Casting a long shadow

"Jeff Johnson has been referred to as Minnesota's Scott Walker. As much respect as I have for Governor Walker, I disagree with that statement. I think Jeff will be better than Governor Walker. Better by a long shot. Get ready Minnesota. We could be on the cusp of greatness once again."   

He does cast a long shadow, does he not? After all, Allen Quist ran for Governor in 1994 against a purple Arnie Carlson. The party faithful decided a good, decent Christian man was a whole lot better than the liberal, pro-choice Arnie Carlson. So Quist won the primary. "Not so fast", Arnie said. "We will see you on the primary battlefield". Then Arnie took his money and his wide spread name recognition to the hinterlands and beat Allen Quist in the primary. 

Why do I bring this up? The long shadow of Allen Quist. I have been waiting to see how long it would take someone to draw the analogy from 1994 (almost 25 years ago) to today. And they have. It is like the new Arnie Carlson in this race is the old Tim Pawlenty. Too liberal to win the endorsement (as Arnie was), TPaw will use the name recognition he received as Governor (as Arnie did), to go out into the hinterland and woo the masses. 

Well that was then and this is now. As Dylan says, "The times they are a changing". The person some are trying to equate with Allen Quist is Jeff Johnson. Nice try on that one. Not to besmirch Mr. Quist, but Allen Quist and Jeff Johnson are quite different from each other. In fact, they are as different from each other as Tim Pawlenty and Arnie Carlson are similar to each other. 

BTW - just a bit more history. In 1990, Arnie became our 37th Governor due to the endorsed candidate slipping up in this personal life. The party did not endorse Arnie in 1990, and as a sitting Governor in 1994, the party did not endorse him then either. They endorsed Allen Quist in 1994. Why? Lets just say that Arnie did not fit the suit which was hanging in the closet. But oh that name recognition! Now that was a winner!

Here is the long and the short of it for 2018. Donald Trump is our President and is on a red hot path right now. The country is healing form Obama by leaps and bounds. Our own little corner of the universe (that be Minnesota) however, is not. We have some bumps and bruises and some very ugly warts from eight years of Mark Dayton. We need a Trump like figure to come in here and rip the faulty gears out of this state, and replace them with new ones. Ones which are better and cheaper. Tim Pawlenty had his chance to do that in his eight years as Governor, and failed. Jeff Johnson will not fail. 

One more thing before I close this out. As a man of deep faith and character, Jeff has said from the get-go that if he does not win the party endorsement, he will immediately hop over to the endorsed candidate's team. Most, if not all, of Jeff's team will also do that. I know I would. That would have included Tim Pawlenty, should he had chosen the endorsement process. 

There will be no primary challenge from Jeff Johnson. They only way Jeff would put heart and soul into a primary is if someone decided to primary him. Why would Jeff do that? Because first and foremost, Jeff believes in Team Red. He knows a bitter and tough primary could split the party, as well as drain precious resources. Then the chances of having a Governor Walz go up quite a bit.

Well, I am packed and ready to go. Headed up north. There to help out where I can. Ready to spread the word to those who are still undecided.

Jeff Johnson has been referred to by some as Minnesota's Scott Walker. As much respect as I have for Governor Walker, I disagree with that statement. I think Jeff will be better than Governor Walker. Better by a long shot. Get ready Minnesota. We could be on the cusp of greatness once again