Minnesota Senate: A tip from Tip.
What is the basic strategy of congressional Republicans up for re-election in the midterms? To step as far away from the deep doo-doo in Washington as they possibly can. They’re clinging desperately to Tip O’Neill’s theory “all politics is local.” They sure hope he’s right. But how is it playing?
Well, Minnesota is supposed to offer Republicans one of their best chances to pick up a Senate seat this election cycle, and why not? This is a Democratic seat where Mark Dayton spent $12 million of his own money in 2000 to win the job, then botched it so badly he had to retire.
Seeking to replace Dayton are Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy and Democratic county prosecutor Amy Klubuchar.
Kennedy has spent the last half-dozen years in Washington as an integral part of the GOP-controlled Congress that in the same week this summer voted to repeal the estate tax for the very rich while voting down an increase in the minimum wage for the very poor. How will that play in Minnesota? About the same way its playing across the country: very badly.
So Mark urges voters to ignore all that. He’s running as an “outsider.” In the traditional political Muzak of GOP rhetoric, he promises to “promote and defend Minnesota values—from the special interests and the Washington insiders.” How is that for campaign chutzpah?
On the stump you would never know his party made the mess that is now featured on every late-nite comic’s highlight reel. His years in Washington coincide with such monumental horrors as the Iraq war and Katrina, but Minnesotans won’t hear that from “outsider” Kennedy. You can get away with that if your three terms in Washington were so forgettable that voters never knew you were there.
According to a recent issue of Congress Daily, Klubuchar hasn’t been setting the electorate on fire with her somewhat tepid and cautious statements on how she would deal with important issues like the war, that she “talks carefully and is wary of how Kennedy will portray her position.”
Wait a minute, Amy. This is Minnesota. This is the state that gave us Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy and Paul Wellstone — fearless, table-pounding liberals.
Kennedy is the one who should worry about how Klubuchar portrays his position. Here is a guy who claims to be a “problem-solver.” Solver? For six years these guys have been problem creators. The war we won’t even go into, but what about soaring health care costs and high gas prices? Passing legislation against gay marriage or flag-burning doesn’t pay the rent or put food on the table.
Kennedy also prides himself as an “accountant and businessman.” Great. So how does he explain why the GOP fights the federal estate tax on multimillion dollar fortunes that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars when we already have an 8 trillion dollar debt? What accounting school did he go to anyway?
How is the Tip O’Neill strategy playing in Minnesota? Not well. Latest polls have Klubuchar in the lead, and that’s with much of the electorate still in the dark about the real credentials of her “outsider” opponent.
The evidence is piling up that in the 2006 midterm elections it doesn’t much matter how screwed up or unorganized the Democrats are. To win, all they need to be is on the ballot. They don’t even need a pulse, let alone a coherent position on the war. The public is so angry at Bush and the GOP that if Tip O’Neill were still around his new dictum would be “you can run but you can’t hide…from your record.” Stand by for the midterm Democratic tsunami.
Well, Minnesota is supposed to offer Republicans one of their best chances to pick up a Senate seat this election cycle, and why not? This is a Democratic seat where Mark Dayton spent $12 million of his own money in 2000 to win the job, then botched it so badly he had to retire.
Seeking to replace Dayton are Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy and Democratic county prosecutor Amy Klubuchar.
Kennedy has spent the last half-dozen years in Washington as an integral part of the GOP-controlled Congress that in the same week this summer voted to repeal the estate tax for the very rich while voting down an increase in the minimum wage for the very poor. How will that play in Minnesota? About the same way its playing across the country: very badly.
So Mark urges voters to ignore all that. He’s running as an “outsider.” In the traditional political Muzak of GOP rhetoric, he promises to “promote and defend Minnesota values—from the special interests and the Washington insiders.” How is that for campaign chutzpah?
On the stump you would never know his party made the mess that is now featured on every late-nite comic’s highlight reel. His years in Washington coincide with such monumental horrors as the Iraq war and Katrina, but Minnesotans won’t hear that from “outsider” Kennedy. You can get away with that if your three terms in Washington were so forgettable that voters never knew you were there.
According to a recent issue of Congress Daily, Klubuchar hasn’t been setting the electorate on fire with her somewhat tepid and cautious statements on how she would deal with important issues like the war, that she “talks carefully and is wary of how Kennedy will portray her position.”
Wait a minute, Amy. This is Minnesota. This is the state that gave us Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy and Paul Wellstone — fearless, table-pounding liberals.
Kennedy is the one who should worry about how Klubuchar portrays his position. Here is a guy who claims to be a “problem-solver.” Solver? For six years these guys have been problem creators. The war we won’t even go into, but what about soaring health care costs and high gas prices? Passing legislation against gay marriage or flag-burning doesn’t pay the rent or put food on the table.
Kennedy also prides himself as an “accountant and businessman.” Great. So how does he explain why the GOP fights the federal estate tax on multimillion dollar fortunes that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars when we already have an 8 trillion dollar debt? What accounting school did he go to anyway?
How is the Tip O’Neill strategy playing in Minnesota? Not well. Latest polls have Klubuchar in the lead, and that’s with much of the electorate still in the dark about the real credentials of her “outsider” opponent.
The evidence is piling up that in the 2006 midterm elections it doesn’t much matter how screwed up or unorganized the Democrats are. To win, all they need to be is on the ballot. They don’t even need a pulse, let alone a coherent position on the war. The public is so angry at Bush and the GOP that if Tip O’Neill were still around his new dictum would be “you can run but you can’t hide…from your record.” Stand by for the midterm Democratic tsunami.
posted by Victor Kamber | 2:23 PM
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