MacDems

Campaign Hackery: A Macalester Tradition

Matt Klaber — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:54:00 +0000

Esteemed Scots:
Whether you are working hard to (look busy?) wrap up those last few projects at your summer internship or getting the last few rays of sun before returning to the hot, humid but soon-to-be frigid climate of Minnesota, we all share something in common: an (unhealthy?) addiction to politics. If you're returning to St. Paul this fall, I encourage you to find a campaign and introduce yourself early. We Scots are known for getting things done, and now that Entenza is out of the race (didn't know that? check a previous post...), there is no candidate that will throw as many internships our way as Matt.

That said, here is Klaber's not-quite-complete compendium of campaign opportunities:

Make a difference
Tim Walz for U.S. Congress (MN-01) - http://www.timwalz.org/ - The Walz campaign promises to be the sleeper campaign of the Congressional sweep in November. Walz, an energetic and engaging populist has been holding opponent Gil Gutknecht's feet to the fire every day. Check out Tim and Gil in a County Fair debate: The First Congressional is in Southern Minnesota, but that doesn't mean you can't be part of the team--they're looking for some sharp young talent to do some research and communications work from afar. Contact Meredith at meredith@timwalz.org Slight disclaimer: I have been working with Tim since Dec. 2004.

Patty Wetterling for U.S. Congress (MN-06) - http://www.pattywetterling.com/ - The Wetterling campaign nearly defeated current Senate candidate Mark Kennedy in a conservative district. This year she's back, and she has a candidate more polarizing than Kennedy: Michelle Bachmann Even better, Wetterling will win because she's a great candidate, not because Bachmann has had Rove and Bush fundraise for her. She's part of the DCCC's Red-to-Blue program. Help out wherever you can.

Competitive State Legislature Races
These races are open seats that must go blue in November. Our local Senate District (64) is coordinating rides, etc. for anyone that wants to help out up there. Check out: http://wiki.sd64dfl.org/SD64DFL/VolunteerOpportunitiesAndEvents for details.
Sandy Rummel - State Senate, MN-53, White Bear Lake area - www.electrummel.org
Paul Gardner - State House, MN-53A, Mounds View area - http://www.electpaulgardner.org/
Jim Berry - State House, MN-53B, White Bear Lake area - http://www.votejimberry.com/
Kate Knuth - State House, MN-50B, New Brighton area - http://www.kateknuth.org/
Bev Scalze - State House, MN-54B, Vadnais Heights area - http://www.bevscalze.org/

Keep it local
Bill "Chief" Finney - Ramsey County Sheriff - http://www.finneyforsheriff.com/ - Former St. Paul Police Chief Bill Finney is the DFL endorsed challenger to the current hard nosed Sheriff Fletcher. That's right folks, there's gonna be a new sheriff in town. Finney is a big proponent of Servant Leadership, or leading by serving.

Erin Murphy - State House, MN-64A, Mac-Groveland / Summit area of St. Paul - http://www.neighborsformurphy.com/ - Erin is the DFL endorsed candidate to replace Rep. Matt Entenza in the MN House of Representatives. This soft spoken, yet fiery Irish nurse is going to be a leader in MN. (As an added bonus, Danny Schwartzman is working with the campaign.) Another disclaimer: Erin was totally my candidate in the 64A race. Sorry Keith supporters.

Toni Carter - Ramsey Co. Commissioner, District 4 - she's so cool she doesn't even need a website. I'm not sure if Toni even has an opponent this year, but she's a great leader and engaging speaker. That, and her campaign manager, Mr. John Stiles, is a stud.

