Maureen Reed: CD 6's Priscilla Lord Faris?

Let's nip this in the bud now...

We all remember the failed campaign of Priscilla Lord Faris. She ran a dirty and unimpressive campaign against US Senator Al Franken.

Her story and her campaign was the focus and a highlight of a conservative blogger.

Now in 2009, the names and the races have changed, but the tactics haven't.

Note to Dr Maureen Reed or Team Reed...

Getting your talking points displayed front and center at MDE does nothing for you. In fact, it ticks off a significant portion of the DFL base, the group you will need to win in the 6th.

“I know what independents think. I know what’s important to them. We know where they live, and we can speak directly to them,” said Reed. “In the 6th district, our DFL cannot win if it only gets DFL votes.”

Ok Dr Reed, in 2006 on the back end of Peter Hutchinson's ticket, you garnered a whooping 6.4%. In the 6th, you received 5.9% of the vote. Let me guess, Peter Hutchinson drug the ticket down right? With nearly 30% of the State and the 6th identifying themselves as independent, it seems you fell significantly short.

We've heard the argument before. A strong liberal cannot win in the 6th, that a more independent voice would shine through in the 6th.

In 2002, a moderate socially conservative DFLer ran against Mark Kennedy and lost...big time.

In 2004, liberal Patty Wetterling closed to within 8 points of Mark Kennedy, garnering 46% of the vote.

In 2006, Wetterling lost to Michele Bachmann, with the majority of the blame falling on a poor campaign.

2008, moderate Elwyn Tinklenberg lost to Bachmann by about 3 points.

My point is this, no one other than a Republican has won in the 6th since Bill Luther, which had only a portion of the district as it's encompassed now. Liberal, moderate, etc...all campaigns have failed. Reeds assertion that she can win as a moderate is unfounded.

Reed running as a moderate, lobbing verbal bombs at State Senator Tarryl Clark will do nothing to help her in the 6th.

If either candidate cannot run an effective campaign, the race in the 6th will be over.

Which is why many of us support Senator Clark. She's been through some rather tough races in the past, she's persevered. We know where Clark stands, we cannot say that for Reed, much like the failed Lord Faris campaign. No one knew where Lord Faris stood on the issues and the same holds true for Dr Reed.

Will Reed come out and denounce the MDE post?

We'll be watching closely...

Faris at the fair and on the tube

Bluewoman and I were at the fair again yesterday, checking stuff out and eating a lot of good food!

We checked out a lot of political booths and all sorts of other fun stuff.

We'll post the photos later, but we did notice that Faris changed her booth a bit. She removed the Al Franken and Norm Coleman "slash" signs, as well as covered up her slogan, "A Minnesota solution to a New York problem". It was covered up on both the side and in the front.

Now, I am watching her on "Between the Lines".

Faris is encouraging Republican's to "cross over" and vote in the DFL primary. "I have a lot of conservative friends who support me. I have a lot of conservative ideas but I am a true blue Democrat".

From her website, where she is encouraging Republicans to "cross over" and vote for her in the 9/9 primary.

I urge you to vote for me in the Democratic Primary. You may not vote in both the Democratic and Republican primaries at the same time, but by voting in the Democratic Primary on September 9th, you are NOT prohibited from voting for candidates from either party in November.

Faris just made the argument that because she has tragically lost her son to a drunk driving incident, and that Franken, Coleman, or any other politician have NOT lost a loved one in Iraq, that she is more qualified to serve, based on knowing the personal pain of losing a loved one.

She'll be lucky to get 15% in the primary...counting the cross over voters she's courting.

Pictures coming later!

State Fair: Day 1 Fun

I had a lot of fun at the fair today.

Priscilla Lord Faris had a few clowns hanging around outside her booth later in the day today!

Found the Dean Barkley for US Senate booth, which was consistently busy throughout the day.

Barkley talking to some high school students who will cast their first votes in the September 9th Primary.



Talking health care!

Caught Steve Sarvi on the Jack Rice show. He dominated once again, talking about Iraq and the energy crisis.

Marty Seifert was in the GOP booth, touting welfare abuse and getting his minions fired up about that.

Al Franken's booth was overstaffed until Franken showed up, then a group of 50 people swarmed the booth, getting pictures and autographs.

Priscilla Lord Faris had a booth placed near the DFL booth ( I am told that PLF has actually not placed her booth in the correct location, that she simply plopped it down within the DFL booths sight line) that was pretty quiet.

Jack Aldrich had a lonely booth as well.

Lots of Obama stickers and shirts. McCain had a good presence, but I wonder how many Minnesotans will put up with someone who does not know how many houses he owns?

All told, long fun day! Bluewoman and I will make our annual State Fair appearance next week!

More Lord Faris Shenanigans

Aaron, posting mostly at MnPublius, left an interesting comment last night.

I had a few questions for the PLF campaign this week and after I contacted them through a form I got a voicemail back from Bob Mattson representing the PLF campaign... from a Ft. Myers, FL area code.

Noting it was *Bob Mattson* that called me, I realized I didn't even need to call him back.

Lord Faris attacks Franken consistently for not being "Minnesotan" enough. Apparently, attacking Franken, or at least running the attacks from Florida is Minnesota like?

