Erlandson's gambit

Posted at 11:41 AM on May 8, 2006 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

Thanks to Tom Scheck, here's Mike Erlandson's speech at the 5th District convention on Saturday. (Listen in RealAudio). Personally, I don't think they worked him over that much. Seemed pretty calculated to me.

Which means -- and this hasn't gotten a lot of analysis -- the former chair of a political party (frankly, the last person you'd think would undermine the endorsement process) undermined the endorsement process.

Doesn't that beat all?

Update 2:36 p.m. - Mike Mulcahy tells me that Erlandson has not set a precedent for party chairs ignoring the endorsement process. A guy by the name of Mike Hatch, a former DFL Party chair, once ignored the party bosses and ran against Rudy Perpich.

Comments (8)

I think he just spent to much time in DC, as Sabo's CoS. He lost touch with real people. This kind of shows that.

Posted by James | May 8, 2006 12:59 PM

Seems like he has put himself in a corner that opponents could hit him with:

-Either he's dishonest because he meant to do this beforehand, or
-He's too impulsive and thin-skinned to serve

Posted by honky D | May 8, 2006 1:33 PM

I agree with you. Very illuminating to hear his words directly. He's the same guy I heard at a district convention: rote lyrics and no music.

Or, as I said at the time, he has Sabo's endorsement and Sabo's charisma.

Posted by Charlie | May 8, 2006 7:13 PM

Charlie nailed it----Sabo's endorsement and Sabo's charisma. Unless the old DFL hack network rises from the dead like a zombie army, I don't think Mike E. has a chance.

Of course, just when you think it's safe to go back into the water.........(cue scary movie music.)

I was skeptical about Keith Ellison a few months ago, but after hearing him speak, plus appeciating the directness of his message, I'm on board. Reporting for duty, sir!

Posted by Midwest Meg | May 8, 2006 10:16 PM

I believe that Erlandson intended to withdraw from the endorsement process before he set foot on that stages. In particular, he said that the "voters" not that "delegates" would decide. From the audio, the shouts for answering the question were not very long in duration. The "politics is a gut check" and "I withdraw my name from nomination" statements appear to be part of his scripted speech.

Posted by spark | May 9, 2006 10:19 AM

What is missing is also the way in which Erlandson officially withdrew from the balloting. Since the Chair of the convention did not hear him say it himself he ruled that Erlandson was still in the balloting. Then the Chair recieved a PHONE CALL from Erlandson, who was in the cafeteria of the same building, informing him that he was withdrawing from the balloting. The man did not even have the courage to walk 300 or so feet to withdraw his name!!

Fact is that once he walked off the stage Erlandson seemed to spend the rest of the convention standing around with Sabo looking like he was about to cry.

(Bob notes: He announced in his speech that he was withdrawing his name. Folks didn't hear it because of the catcalling, I guess. But because MPR's Laura McCallum had her headphones on monitoring the speech, it was she who heard it. She informed several delegates. Melendez was not aware of it, I guess and said he wouldn't take MPR's word for it. He should've.)

Posted by waffletushie | May 9, 2006 3:42 PM

I think the Chair's ruling was more procerdural than simply not taking "MPR's word for it." I don't think it was reflection of the Chair's faith in MPR but rather a simple parlimentary fact that he needed to hear it from the candidate himself.

Posted by waffletushie | May 10, 2006 9:48 AM

The endorsement process doesn't mean anything. The endorsing convention proved that when the "party faithful" (read: out-of-touch extremeists), bought the empty promises of Ellison. Ellison is not the conadidate to run against Grams. He hasn't done anything and hasn't proved himself. I live in Sabo's district, and Sabo's endorsement means much more to me than some delegates who do not represent me in any way. Has anyone been to a district convention? These are not the people I want speaking for me.

Posted by Junior | May 14, 2006 12:08 AM

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