Capitol View: February 26, 2010 Archive

Sullivan and Weber to back Emmer

Posted at 7:09 AM on February 26, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

A GOP insider says Republican Tom Emmer will announce this morning that Brian Sullivan and Vin Weber will back Emmer's bid for governor. The source asked not to be identified because Emmer's plans haven't been formally announced yet.

Emmer's campaign scheduled a morning news conference in St. Paul to announce "endorsements from high-profile Minnesotans." His campaign manager declined comment but said the announcement will be made in some form before the event.

Sullivan, who was considering his own run for governor this year and lost the GOP endorsement to Tim Pawlenty in 2002, serves as National Committeeman for the MN Republican State Committee. He is also well known in conservative circles.

Weber is a Washington D.C. lobbyist who also served in Congress in the 1980s. He's well connected in Washington D.C. and serves as co-chair to Gov. Pawlenty's Freedom First PAC. He also backed Mitt Romney's presidential bid in 2008.

The endorsement comes just one day before Super Saturday, where 43 BPOU conventions will be held across the state. Emmer and Marty Seifert are the top two candidates vying for the GOP endorsement. Both have promised to drop out if they don't get party backing at the state party convention in April.

Emmer's news conference is scheduled for 10:30.

Sullivan and Weber back Emmer

Posted at 1:06 PM on February 26, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Brian Sullivan and Vin Weber announced today that they're backing Tom Emmer's bid for governor. The two said Emmer is best suited to bring together all factions of the GOP. Both Weber and Sullivan may not be known too well to the general public but they're well known in GOP circles.

Here's the announcement:

Here's the q and a with reporters:

Do endorsements matter?

Posted at 2:22 PM on February 26, 2010 by Tom Scheck (6 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

Today, Republican Tom Emmer announced that two well known Republican insiders are backing his campaign. Former GOP Congressman Vin Weber and national committeeman Brian Sullivan both say Emmer is best suited to bring together the Republican Party.

The endorsement comes just days after a group of state lawmakers announced they were supporting him.

"Every one of these makes a difference in terms of the sphere of influence that these people have," Emmer said. He added that Weber and Sullivan bring significant weight to his campaign.

"They bring more than just their name, they bring their history and their reputation and their involvement as leaders within Minnesota the Republican Party."

But here's a question: Do endorsements matter?

For example, Emmer announced the day before precinct caucuses that former U.S. Sen. Rod Grams was backing his campaign. The announcement received some fanfare in Duluth (and on this blog) but may not have delivered any votes, even in Grams' own BPOU.

Grams attended the Isanti County BPOU with his wife. He didn't seek to become a delegate, but I'm told that he was wearing an Emmer hockey jersey and worked the room hard for the Delano Republican. His wife, Chris, did seek to become a delegate but wasn't elected. In fact, Republican Marty Seifert picked up 16 delegates, Emmer picked up one, and one delegate is undecided.

I understand that the Republican endorsement for governor is neck and neck between Seifert and Emmer and every vote counts.

Are you, or have you ever been influenced by a candidate endorsement?

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