Do we (as a state) like Mike?

 

 

"Mike's resume is very impressive. He should be smoking Al in the polls right now..."

Last week, my wife and I decided to so something on the spur of the moment. Our oldest daughter was at a conference at a resort just north of Brainerd, and was staying a huge cabin all by herself. She called to say she was a bit unsettled, as it was a distance from the conference and somewhat isolated. That was all that her dad needed to hear - my wife and I were packed up and left right after supper.

The first morning, our daughter headed off to her conference and my wife and I found a "greasy spoon" to have breakfast at. I always like to eat at "greasy spoons" when on the road. Often times, the food is much better AND you get to listen in on the local gossip and news.

True to form, there were two older gentlemen (even older than I) sitting a couple tables over. One said to the other, "Did you see the debate between Franken and that guy McFadden?" The man at the other table said he did. "McFadden said he has a plan. Over and over, he has a plan. But he never said what the plan was. Hey, anyone can say that!" And they both chuckled and then started to talk fishing.

Ergo, this is the problem. On the news this morning, they talked about three different polls which were recently conducted. In all three, Mike McFadden is behind. The closest poll showed he is back by 8 points. In the most distant poll, he is back by 18 points. With the election less than a month away, those polls do not bode well for Mr. McFadden.

I remember reading something a few weeks ago about name recognition. Both Mike and Jeff Johnson have a big problem in the state with name recognition. Driving home from Duluth 10 days ago, as well as driving home from Brainerd last week, we saw zero campaign signs for Mike, and only a couple for Jeff. If name recognition is a problem, a blizzard of campaign signs would sure help fix that.

Al Franken beat Norm Coleman by less than 400 points six year ago. He squeaked by in an election which is still very suspect. Since being sworn in, all Franken has done during this term is become a rubber stamp for a Socialist leaning President. Period. 97% of the time, he has voted for with the President. He was the 60th vote for ObamaCare. Even though Al constantly says he votes for the interests of the people of Minnesota, I say "balderdash!" Al votes for the interest of Barrack Obama.

So here we go again. A deja vu moment. If something does not change in a hurry, this could turn out to be like the Kurt Bills, Amy Klobucher race all over again. Some say as an outsider, Mike never had a chance. However, six years ago, Al was an also an outsider. But Al had star power. He had name recognition. Heck, even the low information crowd heard of Stewart Smalley. 

My advice to Mike is very simple at this point. Petal to the metal, just like you did in Rochester. Paper the countryside with signs. Buy as much air time as possible. BE SPECIFIC in what you will do that Al has not. We know that Al is a rubberstamp - but to the low information crowd, that becomes a "so what?"

The old saying of "It ain't over till its over, and then it still ain't over" should now our battle cry. However if we don't change the trajectory, it will be over before November.