Our Two Blue Minnesota Giants

 

 

"Sorry Babe - you are NOT one of our two blue giants!"

 

Most political geeks will tell you that Minnesota is a schizoid state. We can produce a Michele Bachmann as well as a Paul Wellstone. We can produce a Rod Grams as well as a Fritz Mondale. This state is not purple - it is pockets of bright red and bright blue that will not mix well together.

 

I live in the 6th District. Well known for being the "reddest" district in Minnesota (and I love it). It is not an overly large district - from a land mass perspective, it is small as compared to the 7th and 8th Districts. Those two districts I refer to as the "Blue Giants". They are huge as far as land mass goes. And they are blue. Why? Good question.

 

Let's look at the 7th District first. Rural, flat, and bordering the Dakota states. From a topography and agri-business standpoint, the 7th looks quite a bit like a Dakota. Yet, the 7th has voted blue for congressional representation for over 20 years. Whereas the Dakotas, especially North Dakota, are much more red than blue. There is no reason, no reason what so ever why this large and important district is lured year after year by the Democrats. 2014 should be the year of the change for the 7th. It should be, but will it?

 

The district which puzzles me even more is the 8th. These are good hard working people who like to fish, hunt and log. In addition, they recently found out they are sitting on one of the biggest mineral deposits in the world. When Chip Cravaack won the district in 2010, I thought the sea change had finally begun. Nope. The good folks of the 8th dumped Capt. Cravaack in 2012 and replaced him with an aging, later day hippie. This year however, another good candidate has emerged to attempt to retire Mr. Nolan back to his world of sunshine and lolly pops.

 

One more word about the 7th which makes the puzzle even more confusing. As the 6th is the most Republican district in the state, the 7th is the second most Republican. And yet, it has voted for Collin Peterson for over 20 years.

 

A final word about two other districts. This is only my opinion, so I will share it. The 4th (Betty) and the 5th (Keith) are write offs. If you live in either of these two districts, all we can do is pray for you. They are not only blue, they are the darkest Navy Blue you could ever imagine. Finding a true conservative running for office in either if these two districts would be as rare as finding a shark in Lake Calhoun. They are lost - living in the Matrix, waiting for Santa Clause.

 

So there is my take for 2014. The Republicans SHOULD control the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 8th. And the 1st? A topic for another day. For 2014, the political map in Minnesota should show the demise of our two "Blue Giants". We should have five districts securely in the red, two dark blue districts lost forever, and one more blue district left to win over in 2016. If there is a reason why we can't do this, I would like to hear it.