Election News From Minnesota

Over the weekend Minnesota Democrats had their congressional district nominating conventions. There were two we were watching. One ended badly and one ended well. The one that ended badly was for the open red district (PVI is R+10) that Michele Bachmann is leaving. Joe Perske, a hopeless conservative won the right to challenge whomever wins the GOP primary, in all likelihood, far right sociopath Tom Emmer. Perske narrowly beat the mainstream Democrat, Avon college professor Jim Read, after four rounds of balloting. To point out that Perske, who calls himself a Blue Dog, is from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, is not controversial. He's an anti-Choice fanatic and a shill for the NRA. Progressives won't even bother coming to the polls in November.

There was much better news in the southeastern part of the state, where radical right extremist John Kline finds himself in a swing district (MN-02) with a PVI of R+2. Obama beat McCain there in 2008 and Romney in 2012, albeit narrowly both years. The DCCC didn't support Kline's opponent last year while Obama was winning the district and Kline won 193,586 (54%) to 164,335 (46%). Obama won each of the district's 6 counties but Kline only lost one, tiny Rice County. Saturday's nominating convention went with Mike Obermueller again, who won the nomination on the first ballot against two challengers.

Blue America endorsed Obermueller and you can contribute to his campaign here. After his victory Saturday, he told the media that he would go after Kline on three main issues.

"I think the big issue between us is the difference in how he treats the middle class," Obermueller said. "He's been giving huge tax cuts away to millionaires and pushing that burden back onto seniors and the middle class. I think we ought to grow the middle class because that's the only way to get our economy up and running again."

The second issue, he said, is Social Security and Medicare for seniors. "He wants to privatize it. I want to make sure we're shoring it up," Obermueller said.

Finally, he criticized Kline for failing to support pay equity for women and allowing women to make their own health decisions. "That's a big contrast between us."

That contrast was highlighted Wednesday in a letter Obermueller sent out to voters in the district. The letter shows exactly how progressives should message the affordable Care Act. "John Kline hates Obamacare," Obermueller began. "He’s voted again and again and again to repeal the entire law. Kline voted to repeal protections for patients with pre-existing conditions. He voted to repeal provisions holding the insurance industry accountable. And he voted to repeal laws that stopped insurance companies from charging women more than men. Some Democrats are running away from Obamacare, but I’m not afraid to fight back. In Congress, I’ll make sure we keep Obamacare’s smart reforms like allowing kids to stay on their parents’ health plans, new tax credits for the middle class, and barring insurance companies from dropping patients just because they’re sick... Kline wants to put the insurance industry back in charge. That’s unacceptable. It’s time to fight back."

Imagine Replacing Bachmann With An Actual Progressive!

When right-wing sociopath Michele Bachmann announced her retirement from Congress last year, followed by Jim Graves' withdrawal from the MN-06 congressional race, we kind of stopped watching this district. For one thing, the district has a PVI of R+10, pretty prohibitive territory for a Democrat and just right for a right-wing lobbyist like Tom Emmer, the probably GOP nominee. For another, a horrible DCCC-type fake Democrat, Sartell mayor Joe Perske looked like he would be the nominee.

Emmer, who was defeated in his run for governor last year, is as extremist in his politics as Bachmann. He espouses the Confederate nullification doctrine, doesn't think corporations should pay any taxes at all, opposes a minimum wage and decided to make his gubernatorial run a jihad against waiters and waitresses. Of course he's a loud homophobic bigot, anti-Choice, actually in favor of school bullying and is a serial drunk driver who keeps trying to make drunk driving a less serious crime. The man is sick-- and that helps explain why he lost his bid for the governorship, despite being heavily financed to the tune of several million dollars by crooked corporations like Best Buy and Target.

…Perske says he considers himself a "Blue Dog," or centrist, Democrat because he says he’s against abortion rights and supports Second Amendment rights. Still, he says he’s not a Republican because they aren’t offering solutions to create livable wage jobs or improve education or health care access.

Perske still hasn't officially declared and, instead Jim Read, an actual progressive, has. Actually, Jim's official kickoff event is tomorrow at 2pm at the Atwood Center at St. Cloud University. Jim is a political science professor at St. John’s University and I was impressed by his understanding and willingness to speak out forcefully on economic inequality and warrantless surveillance, two subjects the DCCC demands its candidates not talk about.

"I grew up," wrote Jim on his campaign site, "believing in economic opportunity for all who were willing to put in the effort, regardless of wealth or family background. I took for granted the public investments that paved the way for me. I enjoyed good public schools, attended university at a time of generous financial aid, and entered the job market without great anxiety for the future." He went on in a way that shows the contrast between him and not just a corporate whore like Emmer but a ignorance-steeped conservative like Perske as well:

Today the road is much more difficult for high school and college graduates just entering the job market. The students I teach every day have a harder road to travel than I did. It is equally challenging for mid-career adults seeking new employment following a layoff or relocation. Costly wars and persistent deficits have crowded out essential investments in people, our most valuable resource for the present and future.

We must renew our public commitment to economic opportunity for all. We must reinvest in education and job training. Small and medium-sized businesses, the engines of new employment in our district, must have access to capital and find skilled workers ready to hire. We must fix our health care system so that people can go where the jobs are without losing medical coverage. We should build a 21st Century transportation and communication network that includes roads, bridges, commuter rail and high-speed internet wherever one lives or works. The North Star line runs like a vital artery through the 6th District and should be supported and extended.

We have made such investments before, even during difficult times in American history. The transcontinental railroad was born during the crisis of the Civil War; the interstate highway system after World War II. The shared sacrifice of World War II also produced a public commitment to college education that boosted my parents’ generation as well as my own. We Americans are ready to get back to work. We expect Congress to do the same.

His stand against the surveillance state shows the kind of willingness MN-06 voters expect of their congressmember to stay independent of the two corrupt Beltway parties:

The National Security Agency violates our Fourth Amendment liberties by collecting and storing data on every one of us, intercepting our communications, profiling us or observing us from the skies without a search warrant. NSA officials denied that such programs existed until leaked documents proved otherwise.

The 4th amendment of the Constitution guarantees “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” The NSA violates this constitutional right when it collects and stores phone records indiscriminantly on American citizens, and intercepts email and internet communications of millions of people not suspected of any crime.

Particular individuals known or suspected of terrorist activity or crimes can and should be monitored under our constitution. But data mining the communication habits of hundreds of millions of Americans infringes our liberties without making us safer. A wide range of individuals and organizations cutting across political lines have called upon Congress and the president to end the NSA abuses. As a candidate for Congress I add my voice to this call for reform. Congress must get back to work to keep Americans secure without violating their constitutional rights.