SD60 Convention: great day for Al Franken
I unfortunately had to miss all the excitement in SD42 to get together with 900 of my closest friends for the Democratic-Farmer Labor Party Senate District 60 convention at Washburn H.S. in South Minneapolis. SD60 encompasses south Minneapolis west of 35W and south of Hwy. 394. There was less drama as Keith Ellison is unopposed, there are no State Senate races this year plus Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson-Kelliher (60A) and Rep. Frank Hornstein (60B) are unchallenged. The drama involved getting delegates for the state convention which is critical for the MN-SEN race. My goal was to become a delegate to the state convention.
Keith and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie got the crowd all riled talking about increasing voter turnout. Keith wants to increase the 237,000 who turned out in 2006 to 257,000. Mark talked about how proud he is of the highest turnout district in Minnesota, his home district. He talked about the need to increase voter turnout to over 85%.
Scott Dibble introduced Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud) who talked about Pawlenty's "march to mediocrity" and how she's so proud she is to represent a district that has rarely if ever been DFL. Sen. Clark is a great example of what SD60 activists can do to help. Many Minneapolitans went up to St. Cloud to help out in her special election. She mentioned how much help we provided in the Northfield (SD25) special election which gave the DFL a veto-proof majority in the Senate.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer then addressed the crowd. The campaign got every JNP supporter up on stage. Jack claimed to be the only candidate that follows Paul Wellstone's credo and he's the only one who wants universal single-payer healthcare. As always, he talked about this being the most important decade. He brought up an MPR poll survey in which 45% support Jack, 19% support Al, 19% support Mike and 15% support Norm Coleman. There is a possibility that JNP supporters gamed the poll survey much like Kucinich supporters would.
Joel Bergstrom, SD60 Chair, then talked to the crowd about the condition of our district's organization. He emphasized how much of a difference we make when we go out into the suburbs to help other DFL candidates since Frank Hornstein and Margaret Anderson-Kelliher don't have competitive races. We'll be adopting a few races this year. I'll be lobbying for Mike Obermueller in 38B and Ted Butler in 49A. I'm sure they'll be a few more.
Al Franken was next up onstage and he was pumped up. He began by talking about how we need to end Bush's cowboy foreign policy then launched into talking about his accompishments. "I've been fighting for progressive causes all my life," he said. "You know me from my books and you know me from my radio show on Air America."
He emphasized how he has run a positive campaign targeting Norm Coleman. This was an obvious dig at Mike Ciresi who has been running more negative lately. He then launched into his I'm not afraid stump speech.
"I'm not afraid of Tom Delay. I'm not afraid of Rush Limbaugh, as you may recall I wrote a book called 'Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot and Other Observations'. I'm not afraid of Fox News who sued me and I beat 'em. I'm not afraid George Bush. I'm even not afraid of Dick Cheney." He always pauses after Cheney for the audience to chuckle. "And I'm certainly not afraid of Norm Coleman."
"When others weren't speaking out, I was. I took on the right wing we nobody else was. We'll have an even stronger progressive caucus in the US House after 2006. We'll have a real working majority in the Senate. Right now we have a slim majority by the skin of Joe Lieberman's teeth. I want to be in that new majority working under a Democratic President whoever he or she may be."
Here's my precinct, 8-7 ... all three rows of us. Out of the 39 delegates from precinct caucuses, 23 plus 2 alternates showed up today. That's pretty decent turnout.
Next up Mike Ciresi addressed the crowd. It is becoming obvious how little organizing that he is doing. He had very few supporters attending and very few people working the convention for him. His speech even the big money lines didn't garner near as much applause as Al or Jack did.
Mike started by explaining that he and his wife thank God every day that George Bush is leaving office next January. He went on to talk about how this is not the America he grew up in where a son of a man with a 7th grade education and succeed. He wants to restore the American dream. He ended with his motto "It's time to change the Norm in Washington" to polite applause.
