislators came under fire and one resigned in 1993 because they and their kin used a state-paid toll-free phone line to make personal calls. That same year, Rep. Dee Long stepped down as House speaker after she got caught playing golf while attending a conference at state expense.

The perks that raise Minnesotans’ ire can be that petty. In fact, the petty stuff seems prone to outsized reactions, perhaps because it’s often easy to understand.

Similarly, DJ Tice's recent Sunday column further highlighted the vulnerability in Dayton's politically-convenient hypocrisy on this one.

Here is one: A quarter-century ago, Mark Dayton was a zealous, even self-righteous scold about public integrity — about the betrayal involved whenever public servants cheated the people they worked for.

This did not make Dayton particularly popular back then. The public paid little attention, and the hyenas who have circled hungrily in all epochs, looking to feast at the public’s expense, often resented his holier-than-thou pronouncements.

Whether “times” have changed or not, Dayton seems to have changed a bit. On Feb. 7, Minnesota’s governor responded to clear confirmation of unethical self-indulgence with taxpayer resources among his own appointees by mounting a spirited defense of the hearty partyers — and delivering a scolding to those who questioned them.

Michele Kelm-Helgen and Ted Mondale, formerly Dayton’s hand-picked top executives at U.S. Bank Stadium — the “People’s Stadium,” as the governor used to call it — have resigned in disrepute for turning choice suites set aside for the people’s business into private party rooms for friends and family and DFL groupies.

But in his initial response to Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles’ pointed report finding that Dayton’s agents had violated a “core ethical principle,” the governor minimized the issue.

Mondale and Kelm-Helgen, Dayton wrote in an official statement Feb. 7, had “demonstrated their exceptional dedication and ability” in their stadium work, and only political opportunists were using “this single episode” to “deride and impugn” them. Later, all concerned said Dayton did not ask for resignations.

I guess now we just wait for the DFL to be inexplicably unprepared for this.

[twincitizen]

It's far from an ideal situation for the DFL, but we're also still a year and a half from seeing TV ads for the general election. That is a lifetime. If we hear the last of suitegate this summer, I don't think it will be a major talking point in the election. We're also hosting a Superbowl in 11 months, which will dominate all stadium-related headlines from now thru Feb. 2018. Fingers crossed for a scandal-free Superbowl operation I guess.

I don't know how much this would really help, but Dayton could make a bold move and nominate a former GOP legislator to the MSFA board. Someone moderate-ish and, more importantly, respected by current GOP leadership. That would quiet things down, I'd imagine.

[MNdible]

I'd tend to agree on that, but it would also make a big difference if Dayton were able to get out ahead of this issue and admit that mistakes were made.

He should probably also apologize to Duane Benson and John Griffith.

[bivaly]

As a nice counterpoint to Lori Sturdevant's article, Barb Johnson has been using her campaign funds to pay for her haircuts, dry cleaning, cable, internet, and newspaper subscriptions and there hasn't been much of an outcry over that or any political ramifications.

http://www.wedgelive.com/2015/07/barbs- ... nding.html
http://www.citypages.com/news/city-coun ... ce-6723922

[amiller92]

The phonegate comparison is apt. DFL will screw itself over nothing again.


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[Tiller]

Oh great, a dumpster fire. Exactly what we need.