I'm probably one of the last to join in and raise my voice to help the Publius guys- but...

History:
MN Publius attacked Mark Kenney's campaign team for doctoring their website to take out referneces to the unpopular President.

Ron Carey releases a statement that claims Bush is mentioned 72 times on Kennedy's site.

Strib does an article saying MN Publius exagerated the claims. The Strib did not call for comment or ask for anything from the Publius boys, just let it go.

My Response:
First- The boys provide great examples of where it was directly edited. I went to the page- clearly changes have been made. Make-over Mark is once again having the Republican spin machine lie to hide his make-overs.

Second- Thats some damn shoddy journalism from the Star Tribune. If I were MN Publius (and I'm not) I would call and threaten to sue if a retraction or restory isn't made. Why? As a journalism student, I'll tell you- Newspapers are not perfect, they are written by reporters who are often scrambling to catch a quick news story to fill in some space. Sometimes, they can't go through the entire process like they should (the full process of writing an article takes between 6-100 hours for a normal news story) Clearly they opted for the 1 hour approach on this story rather then actually being legitimate journalists.

Third- Makeover Mark should get a clue- if this is the biggest news story he can generate... he has problems. Hopefully however he will just stay this dumb, keep hiding his voting record- Kennedy voted with DeLay 92%, Bush 92%
and Party Lines 95% Lets see how well he can make himself over on that?*

*note: I hope other blogs start running these numbers. I know I'm not the most widely read but lets get these numbers into the public eye- thats what matters is beating Makeover Mark and holding him accountable for his make overs.

Waffletushie has a breakdown of the current candidates for treasurer.

I don't know who I'm going to support at this time but they are all really great candidates and as far as I know would do well as Treasurer.

My posting will drop for a few days as tonight around 6:00 My laptop was stolen from Carlson School of Management. So, I will be out of it, only having my crappy desktop.

Today, Kerry Gauthier, DFL State Treasurer has resigned from office. He left to continue his work on the Becky Lourey for Governor campaign. He said to me, "Some things you just believe in too much to back down." A copy of the letter is included here:

Brian Melendez
Chair
Democratic Farmer Labor Party
255 East Plato Blvd
Saint Paul, MN 55107

June 26,2006

Dear Chairman Melendez;
For the Past(sic) thirty two years, I have faithfully served the Democratic Farmer Labor Party of Minnesota. I have served in party offices from Senate District Director to State Treasurer. Over those thirty two years, I have always abided by my Party's endorsement.

As you know Becky Lourey and I have known each other for the past twenty year. During that time we not only formulated a political alliance because of our convictions but a close friendship that words can not adequately describe. When Becky and Gene lost their son, Nando, five years ago, I was asked to speak at his funeral service. This task was daunting and it was a heavy burden to seek to find words to comfort grieving family members. It is that kind of friendship that exists between me and the Lourey family.

Today I find myself having to decide between abiding by the endorsement process and an intimate friendship. I have chosen to continue to work with the Lourey campaign because of my comitment and loyalty to progressive issues and my relationship with the Lourey's(sic). I also respect my party and the requirements of office. I therefore am resigning my position as State Party Treasurer. It is my hope that you and members of the DFL Party understand and respect my decision.

Respectfully,
Kerry Gauthier

I have to say on a personal note that it is sad to see Kerry go. He and I have not always seen eye to eye on everything but he is a good friend and a good man who stands up for what he believes in, and doesn't let the machine silence him.

Rumors have already started that potential replacements for Kerry include Betsy O'Berry and Mari Pogonowski(I'm sure thats not how you spell her last name, but I can barely spell it, much less pronounce it) both candidates would be a good choice. As long as its not someone from Minneapolis, I'd be happy.

A comment left on my convention recap post indicated Chairman Brian Melendez had made a decision to not seek a second term.
I spoke with Chairman Melendez and he told me he has not made a decision one way or the other yet.
Personally I'm glad- if he were focusing on his own election, he wouldn't be focusing on what really matters- November. After we take back the entire state, and hopefully our country, should we be worrying about who will be our chair. I hope Brian can stay focused for these next few months, shouldn't be too much of a problem for him I'm guessing though.

It has been confirmed that Mike Hatch's running mate will be Judi Dutcher. I have the article in full from the Star Tribune here. Props to Waffletushie for being the first to pick up on this.