Pad the resume
Amy Klobuchar for U.S. Senate - http://www.amyklobuchar.com/ - So Wetterling's opponent was so frightened that Patty would kick his rear this year that he jumped ship and is running for Senate. But not before a huge make-over. That's right, the Congressman from Minnesota who voted with the President 98% of the time is now trying to hoodwink Minnesotans into thinking he's an "independent," and an "accountant." (He hasn't been an accountant since the 1970's.) That said, don't under estimate the stuff the GOP will pull on Mark's behalf, Amy could use your help. The campaign may even throw you a fancy title, or let you feel special for a day. Suggested resume entry:

Lead Pencil Sharpener, Amy Klobuchar for Senate - Sept. 2006 to Nov. 2006 - Lead team of a dozen volunteers to efficiently sharpen campaign pencils, streamlined process through implementation of electric sharpener, solicited donors to purchase said sharpeners.

Betty McCollum for Congress (MN-04) - http://www.votebetty.org/ - Did you know Congresswoman McCollum is the 19th most liberal Member of Congress? She's more liberal than Dennis Kucinich. (Source: National Journal) And she doesn't have that polarizing stench of "ultra-liberal." She's already a Deputy Whip in the House. She runs a clean, mean, streamlined political machine. If you help out at her office on University Avenue, you're guaranteed to meet some top notch professionals and then promptly get to work sorting envelopes or putting up lawn signs. Suggested resume entry:

Paper Manager, Betty McCollum for Congress - Sept. 2006 to Nov. 2006 - Managed office paper scraps, often digitized and cataloged. Worked directly with Field Coordinator to develop a paper management system. Handed paper to Congresswoman McCollum on an as needed basis.

Contact Field Coordinator Joe Carlile for details: joe.carlile@mccollumforcongress.com Tell him Matt sent you... on second thought, just tell him you don't know how many ways you can screw up putting in a lawn sign, but you'll sure try.

UPDATE By Jake: Rebecca Otto, DFL endorsed candidate for State Auditor and Mac alum, is offering internships for her campaign. This comes with the added benefit of a campaign where people sharpen their own pencils and sort (most) of their own paper. Rebecca is running to build stronger communities and restore
integrity to the office. She has found MILLIONS of dollars in errors in the
State Auditor's reports, too! To apply, contact campaign@rebeccaotto.com or
651-251-6335.

Love the game, hate the players
Anyone know if the famed 527's are hard at it again? America Votes? I dunno.

So, there you have it. We Scots are known for our campaign skills and contributions, lets keep the tradition alive and turn Minnesota to a deeper shade of Blue.

UPDATE by Jake again: Want to meet all of these campaigns and more and learn about internship opportunities first hand? Come to the Mac Dems Internship Fair! Wednesday, September 13 from 11:00am to 1:00pm, Basement of the C.C.

Pax,

-MK

Election Results!

JakeLP — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 05:40:00 +0000

Quick results and analysis from the primary. I’ve got a lot going on today so this will be brief. First off statewide results via the Sec of State office:

With 97% of the precincts reporting only 9.5% of state voters decided to vote. Even though ¼ of Mac students are still not eligible to vote (Freshman have not been here for 20 days) over 15% of us voted, not half bad for a primary!

Governor results:
Hatch: 75%
Lourey: 22%
Lourey beat Hatch 54-44 in our precincts, hopefully that will convince Hatch to pay some attention to his liberal “base.”

The other competitive race was for Attorney General:
Lori Swanson: 42%
Bill Luther: 23%
Steve Kelley: 35%
It’s little consolation, but Kelley did far better in our precinct, winning with 57%.

The other state wide races are no surprise: Amy Klobuchar will be our senate candidate, Betty McCollum will stay in her US congressional seat, and Mark Ritchie is the next great sec of state.

The big local news is that our candidate, Erin Murphy swept by the competition receiving 83% of the vote and an amazing 89% in Mac’s precinct. Way to go Mac Dems!

Now the real work begins, if we have anything to say about it this is going to be a bad year for the Republicans. We are keeping this district strong, and taking over this state, and our country! We will be working non-stop until the general election on November 7th, will you be with us?

a little something

Matt Pierce — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 11:18:00 +0000

Hello MacDems,

I just saw this today while killing some down time at work, and I thought you'd all enjoy it. London is great, hope you're all having a great semester.

