Now that Steve Sarvi has the DFL endorsement to run against John Kline in November for the MN-02 seat, I figured it was time to talk to him about his campaign again (I interviewed him last Dec). Steve was just leaving an event in Hastings and called me on the ride to his next event.

MN-02 is among the Minnesota quartet of races that could all swing blue. The district stretches from Hastings, Burnsville, Shakopee, Chaska, Chanhassen to Red Wing, Northfield and Fairbault. (Map here, warning pdf)

His opponent is weakened. John Kline has supported the Bush Administration at every turn. He's been bad on Iraq, healthcare, transportation, representing his district, delivering anything for his district and he's fiscally irresponsible (as all Republicans are who vote for blank checks for Iraq yet borrow from China to pay for it). Steve is the perfect candidate to make him answer for his complicity.

He'll need your help to do it though ... so ...

Let's help him out and show the DCCC that they need to send some love his way.

"This district isn't different than any other," Steve said. "Iraq, healthcare and transportation are huge issues just like the nation as a whole.

"As a former mayor of a small town and a city administrator of small towns," he continued. "I can tell you there's a lot of frustration out there. We're being portrayed as the bad guys. However, the state is not bringing the resources to the table. The federal government is not bringing the resources. Republican politicians keep talking about their no new taxes pledges and keeping taxes down.

"The reality is that local government is forced to raise property taxes to pay for basic things. This a really regressive tax. It hits hard. This is not a fair form of taxation. It just depends upon how much your property is worth and it's not fair."

"We needed John Kline to do something for the district," he explained. "But he said that he's opposed to earmarks recently. What can he point to that he's responsible for doing for his district. We've had him for 5 years now and he's just not supporting local government. He's just not representing the people in his district very well."

"We have a choice between the Grover Norquist, shrink the government until we can drown it in the bathtub mentality and good government. We need to take care of a lot of things that have been neglected for too long. I'm for good government."

I asked Steve how he expects Kline to bring up his only strength, his military background and being strong on defense.

"I hope he tries," he replied. "My first day in Iraq, I slammed the door of my humvee shut and it fell off."

Steve has boots on the ground experience in Iraq. Steve led the Red Bulls unit of the MN National Guard which served the longest deployment of any unit over there.

John Kline goes on dog-n-pony shows.

"Kline didn't visit my unit even after we got extended," he explained. "All the Democrats did. Even Pawlenty did. He could have stopped by and thanked us for our service or something."

John Kline only goes on dog-n-pony shows, though. He doesn't talk to anyone but the troops that the Pentagon puts in front of him.

Steve pointed out that Kline allowed troops to go to Iraq without adequate armor, adequately armored vehicles and now that a few are coming home, they're returning to barracks like at Fort Bragg. I will not say anything negative about his service (Kline served in Vietnam and Somalia).

"I respect his sacrifice and honor him for that," he said. "But I have a lot to say about his record in the House. He and I see things differently."

Steve didn't take the issue much further. But I'd like to emphasize how badly Republicans like Kline, who are vets themselves, have been asleep at the wheel. They've failed to prepare to take care of the troops. I've posted this video before, but it deserves a second viewing.

I asked how many more town-hall forums he'll be holding.

"We've already held 30," he replied. "We're not going to be focusing in that direction. We're going to have lots of events, but they'll be issue-based events."

I followed up by asking if he expects to debate Kline.

"I'm ready and willing," he answered. "He didn't debate Colleen Rowley once last time round. They need to be fair and not solely on his terms. We'll see."

"Yes, I do see Kevin Dahle's special election victory as a harbinger," he replied to my query. "We took Hastert's seat in Illinois (Dem. Andre Carson), we just won in Louisiana (Dem. Don Cazayoux) and we have the chance to take [Rep. Dennis] Ozment's seat in Rosemount (Ozment won't seek reelection).

MN-02 is trending Democratic. In the 2006 State House races, 5 Democrats ousted incumbent Republicans and both incumbent Dems kept their seats. The Senate has more Dems than Republicans with Dahle's victory in January.

"Amy Klobuchar won by 30,000 votes here," he added.

Up to this point Steve has been able to run a good campaign on a shoestring. He's raised $115,000 so far.

"Now that I can focus on fundraising, I hope to pleasantly surprise people with how much we'll raise in this quarter," he explained. "Kline only has $500,000 raised so far. Bachmann's got a million. I've got a good shot at competing financially with him."

This is true. The RNCC is strapped financially and won't be able to defend Kline like they'd like to. They have to try and keep Jim Ramstad's seat and Bachmann is going to need help, too.

The DCCC's sole criterion for adding a candidate to their Red to Blue program is fundraising. They'll likely consider him later in the summer provided that he can demonstrate his ability to raise money.

So let's go folks! Donate through his website! Let's show the DCCC the money!

Steve Sarvi

Let's all help Steve gain some extra momentum and force the DCCC to take notice.