Dutcher to run with Hatch on DFL ticket

The former state auditor, out of politics since her gubernatorial bid in 2002, was a big vote-getter for the GOP in the 1990s.

Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune

Former State Auditor Judi Dutcher will announce her return to politics Sunday as the running mate of DFL gubernatorial endorsee Mike Hatch, the state's two-term attorney general.

Rumors about the political pair have intensified since the DFL convention in Rochester, where Dutcher, a former Republican who unsuccessfully sought DFL endorsement for governor in 2002, showed up in support of Hatch. He has courted Dutcher publicly and privately for weeks to join his campaign as a candidate for lieutenant governor.

Sources close to Hatch confirmed the pairing Friday, but Dutcher and a Hatch campaign spokeswoman declined to speak about their plans for this article.

Hatch's campaign gave notice Friday of a "major announcement" scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Hatch's Burnsville home.

On Friday, it also was announced that Dutcher has resigned as president of the Minnesota Community Foundation.

The Hatch-Dutcher ticket is a potentially potent one for the DFL. The two telegenic politicians have track records as populist advocates. They also could make a volatile combination because both have strong personalities.

Both are proven vote-getters with wide name recognition from previous campaigns. In 1998, when Dutcher sought reelection as auditor, she attracted the most votes among statewide candidates for constitutional office and beat her DFL rival by 150,000 votes. Hatch was the top vote recipient for constitutional office in 2002.

Hatch and Dutcher face a DFL primary election challenge from state Sen. Becky Lourey of Kerrick and her running mate, former Vikings football player Tim Baylor. The winners of that contest will take on Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau in November.

Political conversion

Dutcher, 43, was twice elected state auditor on the GOP ticket but switched to the DFL in January 2000, during her second term. She said then that the party's views more accurately reflected her own and that she appreciated the DFL's acceptance of divergent views.

A protégé of former Gov. Arne Carlson, she is known for an earthy sense of humor, youthful style and hard-nosed practicality. As auditor, she was an activist at policing local government finances, earning a reputation for evenhanded nonpartisanship.

In 2002, Dutcher decided against running for reelection as auditor and sought the DFL endorsement for governor. She lost to Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe of Erskine, who went on to lose the general election to Pawlenty.

Since 2003 Dutcher has been president of the Minnesota Community Foundation, leading fundraising efforts. In 2005, the foundation was one of the fastest growing in the nation with $50 million in new charitable contributions.

She and her husband, Edwin Hedblom, who works at 3M, live in Minnetonka with their two sons and a dog. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1984 from the University of Minnesota and a law degree there in 1987 and later served as an assistant city attorney for Minneapolis.

Dutcher was a standout swimmer at Bloomington Jefferson High School. Her last name is familiar to University of Minnesota basketball fans. Her father is former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

So I haven’t written much, part of the reason why I haven’t is that I left my laptop power cord in Rochester, a friend has it but I haven’t had time to pick up the cord from them yet. Second, classes started, I’m taking three, two is considered a full load in the summer, so I’m a bit bogged down with homework. The final reason is a general feeling of disenchantment with the process. I watched as basically campaigns bullied their way to the top. They didn’t win with the best strategy, they won by threatening people, lying, and cheating, and that apparently is what politics truly is all about.

Day one was no surprise. Amy got it easily. Nothing exciting or interesting except Bell showed up. What a shmuck.

Day two-I have to admit, I was cheering Kelley on. While I had been a Hatch supporter early on, his lack of campaigning had pushed me into a neutral territory. I could have chosen between either Hatch or Kelley at the convention. That’s right Jay, I never thought Lourey would be a good governor. Now I can openly post it. I don’t’ think she’d make a good US Senator as some have touted either. I think running against a very fair party endorsement is a bad thing for her to do and I think she loses all credibility at this point.

The Kelley people definitely worked the hardest. They deserved this and I was sad to see him lose. He went out with grace, as everyone has said. To echo my good friend MCR’s sentiment, I can’t wait to see what the Senator from Hopkins will do next.

The final race, between Sande and Ritchie is where I was lost to the party. Yes, I am a Sande Supporter and will be forever. Minnesota Blue covers a lot of what I want to say, except that the Ritchie people really were nasty. The weekend for me started off when I was sitting in the bar Friday night, just chatting with some friends, I had a Sande sticker on. A person walked up to me, says “You should take that off, he sucks, go Ritchie” and then hits me upside the head. I had never seen or met this person before, but to violently attack someone is beyond reproach.