Nominating Time
Retired State Senator Allan Spear nominated Margaret Anderson Kelliher for 60A and David Krewinghaus nominated Frank Hornstein for 60B. I've heard Frank talk alot, but I haven't heard Margaret speak much. She had a great bit starting by pointing out here daughter. "She's over at the side hiding behind my sign. She's rather shy. During the build-up to the veto override she asked me 'Who is Tom Emmer? Because after what he's said I never want to shake his hand.' I found this shocking because she's the most polite, well-behaved girl you could imagine. She said this because Tom Emmer said, more or less, that it is more important to lower taxes than the life of a man or woman who died on the I-35W bridge. She emphasized that aside from the brave 6 Republicans who voted for the transportation override, this is the mentality of the Republican party in Minnesota ... more or less.
Subcaucus Time
People then lined up at the four microphones to nominate subcaucuses. I nominated the Franken Instant Runoff Voting subcaucus. I think there were about 70 subcaucuses.
Then the mayhem began. I walked to the middle of the auditorium, climbed up on the chair arms, waved my Franken IRV sign and yelled to attract other Franken delegates who support IRV. I eventually gathered 19 delegates. This wasn't enough to be viable. A subcaucus would need 32 delegates to be able to elect 1 delegate and 1 alternate to the state convention.
So we joined up with the Franken Veterans and the Franken Yes We Can subcaucuses to get 34 delegates and become viable. Then Larry Lavercombe who'd nominated the Franken Voter Rights subcaucus agreed to join us and we had 44 delegates. We attempted some negotiations with other groups, but were unsuccessful.
Even after a second period of ten minutes, we still didn't merge with another group. I relied on the Franken staffers for our strategy who wanted us to stay together with our large excess. We then went through an internal election process to determine who our delegate/alternate to the state convention would be.
Each of us standing for election as delegate spoke for 1 minute about ourselves and why we wanted to go. I said I wanted to blog about the state convention as a delegate. After the vote, we learned that because of our extra delegates we would be awarded a second delegate and alternate. So I present to you the delegates to the DFL State convention from the Franken-IRV-Veterans-Voting Rights-'Yes We Can' subcaucus:
Roanne Cramer (left) and I got elected to be delegates and Eric Strom (on my right) and Tina Smith (on the end) were elected as alternates. Yea ... that's right I'm the guy in the banana yellow nylon shirt and I'm going to the state convention as a delegate.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is Al got 18 delegates, Jack got 6, uncommitted got 4 and Mike got 2 in SD60. SD42 was a resounding victory with Al getting 13 of 16 delegates. I heard that Al and Jack evenly split Duluth's delegates. It sounds like Al did very well today. It sounds like Mike paid dearly for not organizing as well as Al and Jack.
Your moment of Zen
My neighbor, Brian Elliott (left), and his friend have nominated some variation of Charles Darwin for School Board Environment for 4 straight SD60 conventions. They beat out the guy with the Franken Autoflush Toilets subcaucus.
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No Gaming of MPR poll
I was writing articles using MPR stuff, the numbers stayed consistent over weeks. Simply progressives take surveys and check out issue positions.
About Big E Warning: MPR poll may not represent populace
Big E, you originally supported Franken on the strength of his fundraising ability. This was supposedly a representation of how much people liked him (most people who were contributing at the time knew little of his actual positions). But strangely you did not see this as Franken "gaming" the democratic system with his money, connections, fame, and vague DLC-like statements that lack real policy follow through (such as for "ending" the war - but without a withdrawal date.)
As an active supporter of Jack, I know of no evidence of Jack supporters "gaming" the MPR poll.
So here is a challenge for MNBlue readers: Take the MPR poll yourself. Big E, you too. Take it and tell us what you came up with.
MPR "Poll"
I wouldn't call the MPR "Select a Candidate" survey a "poll." I wasn't at the SD60 convention today, I was at my own in Cass County, but I suspect Jack didn't call it a poll either. If I'm not mistaken a poll would be if you were asked which candidate you support. The MPR survey asks you to answer a number of questions on the issues, and then it matches your responses with each of the candidates to show you how closely your opinions on the issues line up with each candidate. Over 1600 people have taken the survey, and Jack matches more closely with more people than Al and Mike put together.
I like Paul R.'s suggestion. Take the survey yourself and see what you find.
