Minnesota Twin Wins

by Matt Stoller

Minnesota is a state where grassroots organizing made a huge difference in 2004.  And that infrastructure is still making a difference, electing a new State Senator and state House member in an oddly scheduled special election.

Tonight, Democrats were victorious in two special elections in Minnesota.  The decision by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty to schedule two special elections during the holidays - a move many view as politically motivated - did not stop voters from coming out to support Tarryl Clark (DFL) for State Senate in the 15th District and Larry Haws (DFL) for the Minnesota House election in District 15B.

"For the second month in a row, Democrats in Minnesota have stood up to the GOP's underhanded tactics," said Michael Davies, Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.  "While the Governor chose to play games with special elections, voters in Minnesota made it clear who represents their values."

The win by Clark expanded the Democratic majority in the Minnesota Senate to 38 seats while the GOP holds only 29.  Haws' victory in the uncontested
election in Minnesota House District, allowed the Democrats to maintain their hold on 66 seats to the Republicans' 68.

This is not the first time Pawlenty played around with special election dates.  On November 22, two days before Thanksgiving, Terri Bonoff (DFL) overcame Pawlenty's electoral games, winning an election for the State Senate seat in Minnesota's 43rd District.

There's a fight right now in the party between organizer-based political operatives and media-based political operatives.  While organizing has a lot to recommend it, mass media politics is a lot more profitable, a lot less work, and much more 'controllable' by a few central individuals.  Organizer-based politics is more work, less profitable for the organizer, yet ultimately, it allows you to drive turnout for special elections and triumph over electoral gamesmanship.  Organizer-based politics also tends to be much more progressive than mass media politics, since it relies on people rather than flows of large dollar checks.

Minnesota's history of people-based organizing, from the populist movement and carried through Paul Wellstone, shapes the politics here.  In 2004, despite the massive bleeding on a Federal level, progressive Democrats won in Minnesota.  Not just Democrats, but progressive ones.  There is of course Camp Wellstone as an organizing center for them.

Five graduates of Camp Wellstone, which does just this kind of recruitment and training, won local races in Minnesota this year. "We have to have better candidates all up and down the ticket," Blodgett says. "We're going to have to take back our country one state at a time." He notes that in his state, Democrats gained ground in the state legislature. "In Minnesota, we can be heartened because we pushed the Republican tide back," he said. "If you think about local and state politics, it's not so bad. Washington and Congress is kind of out of our hands now."

DavidNYC has more on the victories. Big picture, though, this is a win for organizer politics, and a loss for mass media politics.  Oh, and the DLCC kicks ass.  That's something you don't hear very much, but as far as I can tell, they are focused and effective.

Democrats :: Wed Dec 28th, 2005 at 12:58:29 AM EDT