Aside from their individual supporters, their campaign operations were just plain rude. During the Sande demonstration time, the Ritchie people got up and started demonstrating. Very rude. There was no positive treatment between the Sande people and the Ritchie people. We were treated very badly. The Sande staffer who was working the fifth congressional district was insulted constantly as she went around persuading. She broke down into tears at one point. I know I will never ask anyone who worked for Ritchie to be part of any campaign I am involved in. I will also make sure that if any of the people that either assaulted me or insulted my friends are around, I will do whatever it takes to lock them out of anything I am doing. No DFLer, no Student, no person, should be treated the way we were treated. It was horrendous.

Congratulations to the Ritchie team, they have successfully disenfranchise this year’s group of college students.

This is why I chose not to post. I am still bitter, and will forever be bitter at the treatment I and my friends received. I will not stand idly by any longer. Treatment like this cannot go on, especially in the DFL. The Minneapolis Mafia, as they are so titled, are the ones who were leading this charge. The ones who were disenfranchising students, and were personally attacking people for their choice in the SOS race. Minneapolis now has control of my party for the next two years, and I will be fighting them every step of the way. One city does not control the state. One city does not have the right to treat people as badly as they have, and it is now my mission to ensure the DFL remains for the entire state, not just for the big city.

My rant is now over, for now. Others may go on about how many good feelings and positive messages came out of this convention, but I cannot. I leave with a distaste in my mouth, and a desire for strong change. I wish the endorsed candidates good luck and will do what I can to help them, except Ritchie, and then I will roll up my sleeves and try to fix this party, by hopefully creating a better balance between Minneapolis and the rest of this state, for Minneapolis cannot win us elections, Minneapolis cannot give us the state house or keep the senate, only the rest of the state, and I hope to god those blind people from that blind city realize that before its too late.

I'm still not ready to post on the convention. I'm tired, I'm still kind of angry, my laptop died on me, and a number of other things I don't feel like going into.

But I had to post on the fact that we've hit another milestone in the Iraq War. 2500 Deaths. They still think they did the right thing too. Isn't that sad?

Later today or tomorrow I will be posting a convention wrap up. It was a tough weekend for me, I'm still exhausted and classes started today. So I will be posting my thoughts a little later on. Please bare with me.

I have just spotted Judi Dutcher wearing a Hatch T-Shirt walk into the convention center. Could this have a lot more meaning? We'll find out later today.

Minvolved.com is liveblogging, so are several others. I'm to busy to liveblog but I'll try to post more regular updates during the governor's race.

Amy Klobuchar was endorsed with a significant number of the vote. The shocker was 252 votes for No Endorsement. I was very surprised, was a message actually sent? We'll see. I doubt it honestly.
Thats all for tonight, I'm hitting up the parties

Last Night- Sign wars was hell, the place looks like someone threw up colors. I'm not sure why we do sign wars. Signs do not seem important, just a waste of money.

Today: I have just been informed by members of the nominations committee that the Fourth Congressional District will only have 1 director nominated to the State Executive Committee. Five from the fifth, and 4 from the third. This means- with Chairs/Associate Chairs, and Executive Officers- CD4- has 4 members on the executive committee. The third has 7, and the fifth has 11. This means that Minneapolis now officially runs the Democratic Party of Minnesota. That scares me. I was afraid for this party before, this scares me even more-so.
I hope this is challenged from the floor and I hope that things become more even, or we'll really have to worry about this party.

Today is 6/6/6. Finally. There hasn't been a day with a similar structure what 100 years? Thats kinda cool right?

Well extremeist Christians are already going off about it. There's another book in the "Left Behind" series coming out today, protests, and another Ann Coulter Book. Truly, today is a day of horror.

But its also a day to be amused. The Omen comes out today--if any of you have seen the original, its a classic horror movie about the birth of the antichrist who influences people, his mother tries to protect him, bad stuff happens, people die, clasic horror.

Today is not a day to fear. The extremists are wrong. Its just another tuesday with a cool date that has an entertaining movie and probably some pretty cool parties thrown by the goth kids. Perhaps Former (current?) candidate for Governor Sharkey will come out from prison to have some fun? I know I'm going to do something entertaining and enjoy hedonism today!(and by hedonism I'll probably eat some ice cream and take a nap, but hey, thats living it up for me!)

