Priscilla Lord Faris

Primary's Biggest Winners and Losers

Mary Lahammer — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 22:33:41 -0500

First District Republican congressional candidate Brian Davis has to big the night's biggest winner. He took on a well-known and well-liked sitting Senator Dick Day and won. Day is a maverick who doesn't mind upsetting the party elite and that didn't help him in a primary that's usually filled with party activists. If Farmfest was any indication, Davis will still have a tough road against Congressman Tim Walz who stills seems popular with the rural people in his district.

Next, on the winner's list is Dean Barkley. The former U.S. Senator should have won this primary race, still he was running against an endorsed candidate and party chair. He just needs to raise some money and start buying some media. An IPer with name-id really makes the Senate race interesting and ultimately harder to predict.

Finally, the biggest legislative winner is probably Rep. Jim Abeler from Anoka. He was one of the famous override-six and listening to his speech the last night of session it sounded like he even thought he was a goner. He voted his heart, not necessarily his future and it was an emotional decision to watch. It's never fun for a lawmaker to defy his caucus.

Now, in the loser category, Sen. Dick Day. He's such a nice, fun guy who's a great sport. The press corps really like the guy. He's plain-spoken and colorful. He just isn't into pleasing the party as I mentioned above. The question now is if he'll retire from the Senate after once serving as the minority leader. It's tough for former leaders to go back to being just rank and file members of the legislature. It wasn't a great year for state lawmakers looking to move up. Sen. Terri Bonoff was also defeated in a congressional run. The legislature used to a springboard for higher office, we'll see if it works for Erik Paulsen in the 3rd or if the recent trend ends with Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum.

Priscilla Lord Faris spent some serious time and energy on a losing race. Nearly 30% of the vote is not bad. The fact she did motivate some voters to the polls shows some dissatisfaction with Franken, but he may have time to overcome that. Although the nible Coleman is still running a spot-on campaign.

Finally, another well-liked lawmaker and one of the override-six concludes my list of the top winners and losers. Rep. Neil Peterson fom Bloomington had character and spunk and that's always appreciated in the press. But once again, you can't bite the hand that feeds you: local party activists.

A couple of honorable mentions in the loser category: Mpls. Rep. Willie Dominguez and Rep. Mark Olson who won't be elevated to the Senate.

Campaign Notebook

Mary Lahammer — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 16:11:24 -0500

Gov. Pawlenty's national prospects and travels lead my Campaign Notebook this week. The week began with a warm welcome full of autograph seekers at Farmfest and ended with the story and photo on the front page of the New York Times.

In between the coverage ranges from CNN's bold question to him, "What does the Republican Party just suck at?" to the passionate GOPAC appearance where it's ever more clear that he's modeled himself after a "positive" Reagan image to the solid speech before the National Press Club to the Pioneer Press detailing more than three dozen trips out of state this year.

All I can say about the Senate race this week is it was odd. First, a former big city mayor Norm Coleman having the crowd on his side at Farmfest to ads that are just getting uglier all the time. Franken's ad breaks a simple rule of politics, don't pay money to point out your own faults as it mentions the fact he didn't pay taxes in some states (but overpaid in his home state).

Coleman's ad seems to come pretty close to distorting your opponents image. And it's still August. I was interviewing some undecided independent voters this week who all said they're already sick of the ads and don't even track who's slinging what mud at whom, they said they're just getting a bad taste in their mouths about both candidates. Faris gets credit for getting on the air. Uldrich makes the mistake of uttering the phrase "I agree with President Bush" don't matter what follows that; it's not a quote that wins an election right now.

But the bad press move of the week probably goes to Obama in Minnesota. When radio and print reporters are mad and complaining it's not good:

MPR: Some reporters were told that there would not be a media availability before or after the event so imagine the surprise when some in the press corps saw him holding a news conference for a select group of TV stations last night.
PiPress: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is stiffing us folks in the local print media and non-contributors during his campaign stop here today.

Another Campaign Notebook

tptadmin — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 16:02:53 -0500

Mary Lahammer had fun watching all the Senate ads this week; that's one of the segments in this week's Campaign Notebook media digest.

Campaign Notebook

Mary Lahammer — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:15:14 -0500

Looking back at the week in politics, the U.S. Senate race was the story. From Jesse Ventura's announcement with Larry King on CNN that he wasn't running to 7 Independence Party members jumping in from former U.S. Senator Dean Barkley and former IP Chair Jack Uldrich. Getting less press is the fact there are also 7 DFLers in this race, most notably Priscilla Lord Faris who is challenging Al Franken. It was a madhouse outside the secretary of state's office for candidate filing.

The other story I'm watching is Pawlenty slipping a bit in the national buzz. The Washington Post moved him down from #1 in the veepstakes for the first time. But the buzz about his hair continues, MSNBC said the shaving of the mullet means he's serious about being VP. We documented the disappearing mullet back in May. MSNBC also says Pawlenty dodged questions about whether he is now being vetted. But our governor's biggest honor has to be making a hilarious viral hit from Jib Jab (notice him tucked into McCain's Straight Talk Express).

Priscilla Lord Faris

tptadmin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:49:09 -0500

Meet a DFLer from a famed family who is running against Al Franken in the September primary.

Mary's Campaign Notebook

tptadmin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:48:03 -0500

A wild and wacky filing deadline day forms the basis of Mary Lahammer's look at the week in politics.

Last-Minute Senate Surge

Mary Lahammer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:40:36 -0500

The media were there in mass to watch the unpredictable last-minute candidate filings at the secretary of state's office. The Independence Party of Minnesota will have quite the spirited primary with more than half a dozen candidates now in the mix. After Jesse Ventura announced on CNN he wouldn't run, Ventura's close ally Dean Barkley decided to get into the race. Gov. Ventura appointed Barkley to serve 8 days in the U.S. Senate after Sen. Paul Wellstone's death. Barkley said Jesse is "tough act to follow" and it's like "stepping into a big shadow." Barkley pressed that he can get things done and proved it during his short stint in Washington. He said "I'm not there to throw bombs, I can collaborate."

Barkley will be facing former IP Chair Jack Uldrich. Not sure what it says about a party when there's an endorsed candidate being challenged by not just a dozen people, but a former party chair. Uldrich has a good sense of sportmanship in all of this and said the number of candidates is "wonderful for democracy and the Independence Party." He also said he has nothing against Dean Barkley, they just run different campaigns. The author and public speaker plans a viral campaign relying heavily on the internet.

Finally, Al Franken will have a DFL primary opponent as well. Priscilla Lord Faris was the only candidate who had a press release and staff today. Her release says "I am deeply concerned about the direction of the Al Franken candidacy." Faris said her tipping point was Frankens poor showing in the polls, but also "the work done as a comedian may come back to bite him." Faris was the only one at the podium who hadn't done a press conference before and she held up just fine. Her father is a former attorney general and the name has weight. But Franken has more current name ID, money and an endorsement that has more meaning than in the past when DFLers regularly had primary battles. She said she has a ton experience in Minnesota.