I am a Jack supporter too. It's so obvious, once you hear him speak on all the issues, that he has a much better grasp on how to get this country out of the mess it's in, than either Al or Mike. It sucks that the major media treat him like he doesn't matter. He got in the race late, and he doesn't have Al's name recognition, but if you care about this nation's future you owe it to yourself to take a serious look at Jack. I think to know Jack is to love him and you'll want to fight to get him better known too.
MPR "Poll"
I wouldn't call the MPR "Select a Candidate" survey a "poll." I wasn't at the SD60 convention today, I was at my own in Cass County, but I suspect Jack didn't call it a poll either. If I'm not mistaken a poll would be if you were asked which candidate you support. The MPR survey asks you to answer a number of questions on the issues, and then it matches your responses with each of the candidates to show you how closely your opinions on the issues line up with each candidate. Over 1600 people have taken the survey, and Jack matches more closely with more people than Al and Mike put together.
I like Paul R.'s suggestion. Take the survey yourself and see what you find.
I am a Jack supporter too. It's so obvious, once you hear him speak on all the issues, that he has a much better grasp on how to get this country out of the mess it's in, than either Al or Mike. It sucks that the major media treat him like he doesn't matter. He got in the race late, and he doesn't have Al's name recognition, but if you care about this nation's future you owe it to yourself to take a serious look at Jack. I think to know Jack is to love him and you'll want to fight to get him better known too.
ok, he probably did call it a poll
I have to retract what I said about Jack probably not calling the MPR survey a poll. I watched a youtube clip of him speaking recently and he did refer to the survey as a poll. ok, so there is one thing that I disagree with Jack about....
Some SD 42 corrections
I was at the SD 42 convention in Eden Prairie, and I want to correct your numbers just a bit, Eric.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Mike Ciresi each got a delegate for the state convention. Franken got 10 from all subcaucuses (2 for Franken GLBT, 4 Franken/Bonhoff, and 4 Madia/Franken). In addition, Madia got 4 on his own, and Clinton/Bonoff got 1. There were a total of 17 delegates and alternates selected (not 16).
So for Senate in SD 42, that was 10 Franken, 1 Ciresi and 1 Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.
Out of the 8 senate district or county unit conventions I have attended, this was the worse showing for Jack so far. In quite a few others, Jack equaled Franken's delegate numbers or passed them, with Ciresi getting only a smattering of delegates here and there.
As for Duluth, you are largely correct. The SD 7 convention produced 2 delegates for Ciresi, 10 for Franken and 10 for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. This was reported by WDIO, an ABC affiliate.
I have two working observations. First, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is showing greater strength than Mike Ciresi in every demographic that I have seen. Second, Franken support remains fairly lukewarm among most delegates, or even downright conflicted in more rural areas, where Franken is better known but there is a certain dissonance with the local style.
I also have a strong lesson I am taking away from today. Jack's campaign has done exceptionally well in small conventions where Jack or his volunteers have a chance to talk to the delegates directly, but today was the first of the big SD conventions. And the results were, frankly, mixed. The big conventions are a big challenge for a grassroots campaign, but today taught those of us in the Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer some good lessons. The next few weeks should show how well we learned from today.
All politics are local.
Yesterday I chose to spend my time on correspondence, walking, reading and eventually watching the NCIS marathon on tv.
I chose not to spend the day at any of the conventions - there were many conventions and there will be many, many more conventions (33 next weekend, including SDs 46,47,62,63, and 64 in our vicinity). The whole list is spelled out at the MN DFL website under Find An Event. One may review the entire series of conventions by displaying the calendar in a grid format.
As much as I support Jack's effort and admire the passion and enthusiasm of his many fans and dedicated staff, I have to wonder about what I have concluded is a lack of detailed grasp of local talent. Not just me, folks. And not just the Nelson-Pallmeyer campaign. There are many others who get overlooked in this March Madness.
Much more could have been done to populate and help steer the precinct caucuses in SD 61 by turning more determinedly to SD 61's situation. Huge potential support for Jack in our big renter precincts, for example, but zippo for caucus preparation. Very uneven performance in the precincts dominated by bungalow blocks and that lost potential can't be revisited.
