This coming weekend is a very important weekend in the CD 6 race. While I posted over a week ago that the race in the 6th CD is over, it appears as though the Olson campaign is making a strong push for delegates this weekend in SD 14, 15, and 51.
My delegate math puts Olson behind Tinklenberg by a healthy margin, somewhere along the lines of 65% Tinklenberg, 35% Olson.
I had an hour long conversation with Olson last Friday. He's been hard at work on the phones talking to each individual delegate and strongly disputes my delegate math and the math purported by the Tinklenberg Campaign.
Despite predictions of the demise of the Olson campaign, Bob and his rag-tag fugitive fleet, persevere onto the coming conventions.
One thing struck me as odd, and quite frankly, got me pretty fired up from my conversation with Olson this past Friday.
He told me he was having a hard time getting the information for the CD 6 delegates. He hadn't gotten the info from SD 56 (a convention nearly a month ago) and many others.
He had contacted party leadership from the top of the 6th Congressional District and even SD and CU officials. The lists are very hard to come by. For the most part, the VAN has not been updated with these important lists.
It forced me to ask a lot of questions about what the heck is going on here.
Why doesn't party leadership in the 6th have a running list of who the delegates and alternates are to date?
What is taking the CU/SD's so long to get these lists out? Why is this so complicated? Is there a plot to keep these lists from Olson? While I have a hard time imagining that taking place, with the attempts to stifle debate in the 6th, I think everything ought to be considered.
As the Secretary of the Wright County DFL (who missed the convention due to family health concerns), I have asked at least 4 different people (some multiple times) for minutes and delegate lists from the Wright County Convention.
Why can't we get these important lists to our candidates?
If were struggling with lists and support now, how bad will it get during the heat of the campaign?
8 comments:
I can tell you that not getting delegate names until right before the convention is nothing new. There are a lot of forms to fill out after the conventions, some of which can't be done on the convention date if you use certain methods of voting on resolutions. Sometimes, delegates don't fill in the forms correctly, and the chair has to do some legwork to get it all squared away.
Since our party is run by busy volunteers, many of those forms don't come in until just before the deadline.
This is why seasoned campaigners hang around after the conventions to write the names of delegates down before they leave. I'm sure you've noticed the pile of interns around the chair after a convention - they're getting delegate info.
If any campaign has better delegate info than another, that's because they've done more legwork during the conventions.
While I agree Julie, good campaigns get this stuff and get it at the convention, I do have concerns over what's going on with this.
I made several phone calls late last week and everyone I spoke to, pushed the question off on someone else.
I guess I am just astonished that 3 weeks after some conventions, some SD / CU Chairs and Secretaries still have incomplete lists and / or no idea who their delegates are.
While it may happen a lot, I still think its a vaild concern.
Hi Julie. We have the SD 48 caucus this Thursday, Mar. 27, 2008, Lord of Life Church in Ramsey, registration starts 6:00pm.
If nothing else, calling people who were district caucus delegates for a sampling, who is going on, which committment, is possible.
I know the Tinklenberg camp was calling and is calling I guess the SD caucus delegates, so those lists are available.
Then they hold the thing, and who is to say what happens after that.
SD 48 is Anoka County, Tinklenberg home turf. But Olson looks like Mark Twain - saying reports of his death were premature.
OLSON IS ALIVE AND WELL AND WANTING DELEGATES - that is the message your post implies.
That is good.
Eric, I wasn't implying anything about anyone's chances with my post, just giving all the newer campaigners who read a little tip about the process.
As far as your concern, Blue Man, which has some validity, I'd be happy with any solution that doesn't take funds away from our campaign work.
So Blueman are you back on the Olson wagon?
And by the way the SD51 convention is April 5 not this weekend.
On the Olson wagon? No. As you can see, I have taken down my Olson sidebar. I'm disappointed in how things have gone and would take a phone call from both Elwyn or Bob.
I do think he has a right to the names of the delegates and if there are people that are keeping that from him, that's wrong.
I don't believe anyone is keeping the delegate names from him. If he has access to the VAN then he can get them any time. If he doesn't have access to the VAN then he needs to talk with the DFL.
As Julie indicated it takes time to get everything updated with all the resolutions and delegates that come out of these conventions. Volunteers that have day jobs and families.
Thanks lavndrblue
I fully understand that all of us DFL volunteers have day jobs and families.
Julie also indicated that my post has some validity. I made some phone calls after I spoke to Olson, trying to get a few lists in question and got a complete run around. From what I understand, the VAN, for the most part, has not been updated.
I do think some people are holding these lists from Olson.
For instance, I spoke to a friend of mine, a strong labor/ ET guy. He said he was standing behind the secretary at one of these conventions while they were entering delegate data into a spreadsheet. That specific SD/CU can't seem to get the list out to anyone asking, 11 days after the convention and it's not on the VAN.
Regardless if he only has 1 remaining delegate, as a candidate, he deserves the equal opportunity, not matter how much he's ticked of some of the loyal activists.
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