Is this nice guy going to finish last?

 

 

"Besides having great ideas, Jeff is a very nice man. Maybe in this state we no longer consider 'nice' a virtue..."

I have been a supporter of Jeff Johnson since the convention. It is true when I first got down there, I was supporting Dave Thompson. However, when Jeff called me at home a couple days before the convention and we talked for almost 1/2 hour, I almost flipped my support at that time. You see, I really put Jeff through some tough questioning. First about him as a person, and then about his policies.

I was shocked and dismayed to hear this morning that Jeff is now 12 points down to the Governor. Really? Why? Is it Jeff's messaging? I thought about his messaging over and over. Then I went back to the conversation he and I had prior to the election. When I pressed him on getting rid of the Met Council (who everyone with a brain in this state hates), Jeff's response was simple. "I would love to" he told me. "However, I won't have a friendly Senate for at least the first two years of my Administration. I can't kill it without the Senate, but I can appoint people into the Council's 17 seats that will weaken it."

And with this type of answer might be the problem. Jeff is not flashy, not a snake salesman, not a liar. He is a very smart, very practical man. He has been around the block enough to know exactly what he can do and how to do it. He is a realist. If the House stays DFL and with the Senate not being contested until 2016, he can't do everything, but he can do some things.

One of Jeff's pet rocks which has not hit home with the general public is his passion to "right size" our state government. He truly will look at each and every program that we have in existence. He will "take the temperature" of all the programs. Programs which don't work, he will want eliminated. Programs which are working, but in a sub-optimal condition, he will want fixed. Programs which are redundant or have out lived their purpose, he will want killed.

Whereas the Governor and the DFL majority are like car salesmen for the public, Jeff is the mechanic. Not glossy, not fancy, just thorough. And we need a mechanic in this state right now. MNSure is a mess and getting messier. The Senate Office Building is going to be a Taj Mahal for well connected, part time law makers. Our welfare system continues to be ripe with graft and misuse.

In less than a month, we will see if the good citizens of Minnesota follow in the footsteps of what the nation did in 2012 - re-elect a flawed candidate over a highly qualified challenger. We have a Governor who only talks in headlines, being challenged by someone who looks past headlines, and reads the fine print.

Will the nice guys like Jeff Johnson finish last next month? For the sake of our state, I sure hope not.