There's a clash of visions for the party happening. Murphy is going with the "energize the base" strategy. I can't say that's wrong.^Agreed in theory (need to think it over fully).
I was riding the fence between Walz and Murphy, definitely leaning Murphy lately. I was fully ready to support Murphy following the unexpected endorsement. Her choice of Erin Maye Quade as running mate immediately pushed me toward supporting Walz, however. Don't get me wrong, I think Rep. Maye Quade is great. But for a governor candidate whose greatest known weakness is electability in greater MN, to double down on that with an inexperienced (first term), uber-progressive metro area running mate, makes no sense at all.
As far as I'm concerned, Erin Murphy had all of the momentum in this race, for about 12 hours, and then threw it away with this boneheaded Lt. Gov choice. How the hell does she not find someone from the range or Duluth? Or even St. Cloud or Roch? Murphy was weak in CD8 to begin with...this makes no sense at all.
Go Walz!
P.S. The path to a Democratic US House majority runs directly through Minnesota. Walz offers a clear advantage in that his coattails could bring Democratic wins in CD1, CD2, CD3 and CD8. I was willing to support Murphy despite her slight disadvantage in this regard, but no longer. Nope. Murphy may well win the Governor's race, but it will be on the strength of the metro vote, and the US House (and MN House) will retain their GOP majorities.
Just as I can't say, "play to the swing voters" strategy that Swanson/Nolan is meant to put forward is wrong either.
Except the swing voter strategy absolutely does not work unless it also comes with an energized base, which, of course, Walz has tried to do with Flanagan. Still seems like a smart strategy to me. I'm definitely still leaning that way, but open to being convinced to join team Erin^2.