Minnesota Politics

[sam i am]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051010/ap_on_el_se/minnesota_senate

Hey Documad, what's your take on this maneuvering?

I'm interested in Senate races across the country myself, so I was also wondering if you or any of the other usual suspects followed Senate or House races countrywide, especially considering their impact on the national scene....

[Documad]

Sorry, but I can't really comment on any statewide races at this time.

On a local 2005 race that I'm not working on: Nothing would make me happier than seeing Chris Coleman elected. Not only is he the better candidate, but I've worked with him in the past and he's a good guy.


Kerry stumps for Coleman, focuses on city's future

BY TIM NELSON
Pioneer Press - 10/10/2005

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry visited St. Paul today to stump for the city's DFL mayoral contender, 13 months after the city's Democratic mayor endorsed Kerry's Republican opponent.

Kerry spoke to more than 700 supporters of former City Council Member Chris Coleman at Macalester College's Kagin Commons this morning, saying, "I'm not here to campaign against anyone.

"We're here to talk about the future of this city... We need to throw away our labels. Throw away being a Democrat or being a Republican," he told them. "Just think about the policies, think about what's important to this city and important about its future."

Kerry didn't mention Mayor Randy Kelly by name. Kelly campaigned across the state for the re-election of George Bush last year — unsuccessfully here, it turned out. Kerry won the election in Minnesota by more than 98,000 votes last fall, and took St. Paul by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, despite the mayor's endorsement.

Kerry, though, took pains to touch on local issues, mentioning some of Coleman's efforts on the city council, such as fighting for preservation of the historic Coney Island building, which had been threatened with demolition in a proposed expansion of the nearby St. Paul Cos. insurance headquarters.

The Massachusetts sentator also made reference to the controversial decommissioning of one of the city's fire engines, near University and Vandalia.

"We shouldn't be closing down fire stations in America and opening them in Baghdad," Kerry told the crowd.

Coleman, who won a resounding first-place finish in the September primary. sounded familiar campaign themes in his remarks to the crowd, saying Kelly's proposed street fee plan contradicted his claim to be keeping the city affordable.

Coleman also criticized Kelly for staying out of the 2002 senatorial race. Kelly said last month that he hadn't backed the Democratic incumbent, Paul Wellstone, because Wellstone hadn't endorsed him.

"Leadership isn't about what people can do for you," Coleman said. "It's about what you can do for people."

[QueenAdrock]

Minnesota is full of a bunch of damn dirty Scandinavians.

[Documad]

You're telling ME! :rolleyes:

And they're damn proud of it too!

[QueenAdrock]

Haha, I know. I have Finnish relatives somewhere around there.

[DroppinScience]

Haha, I know. I have Finnish relatives somewhere around there.

My girlfriend is Finnish. :)

Yeah, that had nothing to do with anything...

[QueenAdrock]

She must be hot. (y)


...and stubborn.

[Documad]

Good news! A real Democrat got elected mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota tonight. There has been amazing personal hatred the current mayor, who calls himself a Democrat, yet refused to endorse Kerry for president in 2004. There were lawn signs branding the sitting mayor a "republican" and saying they would never forget. There were more of those signs than there were signs for tonight's Democrat-endorsed winner. (And, btw, the winner is a good guy, even though he used to be my sometime opponent.) People have to stay angry through 2006.



St. Paul mayoral race: Chris Coleman defeats Kelly


St. Paul voters punished Mayor Randy Kelly on Tuesday for standing with President Bush a year ago, denying the Democrat a second term in Minnesota's capital city.

Former City Council member Chris Coleman, also a Democrat, routed Kelly 70 percent to 30 percent in unofficial returns with all but a few precincts reporting. Ahead of the election, independent polls showed voters were primed to fire Kelly, and most cited his 2004 endorsement of the Republican president as the reason.

No sitting St. Paul mayor had lost a campaign since 1974. Kelly had a personal election streak that spanned just as long, covering his quarter-century in the Legislature and first term as mayor.

"It may sound silly, but Kelly was for Bush and I'm not,'' said retiree Audrey Guith after casting her vote for Coleman.

Kelly found it impossible to change the topic in the campaign's final weeks. He tried to tout his record of adding affordable housing while keeping property taxes steady, and the mayor sought to paint Coleman as a tax-raiser beholden to public employee unions.

"The people have spoken,'' Kelly said in a concession speech at his campaign headquarters. "I say amen, and so be it.''

Though Coleman had seized on the endorsement in his campaign, he downplayed its role in the victory. "This race has never been about George Bush,'' he told cheering supporters.

He was just as jubilant.

"I just can't even tell you how good winning feels,'' he said. "We Democrats forget that every once in a while.''

Like Minneapolis, St. Paul's bigger and better-known neighbor, Democrats largely outnumber Republicans and control all aspects of city government even though the offices are technically nonpartisan.

Political experts were astounded by how prominently the 2004 election figured into this fall's race. Most other issues took a backseat; a Star Tribune of Minneapolis poll released Sunday showed that nearly two-thirds of voters considered the endorsement important in their decision.

It drove plumber Daniel Doyle to pick Coleman over Kelly, whom he supported in 2001. Doyle said he was happy with the direction of the city, but not the mayor.

"That weighed me down when he was backing the president. He lost my vote,'' Doyle said. "I don't know whether he is going to sway to the Republican side.

McRae Anderson, a city resident for 36 years, stuck with Kelly. He said the Bush endorsement didn't bother him because he voted for Bush himself. Anderson said he was disappointed that so many other people were influenced by that one event.

"He's done a good job. They ought to see what he's done for the city,'' he said.

Kay Wolsborn, a political science professor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University, said it's too soon to say if the St. Paul race suggests broader trouble for Republicans as Minnesota moves into an election year with the governor's office and a U.S. Senate seat on the line.

"There's going to be some very interesting analysis behind closed doors,'' she said. "How wise is it to bring in the big Republican names in support of our statewide candidates?''

[D_Raay]

Bush has become kryptonite...

[sam i am]

Bush has become kryptonite...

True.

Probably we'll see him focus on foreign affairs over domestic, where he has much less sway right now.