The Melendez smackdown to Lourey, Bell

Posted at 11:52 AM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I didn't hear the interview that DFL chair Brian Melendez did with MPR's DFL convention crew -- and a copy of it is stuck in some audio system that I don't have access to, but just going through the Scheck/Pugmire story (I combined the two for online purposes), this quote really jumps out at me.

"I think the fact of the matter is Mike Hatch is running against Tim Pawlenty. Whatever goes on in the primary, Mike Hatch is going to come through it and run against Tim Pawlenty. Amy Klobuchar is running against Mark Kennedy and whatever goes on in the primary Amy Klobuchar will run against Mark Kennedy. We're not seeing primary candidates of the caliber that we've seen in past years. We've got outstanding endorsed candidates and their going to come through the primary with flying colors," he said

Huh? In 2002, The only challenger in the primary to endorsed candidate Roger Moe was Ole Savior. The only challenger to Paul Wellstone was Dick Franson.

Now to be charitable, the best thing you can say about Ole Savior and Dick Franson as candidates, is that they've adopted the names "perennial candidates."

In 2004, of course, there was no gubernatorial, nor senatorial primary. Of the 8 congressional districts, DFLers had just one primary "battle." In the 5th District, Martin Sabo withstood a challenge from -- hold onto your fedora -- Dick Franson. And in the 8th, Jim Oberstar had a challenger named Michael Johnson. Neither put up much of a fight.

Back in 2000, of course, there were a lot of DFL candidates for Senate. And the DFL endorsed candidate, Jerry Janezich, did get his rear end kicked by Mark Dayton. Mike Ciresi and Rebecca Yanisch were also in the race. Oh, and Dick Franson and Ole Savior. But, dude, that was 3 election cycles ago!

So when Melendez says -- as near as I can tell -- that Ole Savior and Dick Franson were more formidable primary opponents that Becky Lourey and Ford Bell, well, geez. Is there anything worse you can say about Becky Lourey and Ford Bell?

Comments (1)

So if going public to admonish Lourey and Bell to give it up is such a good idea, when is Melendez going to do the same to Mike Erlandson? What's the difference here?

Posted by Karl | June 14, 2006 4:18 PM

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