Category: Politics

I’ll be blogging all day over at my other site, Minnesota politics, for election day.

With the Packers leading the Washington Redskins 20-7 in the third quarter, it looks like Senator John Kerry will defeat the incompetent George Bush. Thank gawd.

I’ve got two pieces on the Kennedy/Wetterling race in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District at my Minnesota politics site:

• Running Against A Symbol discusses how hard it is for Representative Mark Kennedy to run against Patty Wetterling when you consider that she is the perfect cultural fit for this moment in American history, when a parent’s biggest fear is the abduction of their child.
• When Candidates Attack discusses Mark Kennedy’s attack ad against Wetterling and her devestating response. The Congressman is in trouble.

Senator Mark Dayton continued to explain himself on Friday on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midday program, where he took calls and defended his decision to close his office due to potential terrorist attack.

My first reaction to the news that Dayton would close his DC office, was that he had just provided supporting evidence for those who are already inclined to believe that Democrats are weenies. My second reaction was to search for a political angle. I’m still looking.

If you set aside the fact that Dayton is a US Senator, his actions are eminently reasonable and prudent. Fact: DC has been attacked by terrorists before, so the threat is not unprecedented. Fact: It is not merely reasonable, but the responsibility of any employer to take steps to remove their employees from any known or reasonably likely danger.

But when you put the fact that Dayton is a US Senator back into the equation, you have to account for the fact that his actions have the potential to be symbolic. Oh, yeah, and add to all of this the fact that not another senator or representative have closed their office–not one–and you’re left with a big ?!?

On Thursday, the editorialists at the Star Tribune took Dayton to task for the office closing. They seem to think that Dayton is trying to make a political point, saying:

"Take it as political theater, it is farcical — and counterproductive" and If
Dayton’s purpose was to underscore a legitimate issue of national security —
how much remains to be done to ensure Americans’ safety from terrorist attack —
he could have chosen many a better way of making the point…Instead of pointing
out the emperor’s startling nakedness, Dayton has cast himself as the lone
little chicken who claims the sky is falling."

But if this were simple political theater, wouldn’t Dayton be anxious to make his political point? He hasn’t. The Strib is just guessing. Dayton’s sticking to his story that it would be irresponsible for him, knowing what he knows, to return to Minnesota while his staff members faced the danger he believes they could face in DC.

The stories about the Dayton’s office closing mention that the Senator is upset with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for failing to discuss with all the senators the threat they face. The implication, then, seems to be that Dayton is trying to make a point with Frist. But if that’s the case, why hasn’t Senator Dayton explicitly connected the two? To make such a political point, you must be overt.

So I’m left with the only logical conclusion: Dayton is not trying to make a political point and actually is only concerned about his staff’s safety. It’s a rather stunning conclusion when you consider that Dayton had to have thought about the political ramifications yet disregarded them.

I’ve said it for years and I’ll say it again: Reality is nine-tenths perception. The reality is that Senator Dayton is the only member of Congress to close his office due to the threat of terrorism. The perception is that he cut and ran.

Two years is an eternity in politics, but still, this is the stuff of which political advertising is made.

God, it’s fun to be a state in play. When you’re in play, you can watch the presidential race unfold from your doorstep.

Such was the case yesterday, when both vice presidential candidates dropped in for Labor Day: Dick Cheney visited the State Fair on the last day of the fair and John Kerry‘s running mate, John Edwards, addressed the annual Labor Day rally on St. Paul’s Harriet Island.

Campaign Strategist Clinton

Did President Bill Clinton plan the timing of his clogged arteries? You gotta smile because it sure seemed like the news of his heart bypass surgery was designed to try and flatten some of President Bush’s post-convention bounce. Bush gives his convention speech Thursday night and by midday Friday, the news is not the deconstruction of Bush’s performance, but instead the TV is filled with hilarious pictures of Clinton chowing down on fast food with the talking heads commenting on his weakness for junk food.

But that’s not the only way the former president dominated the news. His name increasingly popped up in coverage of John Kerry the campaign brought on Clintonites, most notably former Clinton press secretary, Joe Lockhart. The talent the Kerry campaign most glaringly lacked, was a quick-response artist and as Clinton’s former spokesman, Lockhart fits the bill.

Though Kerry has tried to downplay the Clinton influence in his campaign, it was most obviously on display yesterday through both the Democratic presidential candidate himself, and during his running mate’s speech in St. Paul.

Clinton called Kerry to offer campaign advice (from his hospital bed!!, reporters noted) and suggested that he focus not on Iraq but on domestic issues, specifically the economy (stupid) and health care.

In St. Paul, Edwards told his audience of 12,000: "If you believe in millions of Americans losing their health care, millions of Americans falling into poverty, millions of Americans who are struggling every day just to pay their bills, family incomes down, if you believe that that’s the right track for America, you ought to vote for George Bush. But if you don’t, we have to have President John Kerry."

That is exactly the spin that Clinton consistently used throughout his political career: Focus on issues that directly effect ordinary individuals, say if you’re for all the bad things, vote for the other guy. If you don’t like bad things, vote for me.

But Edwards is clearly the more accomplished speaker of the two running mates and many people believe he is also the most accomplished retail politician. So maybe my point is a bit of a stretch?

Consider this: In West Virginia yesterday, John Kerry equated the W of GW with a moral value: Wrong. "The ‘W’ stands for wrong. Wrong choices, wrong judgment, wrong priorities, wrong direction for our country," Kerry said.

It is a label that President Clinton used to describe Bush’s tax credit when he was on Larry King on February 6, 2003. Discussing Bush’s tax cuts with King and Tom Joyner, host of the Tom Joyner Morning Show:

KING: He keeps including us [King and Joyner], i’m not affected by tax cuts.
You’re not effected by the tax cuts, you don’t need it.
CLINTON: Joyner, shouldn’t get one either.
KING: Joyner, don’t need it either.
CLINTON: We shouldn’t. We should spend it to send these
kids to school. Put police on the street. It’s wrong. [My emphasis]

Clinton speaks, and the words come out of Kerry and Edwards’ mouths. Beautiful.