Matt P.

Democratic Primary

JakeLP — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 04:33:00 +0000

Tuesday, September 12, is the DFL primary. All upper-class students and freshman who have been at Mac for 20+ days can vote. There are a number of great DFL Endorsed candidates on the ballot, check them out:

Amy Klobuchar for US Senate
Betty McCollum for Congress
Erin Murphy for State House

Mike Hatch for Governor
Steve Kelley for Attorney General
Mark Ritchie for Secretary of State

All on-campus students vote 7am-8pm at the Macalester Plymouth Church right behind Carnagie. Off-campus students check out http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/ for your polling location. Not registered, don't worry you can register at your polling location just bring your ID.

Want to Volunteer? there's plenty you can do to help. We need help dropping lit on Monday night (10:15pm in front of the Campus Center), Tabling during the day on Tuesday, and door knocking at night (7pm in front of the Campus Center on Tuesday). To sign up email macdems@macalester.edu

See you on Primary Day!

CDM/MYDFL Day at the Fair!

Stephanie Potter — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:10:00 +0000

Looking for something fun and political to do to start your semester off right? Enjoy hotdish-on-a-stick (seriously, it's good!) and show Minnesotans how kick-ass young Democrats are - volunteer at CDM/MYDFL table at the State Fair.

On September 3, the DFL booth at the State Fair will be run by volunteers from the College Democrats of Minnesota and the Minnesota Young DFL. Together, CDM and MYDFL will also have a table at the DFL booth every day at the fair. The fairgrounds are open from 6 am - midnight, our table runs from 10 am - 8 pm. Each shift is 2 hours long, though due to transition time volunteers will have to stay a little longer than their scheduled time. If you volunteer 4 hours, your ticket will be free!

Shifts:

10 am - Noon
Noon - 2 pm
2 pm - 4 pm
4 pm - 6 pm
6 pm - 8 pm

We also need people earlier/later than that on Sept. 3 for our grand day of fantastic young DFL activities...

To volunteer, email Stephanie at spotter@macalester.edu. If you can't make it on the 3rd, our table will be in need of volunteer staffing any day through Labor Day (Sept. 4) so if you'd like to volunteer another day that would be cool as well.

Bush's failing grade

JakeLP — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 01:21:00 +0000

A new poll suggests that Bush's approval rating is 20% for the 18-24 crowd. 20%!! If you walked up to 5 random college students only 1 would support him. Now the question is if we will show up to the polls.

Entenza Drops Out of AG Race

Stephanie Potter — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 18:45:00 +0000

Mac grad Matt Entenza has dropped out of the race for MN Attorney General. From the Strib:

Buffeted by questions about his honesty and investigations into his wife's multimillion-dollar stock options, DFL endorsee Matt Entenza dropped out of the race for state attorney general Tuesday.

...

Meanwhile, the names of several high-profile DFLers have been circulating as possible alternative candidates to Entenza, with indications that some party insiders are seeking recruits.

The deadline for filing for office is the end of the workday today.

New Poll in Govs Race

Zimbo — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 20:59:00 +0000

A new poll conducted by the StarTrib shows that the race for Minnesota Governor will go "down to the wire." Upon polling 813 likely voters, 43 percent favored Gov. Pawlenty and 41 percent favored Attorney General and DFL nominee Mike Hatch. With the margin of error at 3.4 percent, the poll is a statistical dead heat.

Interestingly enough, Peter Hutchison, the Independence party candidate, is only polling at 5 percentage points. In the past two gubernatorial elections, the Independence party has played a large role--however Ventura, the candidate and winner in '98 and Tim Penny, the candidate in '02 were already polling in double digits at this point in the summer.

