Taking a break

A few thoughts before I head out for a week or so.

Steve Sarvi did very well this election. Which is why I believe the blogosphere is big enough for us to provide support to all of our candidates, and not just a selected few who had raised over a million dollars, only to lose. I'm sorry I couldn't get more done for you Steve and the rest of Team Sarvi! I definitely have your back in 2010!

Ashwin's loss was a disappointment. But not as disappointing as Elwyn Tinklenberg losing.

I think the Bachmann attacks at the last minute, on Tinklenberg's MnDOT time hurt him significantly. The Tinklenberg campaign didn't push forth a strong push to attack the Bachmann ads and the last view of the voter was some shady stories about Tinklenberg's MnDOT days. I think his lack of response (other then the campaign emails) hurt him significantly.

Who the hell is Bob Anderson?

I'm proud of Dean Barkley and those I met on his staff. Even if this is a 236 vote difference, I still feel Dean was the best candidate for what we need in the US Senate and I would not have changed my vote.

So is the IP a spoiler? Tough call. I have not seen all the numbers yet. I did hear about how exit polls indicate Barkley voters would have gone 50% for Franken, 50% for Coleman.

Team Barkley ran a great campaign. Some criticize Barkley because it wasn't a Ventura like run.

a. Dean is not Jesse, although Jesse had some involvement.
b. Jesse got a large public subsidy from the State of Minnesota. If Dean had the same amount as Jesse did, he would have been on the airwaves much earlier.

Dean got out raised in this race 1600:1 by both Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

In other words, a $100 contribution to Dean would be like giving $160,000 to Norm or Al.

Coleman and Franken spent nearly $20 per vote they got.

Barkley spent .30 for every vote he got.

In the days after the election, some were pretty ticked off that I would support Barkley and encourage others to do so as well.

Two things influenced my move to a more moderate mode.

a. The DFL crapped on the local units out in Wright County. After the Wright County DFL was dissolved at the State Convention, we were not notified of this until nearly 2 months later. Party officials were supposed to come out and explain how we reconfigure out here (even though it was promised to us that it would not occur until 2010 and that we would get a sufficient number of delegates). No party officials came out to discuss this with us, in fact, they even just failed to show up to an organized meeting and didn't call. There's some shady stuff behind the scenes of some of this stuff, and quite frankly, when the party leadership was confronted, they did nothing.

b. Poor candidate selection and endorsement.

So, to hell with it all. If the party folks (not local) are going to be deceitful and corrupt, I'm not going to be a party to that.

Which is why I will probably run for office next time as an IP candidate. I'm still sorting all this out, but it seems like the best fit for me right now. I'm tired of the BS and a lack of leadership.

Since the party doesn't want to listen, I'll go somewhere where my efforts and opinion are welcomed.

So, with that said...be good! We'll be gone for probably the next week.

I have our grooms dinner tonight and Bluewoman and I are getting married tomorrow afternoon, regardless of the snow!

Then off to Duluth for a few days of relaxation!

Thank you to everyone for your support!

A special thanks go out to the Ollie Ox and Political Muse! Keep up the great work!

Tom, Chris, Sally, Diana, Jim, Jim, Dean, Nikki, and the rest of Team Barkley...

Thank you! Your passion for change and independent thought inspire me.

See you at the wedding!