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Johnson: GOP can win the 3rd

Posted at 11:47 AM on September 24, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Required reading -- for both Republicans and Democrats -- comes today from Jeff Johnson, the former state representative from Plymouth, defeated candidate for attorney general in 2006, and now a candidate for Hennepin County Commissioner.

Johnson, writing in the Star Tribune on the 3rd District race has words of advice and caution for Republicans who may be fretting that the district is unwinnable for conservative Republicans.

Taking a few shots at those who think the only way the seat can be held is if Republicans nominate a moderate, Johnson contends a true conservative can energize a base that needs energizing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a Republican who believes that we should drive moderates out of the GOP. I believe our party should be broad and deep, welcoming those who support many of our core beliefs even while disagreeing with parts of our platform. I just don't think that those of us who are conservatives in the Third have to choose a candidate who is much more liberal than we are in order to win next year.

If Johnson's treatise sounds familiar, it's close to the one the Republicans used to great success in the election of 2002, as delivered then by Ron Eibensteiner in 2002 (i.e. "Talk about the issue that the voters cares most about, and keep your mouth shut about everything else.")

Eibensteiner, you'll recall, was forced out of his job for straying from the principles embraced by some of the most influential party members.

Comments (2)

This is the first (and only) time I'll agree with Jeff Johnson: he notes that to win the Third, the candidate must campaign on the "issues that are most important to the citizens of the district: taxes, federal spending, education, health care and national security."

He's absolutely right. The bad thing for Johnson and Republicans is that they are on the wrong side of these issues for the Third. Despite its wealth, 3CD residents want fiscal responsibility, not fiscal restraint (i.e. spending money on necessary services wins out over "no new taxes"). Combined with out-of-control federal spending in the last six years, Democrats wash even on taxes and win on federal spending. Education and health care are two issues that have propelled local DFLers to gains in the district. (I won't even mention that the President is about to veto federal legislation that expands health care for children.) And "national security" will play poorly in the Third, which has a large contingency of anti-war critics.

Posted by Ryan | September 24, 2007 4:13 PM

You got to watch these guys, these guys like Jeff Johnson. Bob reports:

"Johnson contends a true conservative can energize a base that needs energizing."

Well, what does that mean, in practice? Johnson is one of these stealth "Christian right" guys--pretends to Ronald Reagan/talk radio conservatism, but is actually a kind of "secret agent" for the national Christian right--a la Michele Bachmann. (When he campaigned for AG in 2006, it came out that he had wanted to shut down the U of MN's stem cell research program (to cater to the state's evangelical political movement.) See the following, from the City Pages: http://tinyurl.com/36xmjc
(you'll find it about half way down the article) He also campaigned heavily on and with the de facto endorsement of evangelical radio.

So when he talks about a true conservative--he may be talking about a "true conservative" in ordinary meaning of the term--or he may not, he may be talking about another stealth evangelical posing as a conservative, a la Bachmann.

The reason politicians like Johnson can have it "both ways" in making public statements like this is that the professional media here in MN likes to ignore the existence and influence of the national evangelical political movement in state politics.

Posted by Bill Prendergast | September 24, 2007 5:42 PM

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