Bulding on a theme

Posted at 8:04 AM on January 22, 2006 by Bob Collins

Ford Bell is trying to get Amy Klobuchar to debate him. In a speech to a Central Committee meeting in Lakeville on Saturday, Bell took quite a few shots at his own party.

The junior (sic) Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, has sent a clear message to you, the grassroots of the DFL, that you don’t matter in the process of choosing a U.S. Senator.

Chuck Schumer is telling you, the heart and soul of the DFL, to sit down, shut up, we’re from Washington and we know best.

In calling for debates with Amy Klobuchar, Bell also delivered a jab at Klobuchar that mirrored the comments of Republican Mark Kennedy after Patty Wetterling dropped out and threw her support to Klobuchar.

Are we the party that speaks truth with conviction, or the party of safe, poll-driven generalities?

Are we still a home-grown, grassroots, activist party, or should we be a top-down, wholly-owned subsidiary of Chuck Schumer and the political leadership in Washington?

Just for the record, here's what Kennedy said on Friday.

"In annointing Miss Klobuchar, the Democrats have staked themselves to a candidate who has been unwilling to tell voters where she stands on the key issues. Issue after issue after issue, you see Amy trying to hide behind poll-tested sound bites," he said.

The audience was the state Central Committee, the very definition of party insiders, but the target was obviously outside the room. Bell has established the groundwork to run based on not being a DFL insider. In the speech he railed against the fact that "the drumbeat of the inside club has been that the DFL needs to mimic the Republicans."

Then, a few paragraphs later, he mimicked one.

And you thought Amy Klobuchar's problems were over.

The reaction?

Flash at Centricity said "I simply don't know why he thought those remarks added value to his candidacy. I know they have now made my decision much easier."

Kennedy vs. The Machine was unusually mum, preferring to note instead that Bell, like Kennedy, called for debates.

DFL Senate posted the speech without comment.

It'll be interesting to see over the next few hours if another reading of the speech reveals to the readers that Ford Bell's gloves delivered Mark Kennedy's jabs, and initiates any discussion of how that might change the road to the September primary.

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