This wasn't about money. This was about focus and priorities.
SD 61 has some promising new talent stepping forward in the voluntary party organization - probably emblematic of a general trend in this election cycle. I truly hope that the Nelson-Pallmeyer cadre will energize and celebrate the supporters coming forward on Jack's behalf in the SD 61 convention on March 29.
Too late to energize the caucuses, but not too late to tap into the wave of determined interest that - and here's my point - can be empowered and encouraged well before the eventual convention date. Depending on last-minute imported talent to marshall these forces is far more typical of the national campaigns SD 61 routinely endures and far less convincing on the grassroots empowerment front than Jack's cadre's rhetoric would have us believe.
Fred Markus
Say, Fred
Fred, it sounds like you see something that others in Jack's and some other campaigns just don't see. Would it be possible for you just fill the gap you mention? If you need some resources, like literature or whatever, call Jack's office and ask for what you need.
The thing is, as I am sure you understand, the Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer campaign is a grassroots effort. The strength of that approach is when different people have different ideas and energies, and a whole slew of stuff gets done.
I suppose I could say it a different way: "Be the change you want to see." Or yet a different way: "Would you head up a committee to do that?"
Franken and Nelson Pallmeyer
Thanks for your post about SD60. I live in the district and wasn't able to get the final numbers.
I haven't taken the MPR survey, but I will concede that it would probably tell me that JNP is closest to me on the issues.
MPR surveys might be useful to people who vote based on issues, but I don't. My husband took the survey in 2006 and it showed that Peter Hutchinson most closely matched his views. He is a loyal DFLer and would never considered voting for Hutchinson.
When people ask why I support Franken I tell them that Ciresi is too conservative for me and that JNP is too liberal for the state.
For what it's worth, Eric, your endorsement had some influence on me. I looked it up and saw that it was based partly on Al's committed volunteer base.
By the way, I have heard JNP give a couple of long talks at my church. He left me feeling depressed, not
Franken's volunteer base? Ciresi most Conservative?
Franken would have a huge volunteer base if he didn't turn away potential volunteers that are too old, gay, crippled, or ask too may questions. I know- I tried to volunteer for Franken and was rejected. If you read the candidate's issue pages, you'll find Franken the most conservative (he supported the Iraq war) and Nelson-Pallmeyer the most progressive. Ciresi is closer to Nelson-Pallmeyer and more progressive in some areas like GLBT issues. In short, I'd characterize Franken as a conservative democrat, Ciresi as a practical progressive, and Nelson-Pallmeyer as an idealistic progressive.
Volunteer rejection?
Dyna, can you provide more details on how you were rejected as a volunteer?
I find it hard to believe the campaign would reject anyone as a volunteer in some capacity.
Franken admits he supported the war in its infancy based solely on the words of Colin Powell, whom he admired and respected. As further details of the ridiculous case for war became clearer, he changed his position. I don't fault him for that.
Dyna, Dyna, Dyna ...
Dyna has been complaining about this for a long time. She personally had a problem with Al's staff, I guess. I'm sure she'll tell the details as she's made this comment a lot when I cross-post at DailyKos.
As an example, at SD60 yesterday Al had 30 maybe 40 volunteers. It could have been more, I didn't even try to count. There were only 2 staffers working the convention the volunteers were doing most of everything. Al's campaign has a HUGE volunteer pool that they are mobilizing.
How many staffers?
The Franken table was right next to us and they had way more than two staffers.
Staff
Perhaps Franken had more than two staff members at the convention but I would bet that most of them were volunteers. There were tons of conventions this weekend across the state and from what I have heard they were all well staffed ("volunteered") and there is just no way that Franken could have staffed them all with paid people . . . unless he has a staff of 200.
Nope 2 staff ...
Nope, there were two staffers. The thing is you see a lot of these volunteers SO often that you might consider them staff, but they are not paid.
Al's Win in SD60 and the MPR Poll
I was elected as an Obama/Franken delagate in SD60 yesterday, just so you understanding my perspective. I want to make two points about the MPR "candidate selector" poll, which I think is being missed in the dialog so far.