Ford Bell

JakeLP — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 21:05:00 +0000

Ford Bell is ending his bid for US Senate, thus leaving Amy Klobuchar as the only Democratic candidate. Bell's campaign was always a long shot and was certainly looked down at by party leaders but in the end of the day he raised important issues like universal health care and a time table for Iraq, which would simply not have been heard otherwise. No matter what you thought of Bell, now is the time to unite behind Amy and ensure that senate seat stays blue!

The Politics of Facebook

JakeLP — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:46:00 +0000

Check out any MacDem’s Facebook profile and you’ll see any number of political groups they are a members of, “Neighbors for Erin Murphy” being the newest. But starting just in time for the mid-term elections the good people at Facebook are changing things up a bit. Politicians will now be able to buy profiles so that students from all around the country can friend them. Is this an effective way for politicians to reach young people or just another way for them to annoy us? COMMENT!

St. Paul Politics: Get Involved in Central Corridor

whowell@macalester.edu (Will Howell) — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 01:30:00 +0000

Mayor Coleman just kicked debate on lightrail development along the central corridor (University Avenue) into high gear by launching a website, http://stpaul.gov/initiatives/centralcorridor/. The website has a lot of information about the planning process: schedules, press releases, meeting minutes, contact information, etc.

This is a huge local issue which affects us as college students and as Democrats. Lightrail transportation along University would make it possible for us to travel quickly and cheaply from St. Paul to Minneapolis--it would extend our ability to experience the Twin Cities. At the same time, there are many small businesses along University that would be aversely affected during the construction period and several cultural communities that could be destroyed by the introduction of lightrail just as the heart of the African American community around Marshall was ripped out by the building of I94.

Give the website a read-over when you have a moment, and come back here to share you thoughts. It would be great to have a presence in the planning if we could, but to do so requires that we inform ourselves as best we can. If you're around St. Paul this summer, try to swing by one of the meetings, take some notes, and send them to us: macdems@macalester.edu. We'll post them and continue this discussion here.

Volunteer

JakeLP — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 01:09:00 +0000

Keith Ellison is running for congress. His campaign is not in our district (we are represented by the talented Betty McCollum). Yet, this would be a great campaign to get involved in if you are in the area. If elected he would be one of the strongest progressive voice in the country. He has got great momentum winning the DFL endorsement a few weeks ago and recently adding their 1,000 volunteer to the campaign but he still faces a challenge in the September 12th primary. If anyone has had Erik Larson (Sociology Prof) Ellison is in his district and Erik has told be that he is a big fan! Check Keith Ellison out and if you like what you see go to his website and get involved!

God Bless...

JakeLP — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 16:24:00 +0000

You think I can get in on some of this money?

A look at the Polls

Molly Griffard — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 17:12:00 +0000

I must give Jake credit for finding these poll numbers, but I thought that I'd pass them on to you.
In a recent Rasmussen Report that surveyed 1,000 likely voters in Minnesota, the polls show both Klobuchar and Hatch slightly ahead of their Republican opponents.
In the close Senate race, which is gaining national attention, Klobuchar leads with 47% to Kennedy's 44%.
Tim Pawlenty is currently trailing Mike Hatch with 42% whereas 47% of the likely voters were in favor of Hatch.
Both of these races are within the margin of error, so there is no telling who will win at this point. The poll numbers are good news, but it will require much more campaigning and getting out the vote to ensure a DFL victory.
Is anyone else as excited as me for an action-packed midterm election?

Money Money Money Money

JakeLP — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 23:15:00 +0000

I hate to beg (well that's not true, I love it), but the end of the quarter for political fundraising is upon us! Progressive candidates both need money, and more importantly need support. Even $5 shows that you care (I know you all have summer jobs)! Meanwhile, if you are donating to someone in MN you can get up to $50 of your donation refunded back to you by the state within a few weeks, so really it is just a loan. We spent all of last semester bringing great progressive candidates to Mac Dems so if any of them struck a note with you go to their websites and give. If you are looking for some great national candidates check out: Act Blue!