Polinaut: June 24, 2006 Archive

Jesse's party

Posted at 10:05 AM on June 24, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

So today is the Independence Party convention, of course, and the party has held true to its reputation of not grandstanding in a typical political way by holding it at Midway Stadium before the Saints game. In the grandstands, I guess you could say.

Politics has always fascinated me; not so much because of the policies and process, but because of what it shows me about human behavior. People -- and that includes voters -- reveal so much about behavioral tendencies, and when the talk turns to a three-party system, it's like learning from a lab rat. What goes into a person's decision to vote a certain way? What keeps third-parties behind? What gives them life? Why do people call for alternatives and then vote against them? Incredibly fascinating stuff.

Any time you talk about the IP, the talk inevitably turns to Jesse Ventura, and that's what Pioneer Press reporter Bill Salisbury did this morning in a very fine piece. I find myself playing a "what if" game when Ventura's name comes up. What if Jesse had spent more time building his party, for example? And what if the Republicans and DFL legislators, in their last bipartisan act, hadn't played "let's get Jesse" for a few years?

I've often said around here that Jesse Ventura won the election the day he opened his mouth while sitting next to Norm Coleman and Skip Humphrey. I've also often said people will vote for someone with whom they disagree, if it at least sounds like he's being honest.

Salon, in an article before the 1998 election, indicated as much.

Rarely does a third party recruit a standard-bearer with such high name recognition. And it's even rarer for that candidate to be included in so many major debates. That only happened in Minnesota because state Democratic leaders convinced themselves the camouflage-clad muscleman would draw votes only from the Republican column, and they insisted on his inclusion. But after Ventura won a recent three-way debate in Hibbing, a rural town in the working-class Iron Range section of the state, with a standing ovation, the Democrats hastily started canceling appearances with him.

Name recognition was surely a big part of it; it at least attracted the media, if only to guffaw for a while.

He had a terrific cabinet. Even had some decent ideas, most of which got smothered by...well... Jesse.

He kind of wigged out there in the last year or so and made it tough, I think, for the third-party movement to escape the shadow of being a place for marginals.

The IP, however, has settled into a different role -- as a place for wonks and moderates, which is odd when you consider Ventura's first radio ads, which called DFLers and GOPers at the Capitol "arrogant SOBs." Now, you almost never hear an IP candidate campaigning negatively -- the only major party you can say that about.

Indeed, the IP's "problem" does not seem to be attracting talented, positive candidates. Back in 2000, unknown Jim Gibson was very impressive in the debates and had garnered a lot of respect from some of the most cynical sides of the room (OK, fine, it was where the reporters sit).

He was polling 6-percent in "name recognition" as late as August (that was down in Leslie Davis territory at the time), then he lost (with 6-percent of the vote) and pretty much disappeared from party-building.

Tim Penny heard no cries of "unknown" or "unqualified" and even led the governor's race in 2002 in some polls. But in the last two weeks of the campaign, polls showed people jumping off the ship, which brings up the nature of... here it comes... the voter.

OK, I admit it, I was thinking seriously about voting for Tim Penny until a Star Tribune poll came out showing a weakening of support. I decided to wait until an MPR poll, which I knew was due out days before the election. When it showed further erosion, I crossed Penny off the list. I think people are like that. They want to vote for someone they think will win; not can win. Will win.

And, thus, we have the challenge facing the Independence Party. There are many people out there -- like I was -- whose commitment to the voting process is aligned closer to a blackjack table than a voting booth.

As political scientiest Larry Jacobs pointed out in a 2004 analysis, third parties in battleground states certainly infuence elections, just not the way, perhaps, they would like.

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What is the blogging of which you speak?

Posted at 1:31 PM on June 24, 2006 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

Blog for Bell, which I believe is the official blog of the Ford Bell ampaign, is challenging, um, Star Trek fans to pony up with the p5rize being a Star Trek day at the site.

Go ahead, there's a Kyle Lohsian hanging curveball. Try and hit it.

B4B has an interesting feature, by the way, they take questions fro bloggers and the candidate answers them. Neither Klobuchar, nor Kennedy appear to be personally blogging, at least on their sites as near as I can tell.

IP candidate Robert Fitzgerald is blogging his campaign. I met Robert the other day for a few minutes when he was in the building to do Midday. Nice guy. One thing I would like to see on his Web site, though, are some issues.

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Campaigning

Posted at 5:57 PM on June 24, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Candidates campaigning is a lot of fun to watch. Sure, it's corny walking in parades and kissing babies, but so what? It's still cool.

I hope bloggers paste up pictures of their candidates on the stump and I'll be happy to call attention to them.

In Blaine, today, the showers cleared for the parade. Michele Bachmann's folks at Bachmann vs. Wetterling have posted some pictures. (Glad the rain held off, but -- geez -- it's been a bad year for my lawn.)

Of course, today was the IP convention at Midway Stadium. I'm dying to see some pictures of that. Checked in at Power Liberal where live-blogging painted a picture of a political convention, a brass band, ballplayers warming up in the background and, of course, a train. Cool.

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