First, as a market researcher (which I am) I think it should be clear that sampling from a self-selecting group of MPR listeners who are issues activists will turn out a much more liberal/progressive result than any objective survey would--I trust that's a no-brainer for everyone?
Second, the very point of the poll is that *issues should determine who you vote for* While that also seems like a no-brainer, I would submit it's clearly not. People matter, and that's never more true than with candidates. The issues nuances between Franken and Ciresi aren't significant, but the differences between Franken and Nelson-Pallmeyer as people, as people running for office, are signficant.
I'm sorry, but Jack's not a very good candidate, not only because his positions on the issues are unrealistic (which they are) but--how do I say this?--he doesn't have the personal leadership chops on the stump. There's a league of difference between Jack and Al in their abilities to lead in a campaign, and I think in office. Norm The Suit would truly eat this guy for breakfast and we'd be stuck with another six years of black hole Republican stewardship of Paul Wellstone's Senate seat. Practical elect-ability aside, Jack well represents the radical/liberal wing of the party, which is an important part of the DFL, but a small minority when compared to the labor/education/farmer/business people who comprise the middle and heart of the DFL.
That's why Al's winning, and fortunately for all of us, will win in November.
It was great to hear all the candidates, including Jack, speak at the SD60 convention, and to participate in one of the great democratic processes available to us as citizens.
I'm thrilled personally as well, since I'll be going to Rochester as an Obama / Franken delegate with Joel Bergstrom, the SD60 chair.
Thanks to all for the comments, very considered and thoughtful---RJ
Proud to be extreme, proud to be the best
I am very proud to be a peacemaker, to be against little strategic wars like Vietnam and Iraq, to be against dropping nuclear bombs on Iran. I very proud to be against stealing Iraq oil and setting up permanent bases in Iraq.
I am very proud to be supporting a switch from oil to green sustainable renewable resources. I am proud that I support true green alternatives instead of "clean"(ahem) coal and nuclear power with 50,000 years of toxic waste.
I am very proud to support a candidate who does not get dirty in the trenches, and is polite and caring to everyone. I think a positive campaign will do better in Minnesota than a negative campaign.
I don't believe that politics is a line, and if you want to put me on a line, then being A+, then being the best, then being the extreme away from the warmakers is a fine designation for me. Thank you so very much! And should you happen to notice that a grade C for compromise, a grade C for caving into Republican and special interest demands, a grade C for talking about getting out of Iraq while still staying there - should you happen to notice that grade C performance is not what you want, then please feel welcome to join me at the grade A+ level of performance.
explain
Rohn, I am probably naive, but could you explain which of Jack's "radical" positions would not be liked by the labor/education/farmer/business people, and why?
Personally I ran to be a delegate for Jack at my own county convention, and was one vote short of being elected. I've been working hard for Jack for a month, and I really am curious about why people find him objectionable.
Thanks for helping me to understand your perspective.
Lorna
I was at SD 60, too
I noticed the real end of the FNVW/Peace in the Precincts lifespan in DFL politics, and I was saddened. No Uncommitted/Peace First! subcaucus was called despite the presence of current and former FNVW staff. The organization, like the Progressive Caucus was a hollow shell and a vehicle only for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, not issues.
I used my two minute candidate address to explain a couple of my goals. Hopefully someone will deem it newsworthy, but if not, oh well. I just keep doing the work I know how to to do and needs to be done.
Mike Ciresi Won!
Only in terms of quantity of signage, though.
I thought Mike's campaign speech was less than inspirational and the number of delegates he secured had to be disappointing.
It'll be interesting to see how he does outstate and in the burbs.
Outstate results
From the conventions I've volunteered at outstate Franken isn't doing so well- oftentimes it's been a 3 way split between the candidates. Franken's strength seems to be within the coverage area of "Air America" AM950. I have to hand it to Franken for a clever plan though... Move to a state with a vulnerable republican senator. Get a daily show on a station that covers much of the dem population. Start a PAC and personally dole out the $$$ to legislative candidates who return the favor by endorsing you for the senate. Raise millions from execs in CA and NY because Minnesotans aren't supporting your campaign with big checks. Then hire lotsa campaign operatives before the competitors can get them. Might even win Franken the endorsement on the 2xth ballot... only to get massacred in the general by an october surprise we can already see coming.