If you're interested in this date read more at : 666

Ok,
So I thought the Lourey DVDs were a good idea. I really did.
That was until the calls started coming in. 6 so far, by last count. 6. In 3 days from one campaign. Its driving me nuts.

Also-the Robopoll--bad idea. I selected that I was a Lourey supporter just to hopefully have them leave me alone- it didn't work of course, 2 hours later, I got another call. Joy. Please just leave me alone!

This is the first unique good thing I've seen from the Lourey campaign. Today, in the mail I recieved Becky Lourey For Governor DVD. I must say, I'm impressed.

Not only did I recieve the DVD, but I recieved a follow up robo-call, making sure I recieved the DVD. This is the first outreach that is more fulfilling then just a piece of paper, and I like it.

The first time I saw something like this was the Howard Dean VHS and DVDs, back in late 2003. I thought they were a good idea. This is even better.

It not only has a pretty good 4-5 minute piece about Lourey, but it has "special features" including a campaign song with drawn characters wearing Lourey's head. Very creative.

While I can't imagine this was a cheap thing to produce (mailing out 2400 DVDs...) this may help push some of the undecideds. It also puts the other two campaigns on high alert. They have to get something comparable out.

Two downsides I saw- They had people talking about Lourey who they didn't ever identify, are these her friends? neighbors? other politicians? I just don't know.
Second- There was nothing abou her Lt. Gov pick. If they've known about Baylor for as many weeks as the rest of us, they should have thrown him in, introduced him, and helped talk about him little bit more.
Otherwise it was a good piece.

A new blogger who happens to be a friend of mine believes she has an exclusive on who Hatch's Lt. Gov candidate may be.

She believes it is Judi Dutcher.

I thought about this when I made my post yesterday, before her post. The reason I dont' believe it is Dutcher is because of her recent activities. She didn't go to caucus and by all appearances, she has moved on with her life.

Dutcher would be a great choice for Hatch. It would sway a lot of people I think who are riding the fence. If he can get her, he should go with her.

So, Becky Lourey has picked her Lt. Gov. The worst kept secret in the DFL, everyone knew weeks ago she was picking Tim Baylor. A very uninspired pick if you ask me.

Steve Kelley will announce he has picked Ruth Johnson as his Lt. Governor at a press conference later this afternoon sources tell me.

His pick is... uninspired at best. Kelley is trapped in between the two ends of the Democratic party- The Conservative Democrats who are voting for Hatch, and the Far left who is voting for Lourey. He should have tried better to balance himself with someone else to at least reach into either the conservative or the extreme left. Instead he's left in the middle.

As you remember, Johnson was Freeman's pick in 1998. Fat lot of good it did him. Freeman was in a similar position that Kelley was in. He was trapped between candidates and lost out to the bigger name. I wouldn't be surprised if this convention goes a lot like that one did. Its shaping up to have similar choices in candidates.

So the question then becomes- who is Hatch picking?

My theories--

Rumor has it that Hatch is going into the convention without a Lt. Gov. This could help him, but it could also hurt him. He could be going in expecting Lourey to lose early and to pick her up as his Lt. Gov. A Hatch/Lourey ticket would be near unbeatable. This strategy however has its flaws. If Hatch loses the endorsement and Lourey picks it up, suddenly he's left going into the primary without a running mate having been introduced to the party.

Shelia Kiscaden- When she made her speech in Olmstead County; she said she would be on the bottom of the ticket for Governor. Will she be able to keep that promise? Its possible but unlikely. Shelia is also conservative. She has mild appeal to moderates, but Hatch has strong appeal to moderates, she would add nothing to the Ticket.

Mark Dayton- Not like he's doing anything else anymore right?

Wes Skoglund/John Hottinger- Both of these retiring legislators would offer a nice balance for Hatch. They would give him a solid record behind him, as well as more metro based supporters. While Hatch does have the name behind him, a city legislator or someone from the leadership would balance him out well.

Honestly at this point Mike Hatch needs a strong left liberal to help him shore off some support from Lourey. He needs a strong Pro-Choice, Pro-gay, left winger to balance out his short comings. That person right now would be Lourey, but since she's busy... Hatch may have to look a little harder.