Barkley v. Franken v. Coleman
Barkley Wins Independence Party Senate Primary
For Immediate Release
Contact: Christopher Truscott
ctruscott@senatorbarkley.com
HOPKINS—U.S. Senate candidate Dean Barkley released the following statement Tuesday night after winning the Independence Party primary election:
"This election was about more than just me or any of the other candidates. Today, thousands of Minnesotans said they've had it with politics as usual in our nation's capital.
"We won't have the millions of special interest dollars Al Franken and Norm Coleman will spend to preserve the status quo. But we'll be able to run an aggressive campaign aimed directly at the weakness of both major parties: the important issues facing our country.
"We're going to talk about the out-of-control national debt. We're going to talk about not just getting out of Iraq, but avoiding future military misadventures. We're going to talk about getting things done, rather than perpetuating the partisan food fight in Congress. And we're going to talk about actually making real change.
"I have yet to meet one person during this campaign who's interested in more of the same Washington-style politics that has failed our country for too long. While Franken and Coleman have the big special interests as their base, we're starting off with the vast majority of Minnesotans who are ready for something better and I'll take that any day."
* * * * *
Barkley, 58, served as the director of the Minnesota Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning under Gov. Jesse Ventura. In November 2002, Ventura appointed Barkley to fill the final two months of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's term.
The former governor said recently that Barkley is "measured minute by minute … the most effective U.S. senator in Minnesota history."
More information is available online at www.senatorbarkley.com.
3 comments:
What you should look at are the numbers.
The SoS has them, that race, here:
http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20080909/ElecRslts.asp?M=S&R=all&P=A&Races=%27%27
Twice as many DFL people crossed over statewide and voted against Coleman (for Jack Shepard), as affirmatively made an effort to vote for Barkley.
The numbers don't lie, nor spin-doctor, as you and Truscott are doing this time:
Jack Shepard: 12,428
Dean Barkley: 6679 [56% of those caring to vote IP].
That shows what most people know and admit - Barkley could be a spoiler, but little else.
Will he take more Coleman votes than Franken votes - i.e., will the Lord Faris voters [those she had who were not GOP crossovers] line up behind Franken, or be sore heads and go with Barkley?
I admit it is all speculative - but you have to be realistic, and the Shepard vs. Barkley numbers are real, and whatever explanation you prefer, they will not change.
Barkley's hurting is how I see it, but he may still be a nuisance factor.
Barkley was instrumental in pushing the IP to endorse Tink in MN 6, and he got 56% of the IP vote while he also had been instrumental in routing the IP Senate endorsement to himself.
To me that says a number of folks thinking of themselves as IP rank and file [Bob Anderson supporters for example] did not like seeing the party bosses of their small party act like Carey in the GOP, or McCarthy in MN 6, like wannabe king makers.
Will those IP rank and file people close ranks, or decide to go major party, where a vote might make a difference?
IP primary #'s have always been extreamly low including the year Jesse got 37% or even more so the time when at primary time Tim Penny was polling in basically a three way dead heat.
If you base anything on the primary # your missing the boat completly. Barkley won by a wider margain then Franken, so despite the fact that Jack Uldrich is on a much higher tier within the party then Lord Farris is in the DFL the incentive to get out and vote was rather limited at least if you were supporting Barkley. Just a side note if everyone who voted Barkley in the primary donates on average $20 he runs a fairly meaningful two month campaign.
Barkley is not going to conduct the Tim Penny or Peter Hutchinson campaign where he simply trys to be the best overall candidate on the stage. He is going to use the issues to his advantage, and build a much more solid base then then just IP loyalist.
Jesse Ventura polled at 26% for a reason, and in large part that reason wasn't that Jesse would make a spectacular Senator.
Mike - interesting analysis.
All we can really do now is wait for November, and in the interim, see who can energize a constituency.
You argue well that Barkley might.
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