Please
"Minnesotans aren't supporting your campaign with big checks"
You're right. Franken is getting a lot of small check from Minnesotans unlike Ciresi who's individual contributor list has many big checks from what reads like a who's who of trial lawyers. And close to 40% of Ciresi's money is out of state (trial lawyers, again), no small sum. Ciresi can't get the grassroots behind him or expand beyon his trial lawyer base so his plan is to buy a Senate seat, pumping in a cool $2.5 + million so far.
Outstate Results
In SD36, Farmington south to Northfield, not quite outstate, but rural, conservative and outside the 950AM airwaves, Franken won more than half the delegates, I'm not sure if Ciresi even got one and Jack I think only go one. The other 4 or 5 were in subcaucuses that were either uncommited or had no Senate candidate in their title.
Thanks for the complement...
The Franken staff was still working on their lattes when the sign wars began. We swooped in and grabbed the best spots. The Franken team finally woke up and tried to take over, one even tried to make off with my tape. They did a quick job of throwing up lots of signs, then went back for more lattes. Franken's poorly installed signs almost immediately started falling down, and we and Jack's campaign grabbed the spots they'd vacated. Can a Franken campaign that can't even properly put up a sign beat Coleman? No way.
Signs don't win elections
It's been provent time and time again that winning the sign war doesn't guarantee election. Signs don't vote.
Signs are a necessary evil...
If you don't have signs at a convention delegates will assume your campaign is weakening. In the runup to an election, a sign in a high traffic area is darn near as effective as a TV spot at far less cost.
Get a Clue
Dyna, you must be a real treat of a human being. you sound like a child who wasn't picked first for kickball. grow up and quit lying.
Get a Clue
Dyna, you must be a real treat of a human being. you sound like a child who wasn't picked first for kickball. grow up and quit lying.
Signs dont win votes
Signs do very little but look nice, cost money, and make the candidate feel good. The one positive thing I can say about signs and sign wars is they put some money in the hands of people at good union print shops.
Signs signs everywhere signs
I have to weigh in here. Signs don't mean much. People who are taking the time to attend a convention have their mind made up before they walk in the door. In the event that people are undecided for some reason, they certainly aren't going to make up their mind because a candidate's sign is hanging on the wall. In fact, I'd prefer if we didn't have signs at all! The sign wars are so childish. I participated in "Sign wars" in 2006 for the candidate of my choice. As far as I can tell, the only reason why we do it is because we always have, and we know the other campaign is going to do it, so we have to as well. One suggestion I've had is that if we HAVE to have signs, that each campaign gets an equal
amount and the room is divided up equally for places to hang them.
Signs are a diversion from grassroots organizing which is person to person conversation. Signs don't talk to voters, and signs don't vote. People don't go into the voting booth saying to themselves, "I really would have liked to vote for that candidate, but they just didn't have very many lawn signs."
If I can say one good thing about them, other than they are fun collector items, is that when a supporter asks for a sign, it is a good opportunity to ask them to door knock.
Signs
We were fortunate that the convention organizers limited signs to the auditorium- other wise we would all have had to cover the whole buildings and grounds to be competitive. BTW, the Franken staffers were real amateurs- even though they outnumbered us we matched them for coverage, and passed them when there signs fell down and we took their places!
How Sly!
While those Franken amateurs were wasting their time beating Ciresi 18-2 in delegates, you all were getting the drop on them on the sign front. Please keep up this good work!
gretting folks at the door with stickers
Franken volunteers were at the doors greeting folks with stickers and had that venue covered quite well at sd60. I find this tactic far more effective than a million signs in the auditorium since it gives people a chance to talk to each other about why they are supporting their candidate, or ask questions. You can't talk to a sign. Grassroots campaigns are built by people talking to people.
Even with a lawn sign, folks walking by my house can stop me to talk about my candidate.
An anonymous sign on an auditorium wall says nothing, except that someone spent a lot of time hanging signs before I got there. Bid woop!.