My Primary Frustration

 

 

 

"United we will stand and win; divided we will fall (again)..."

Today is the last day of June, and what a whirlwind of a month this has been. The convention was barely over in Rochester when the first minutes of June arrived. I really thought the hard work, the long hours, the many ballots we took in Rochester meant something. It seems that I was wrong.

During this month, I have been to numerous political events, fundraisers, parades, and so on. I made one thing a practice since the get-go - I will only support endorsed candidates. Two of the people who are running in the August primary I have never talked to. Not that they have to me - I was a delegate to the convention and talked (some many times) to each of the endorsed candidates. Here however, is the irony. The endorsed candidates for governor and United States Senate were not my first choices. In fact, the person for senate I supported made it to the 9th ballot. I was with him until he conceded. When both the people I supported for governor and senate conceded, they threw their support to the endorsed candidates. The way I was raised, that is how it is suppose to be.

The President was here last week. It was some B.S. cover story for a trip. In reality it was a stump speech and a fund raiser. When some pundit on the national news was talking about the trip, he said "Well Minnesota is very friendly territory for the President." Yes it is. Look around folks. We have gone from light red to purple to light blue. If we don't turn this thing around, we will end up being dark blue like California or New York. In those two states, Republicans have gone the way of the Dodo Bird.

So, tonight we are going to yet one more political event. Why? So our endorsed candidate for governor can raise some more money to fight off other non-endorsed Republican candidates in this superfluous August primary. What a waste. I will say this for the endorsed candidates - as they are taking fire from folks in our own party, they are still focused like laser beams on the DFL. We have a huge hill to climb before November. We are up against the Minnesota DFL machine and all the promised candy that goes with it. I have said before, all that true Republicans can offer is freedom; Democrats promise everything up to and including the kitchen sink.

Now I am not a lemming nor a groupie. I have vetted each of our candidates, asked the tough questions, as well as the non-political ones. I like to get to know the person as well as his or her political views. What I learned in Rochester is simple - we have great bench strength this year. Many, many qualified candidates. Most who were running put up the good fight. However the dance is over - the winners have been selected. It is time to gather and garner our resources to go after the real enemy - out of control taxes and government growth supported by the DFL.

I know some will disagree with this post. Sorry about that. This is the way I feel. Fighting more battles when the war has been won is a waste of ammunition. As for me, my sights are set on November. I could give a rat's butt about August. My power is being kept dry, and my tongue civil. At my house, the 11th commandment is etched in stone.