WTF? Seriously...not a Franken guy here but PLF needs to have a little consistency here.

My post yesterday was interesting. It seems the Mattson-Faris connection is grounded in a campaign strategy of attacking their own when they are down, even though they have zero electability themselves.

Mattson jumped on Entenza in 06, a Lord running the show.

Lord-Faris humps on Franken in 08, a Mattson running the show.

Shenanigans...

The Lord-Faris / Mattson connections

Al Franken has taken quite a few hits recently. Most notably of late, the hits have come from within from Priscilla Lord Faris and her campaign.

One of my friends called it swiftboating.

I got a call from Jennifer Mattson a few weeks ago asking if I would interview Priscilla Lord Faris and possibly support her candidacy. We all know the story from 2006.

Matt Entenza came under fire for hiring someone to look into Mike Hatch's past and some interesting dealings with United Health Group.

Mattson jumped all over the race and worked to push Entenza out, which he did after the DFL convention endorsement.

Miles W. Lord was the chair of the Mattson for Attorney General Committee.

Mattson's fight with Entenza was a highlight on MDE for a considerable amount of time.

Jump to 2008, Al Franken is in some serious trouble in the US Senate race.

Priscilla Lord Faris jumps into the race, after the convention and after all the debates have taken place. She runs an aggressive campaign calling for more debates and attacking Franken on a daily basis. She is a star on MDE daily.

Jennifer Mattson is assisting Lord Faris through this attack laden campaign and Jennifer's father, Bob Mattson, a former State Auditor and Treasurer, is coordinating for Lord Faris as well.

The Mattson-Lord Faris connection in both the Entenza and now the Franken races is strong.

In my opinion, the Mattson 06 AG run was simply about attacking Entenza and putting pressure on him to withdraw, which they were very successful with.

The Lord Faris 08 campaign has the same people in place and are pushing for the same result. They want Franken out of this race and they will do anything to accomplish that.

I'm not the biggest Franken guy, in fact, I will probably vote for Dean Barkley this year as I resonate with him better than Franken.

In essence, the Lord Faris Mattson group has been exposed for what they really are.

A group of "Democrats" that gets into races at the last possible minute to play spoiler. The connections between the Mattson 06 AG run and the Lord Faris 08 US Senate run are strong enough to indicate that. There are too many key players that worked on both campaigns for this to be a mere coincidence.

Priscilla Lord Faris needs to knock off the BS. She's reciting the MDE talking points verbatim, bringing us nothing original in this campaign. Franken should have been vetted months and months ago and will be the subject of attack by the Brodkorbs and others for the final 90 days.

Uncovering the Mattson-Lord Faris connection makes me distrust this group of "Democrats" even more.

Dean Barkley is the solid third option here!

Lord Faris Continues to Star on MDE

We get it Senator Prissy. We get it.

We've heard all the stuff about Franken day in and day out for months now.

You don't like Al Franken.

Reiterating Brodkorbs talking points does nothing for your campaign.

Instead of talking day after day about Franken and pornography and drunk driving jokes, tell us what you are going to bring to the race.

So far, all I have seen is a strong pattern of negativity from the Lord Faris campaign.

Which makes me wonder, who is funding all this stuff?

The Lord Faris August 20 FEC report will be a must read...that's for sure!

Gone a week...

I can't believe it's really been a week since I read a blog!


When did MDE become Priscilla Lord Faris for US Senate?

Seriously! I read MDE this morning and could have confused it with the PLF website.MDE working for both Paulsen and Faris.

I saw her campaign ad on KARE 11 this morning...not impressed. Not impressed at all, especially with a campaign that is running their message through a Republican blogger.

She may be right on a lot of her criticism of Franken. However, why didn't she get into the endorsement race then? Why not make this pitch to the delegates?

I heard the US Senate race pitched as a football analogy.

The quarterback has led the team inefficiently for the majority of the game and the team is losing, losing big. Is it time to go with a new quarterback?

No disrespect to Brooks Bollinger or Gus Ferotte, but we won't win with a second or third string QB.

Faris has the feel of a 4th string DII quarterback right now. The "Why I'm Running" page just seems...well, whiny to me.

Al Franken does not represent Minnesota values:

His coarse humor and language is demeaning to women and minorities.

His tax problems and questionable financial transactions are not consistent with the way most Minnesotans view their responsibilities.

He has lived in New York almost all of his adult life and has moved to Minnesota just to run for office.

Most of his funding comes from his Hollywood and entertainment business contacts.

He has demeaned and insulted other Senators and office holders, the very people he will have to work with to accomplish anything in Washington.

In his own words he is an angry man, and he screams profanities and insults to those who disagree with him.

He says he would not be a good person to hold political office because he is "indecisive" and he views politics as interesting only because the election races are interesting.

He is behind Coleman by 15 points in the polls.

While there is some validity here, I have a hard time supporting someone who's online campaign presence is via a right wing blogger, former Republican Oppo Guy, MDE.

So it while looking at changing the quarterback is attractive, perhaps it's time to root for another team?

Anyone ready for an old Annandale grad? Dean Barkley?