September 6, 2006

• 2006 Primaries, NEXT WEEK

  Well, the primaries are coming up fast, so here’s my take on the situation as of today. ONLY
  15% – 20% SHOW UP TO THE OFF YEAR PRIMARIES, SO IF YOU EVEN GIVE 1/4 OF
  A SHIT WHO RUNS THE CITY, COUNTY, STATE AND THE COUNTRY FOR THE NEXT 2
  - 6 YEARS, GET YOUR ASS OUT THERE AND VOTE!

  And for the anti-climax…

  The only really strong recommendation I have is Keith Ellison

  I
  think Gregory Gray and Juan Lopez may also be exciting candidates, but
  I’ve got a bit more research to do. I’ll post what I decide later.

  I can only vote one party for the partison seats in the primary. I very much want to vote for Keith Ellison,
  so that sticks me on the DFL ticket this time around. I probably
  wouldn’t be voting for many of the other DFL choices if the primaries
  didn’t work this way.

  So, here are my current votes for Hennepin County, Minneapolis, Ward 3, Precinct 6

  US Senate (*meh* Darryl Stanton I guess)
  US Congressional District 5 (!! Keith Ellison !!)
  State Governor and Lieutenant Governor (Lourey/Baylor)
  Secretary Of State (*meh* Mark Ritchie I guess)
  Attorney General (Undecided)

  County Commissioner District 2 (Gregory Gray or Steve Wellens, still researching)
  County Sheriff (Probably Juan Lopez, still researching)

  During the primary, there are two aspects to the ballot. The non-partisan ballot and the partisan ballot.

  The non-partisan ballot is for all the non-partisan seats in contest. It will be on the back of your ballot. DONT FORGET TO VOTE FOR THESE. THE NON STATEWIDE ELECTIONS ARE THE PLACES WHERE YOUR VOTE CAN MAKE THE MOST DIFFERENCE!

  County Commissioner District 2
  Gregory Gray
  Steve Wellens
  Mark Stenglein (Incumbent)

  I’m
  not yet sure between Gray and Wellens although something’s making me
  say Gray. I definitely won’t be voting for stadium taxer Mark
  Stenglein. Stenglein’s going to win though.

  County Sheriff (Incumbent Patrick McGowan is retiring)
  Linda K Lachner
  Rich Stanek
  Daniel Rusch
  Bruce L Anderson
  Juan Lopez
  Tom Fitzhenry

  I’m
  pretty sure I’m voting for Juan Lopez, but I have to look further into
  Fitzhenry, Anderson, Rusch, and Lachner. I will NOT be voting for
  racist thumper Stanek.

  ########

  On the partison ballot,
  you can only vote in one party’s primary. The parties you can choose
  from are: Independence, Republican, or DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor).
  This year, I’ll be voting under the DFL as the US Congressional
  District 5 primary is a tight contest with a DFL candidate I actually
  want to vote for.

  US Senate (DFL Incumbent Mark Dayton is retiring)
  Darryl Stanton
  Amy Klobuchar
  Republican: Harold Shudlick, John Uldrich, Mark Kennedy
  Independence: Stephen Williams, Miles Collins, Robert Fitzgerald

  I
  didn’t really give this one a lot of thought as I doubt I’ll be voting
  DFL in the general on this one and Klobuchar will win the DFL primary
  hands down. I’m voting for Stanton as a vote in support of
  non-millionaire candidates who voice their desire to stand up for
  middle class and working poor. His campaign slogan appears to be
  “Darryl will always put people first and not big money interest.”

  US Representative District 5 (DFL Incumbent Martin Sabo is retiring)
  Gregg A. Iverson
  Andrew Vincent Favorite
  Ember Reichgott Junge
  Keith Ellison
  Mike Erlandson
  Paul Ostrow
  Patrick J Wiles
  Republican: Alan Fine
  Indepenence: Tammy Lee

  KEITH ELLISON!
  Good god. If this guy doesn’t win the Democratic primary, then … I
  dunno. I just don’t know. Ellison does have the DFL endorsement. If you
  go down the list of issues, as far as I’m concerned, he’s pretty much
  on the right side of everything.

  Of course, you could vote for
  Republicrat Junge, Cadillac Escalade SUV driving defense industry money
  taking thinks-he’s-heir-to-the-post Erlandson, Ostrow (yeah, I’m not
  insulting him, but I consider him to be well on the conservative side
  of Minneapolis’ current city council).

  But Keith Ellison
  is the only candidate who, in my opinion, is actually worth getting
  excited over. A Democrat that I really do support – who’da thunk it.
  Well, there’s Kucinich (who, btw, has endorsed and campaigned for
  Ellison).

  Send this guy to Washington. If you don’t vote for any other reason, for for this guy.

  Governor and Lieutenant Governor
  Mike Hatch/Judy Dutcher
  Becky Lourey/Tim Baylor
  Ole’ Savior/Dan Fischer
  Republican: Pawlenty/Molnau (Incumbent), Jeffers/Hendrycks
  Indepenence: Ellison/Johnson, Hutchinson/Reed

  Well,
  I’m definitely voting for Pentel/Provencher for Governor in the general
  election. Strategically, I should vote for Ole’ Savior, ’cause he’d be
  the easiest to beat, but that just doesn’t feel right. I’ll be voting
  for Lourey because I like her strong anti-war stance and her work
  towards trying to get public health care. Hatch probably wouldn’t be
  too bad, but I can’t support a guy who sent a bunch of Somalis to their
  deaths. Who knows, if Lourey takes it, I might have to consider her for
  the generals.

  Secretary of State
  “Dick” Franson
  Mark Ritchie
  Republican: Mary Kiffmeyer (Incumbent)
  Independence: Joel Spoonheim

  Good
  lord, I don’t know. Definitely Not Kiffmeyer. I couldn’t even find
  decent information this year on who was running on the Secretary of
  State website. Beyond that, there is some sticky stuff like her
  refusing to implement laws she didn’t like. Ritchie is going to win the
  DFL hands down, but I’ll probably give him my vote anyway. Franson is a
  “frequent” candidate who can’t even manage to field a website as far as
  I could tell – one of the things a Secretary of State has to be good at
  is getting information accessible and easy to find. I’ll look at this
  election more carefully for the general.

  Attorney General
  Steve Kelley
  Lori Swanson
  Bill Luther
  Republican: Sharon Anderson, Jeff Johnson
  Independence: Dale Nathon, Jual Carlos Carlson, Richard “Dick” Bullock, John James

  Well, again, I’m probably going with Independence or Green (Papa John Kolstad), but given that since I want to vote for KEITH ELLISON,
  I only get to put opinions on the DFL ticket, I’m going to have to
  think some more on this one – I’m not really excited about any of the
  DFL offerings.

  • 4:31 pm
  • 1 Comment