North Star Politics

Can anybody tell me what the hell Jack Murtha is doing endorsing someone in a DFL primary in Minnesota?

On the other hand, American Jewish World endorsed Ellison today. That should put to rest MDE's implications of his being obviously anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.



Technorati Tags: Jack Murtha MN-05 Keith Ellison Mike Erlandson

Secretary of State Kiffmeyer is on the defensive, cutting a business filing fee immediately after Mark Ritchie slammed her for it. I don't buy the "been in the works for months" line, and the only other possibility is that Kiffmeyer is simultaneously running scared and running stupid by letting Ritchie and the DFL control the agenda in the race.

Kiffmeyer is undoubtedly doing "a heck of a job." She's as partisan as they come in a position that is perhaps the most necessarily non-partisan in the state. She has given contradictory advice to candidates from the two parties, with the more favorable interpretation reserved for Republicans (obviously). She has personally screwed over an IP candidate filing in CD5 and has a solid history of making voting more, not less, difficult. She needs to go, for the good of the state.

I'm a big fan of Mark Ritchie; he has the experience, the talent, and the mindset to get the job done the right way. From what I've seen, his campaign is being excellently run and, as shown by Kiffmeyer's retreat, he's well on his way to winning in November.

Technorati Tags: MN-SOS Mark Ritchie Mary Kiffmeyer

It takes quite a bit to get me to peek out of my shell these days, but this got me riled up.

MDE wrote a pair of posts earlier in the day about 911 calls regarding Keith Ellison. They were posts that are unfortunately typical of Mr. Brodkorb's blog - making insinuations that were as totally out of context to the events as one can imagine. These insinuations were dishonest, fear-mongering, and made me lose some of my remaining respect for MDE. They were not posts that he ought to be proud of.

Unfortunately, we've all come to expect this kind of stuff from MDE. It's nothing new, and it's nothing surprising. What is new is that, according to Dan Weinand, Ellison's CD5 rival Paul Ostrow's campaign manager is MDE's source.

This is the kind of thing that cannot be permitted in the DFL if it is to truly succeed in Minnesota. It makes us look like a whole party full of MDEs. We're not; the DFL is full of people who will rightfully be disgusted by this. Particularly pathetic is that the Ostrow campaign couldn't even do it right - in being exposed, they've probably sunk their campaign overnight. Many kudos to the pros at Ostrow HQ.

I'm not going to be quite as harsh as MNCR, who says that Ostrow should be out of the party. Instead, I'm going to say that if Ostrow hasn't sacked Jason Amundsen by COB tomorrow, Ostrow should be out of the party. Absolutely no question that Amundsen should never, ever be hired by another DFL campaign.

With every post that MDE makes about the primary in the 5th, it becomes more and more apparent that the GOP is scared blind about the prospect of a Congressman Ellison. Unfortunately for them, they're about to find that their tactics have backfired once again.

UPDATE: MN Publius has more. This takes the situation from disgusting to sickening.

Technorati Tags: Keith Ellison Paul Ostrow MN-05