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Well it\’s day two of the 2010 MN GOP State Convention, and we\’re here bright and early, ready to get started at 9:00 AM.  We were here until after 1 AM yesterday and it promises to be another long one today.  In fact I\’m pre-emptively labeling this day \”The Grind\”, and I urge the delegation to prove me wrong.  Seriously, please do!  Either way, I\’m setup for another lovely day of conventioning.  Due to the sub-par concessions of the Minneapolis Convention Center, I\’ve packed my own caffeine and snacks….I\’m ready for the long haul.

9:04 – Okay we\’re here, but haven\’t started yet.  So…..we\’ll wait.  I should note, if there is anything in particular you\’re looking to see or hear about, let me know in the comments and I\’ll see what I can do.

9:08 – Twice now they\’ve made an announcement for delegates to take their seats.  Looks like they are trying to get started.

9:09 – I should note there are noticeably more people today.  I know in my own personal BPOU we seated all our alternates yesterday, but I would not expect that to be the case today.  A lot more press showed up today as well.

9:12 – Pledge of Allegiance, which we also did yesterday…unlike the DFL nobody here has any qualms about saying the Pledge.

9:15 – And we\’re off!

9:16 – Congressman Kline is speaking.  Pure red meat to wake up the delegates this morning.

9:23 – And now Congressman Erik Paulsen is speaking

9:24 – Incidentally I should note we were told in the press area that we\’re not starting the Governor endorsement process until noon.  So if that\’s all you care about, go take a nap or something because sure as I\’m sucking down Mt. Dew, it will be a long night.

9:35 – Party staff is touting the new voter database, Phoenix.  I have access to that database and it\’s actually pretty nice.

9:50 – State Party Chairman Tony Sutton is speaking.  He\’s doing the Volunteer of the Year Awards

9:57 – I had a number of people stop by to chat.  Janet Beihoffer, former CD2 chair and activist-extraordinare, who is supporting Tom Emmer.  Then Pat Staley, chair of SD37, who has finally made his decision and is supporting Marty Seifert.  Could not instigate a fist fight between them, both of them are far to nice for that.

9:59 – Back to the topic of Voter ID. Historically the MN GOP has had an awful time of Voter ID databases.  The previous database, Voter Vault, was just horrendous.  Basically you stood a 50:50 chance of the information on the door you are knocking on being accurate.  In fact, Congressional District 2 even went so far as to officially abandon Voter Vault in favor of their own database, KatieVault, so named after it\’s creator.

Now the appropriately named Phoenix is here to take the place of Voter Vault.  And having used it, it definitely has potential.  The problem is that all databases, no matter how well designed are only as good as their data.  They\’ve made a HUGE effort to clean up and verify the data, but from using it I\’ve still found a number of glaring errors.  On the other hand, Phoenix is FAR more user friendly, so perhaps more users will be willing to dump in their updated data and improve the results for everyone.

Time will tell.

10:05 – Stanek is speaking

10:06 – Mark Drake just stopped by to let us know the speaking order for Governor candidates.  It\’ll be:

1) Phil Herwig
2) Marty Seifert
3) Tom Emmer
4) Bill Haas
5) Leslie Davis

Saving the \”best\” until last apparently.

10:09 – The Emmer camp is making their round of the floor, checking to make sure \”their\” votes are still on board.

10:11 – Apparently someone snagged a picture of me deep in discussion.

10:17 – Congresswoman Michelle Backmann takes the stage to a rockstar welcome from the crowd, barely audible over the roar of the crowd,  \”Hit Me With Your Best Shot\” is playing.  She may drive liberals crazy but this crowd absolutely loves her.  One probably has a lot to do with the other.

10:18 – Mitch Berg just showed up looking very tired.

10:21 – There is a mob of people in front of the stage taking pictures of Bachmann speaking….they haven\’t done that for ANYONE yet.

10:24 – Bachmann is touting unity, quoting Lincoln \”a house divided cannot stand\”.

10:34 – Randy Demmer just got done speaking

10:35 – Press row is now officially crowded.  My last donut was eaten, thereby removing temptation.  Thank you Brad Carlson!

10:36 – Senator Senjem, Senate Minority Leader, is speaking

10:41 – Activity on the floor has been steadily increasing…the crowd is still very much into the speeches, but there appears to be an army of ants crawling around the crowd as the various campaigns canvass their supporters.

10:45 – Chip Cravaack is speaking, candidate for Congress in the Eighth District

10:47 – Pioneer Press writer in front of me is reading about Annette Meeks, Tom Emmer\’s choice for Lt. Gov, on Wikipedia.

10:53 – Joel Demos is speaking, candidate for Congress in the Fifth District

11:00 – Mitch Berg has commenced liveblogging…

11:03 – For those that have commented, yes, I am wearing a suit today.  As much as I hate putting on a monkey suit, I do tolerate it for weddings, funerals and some conventions.  Mostly today I just ran out of ideas for concealing my carry weapon.  A suit jacket is an easy (and lazy) solution.

11:05 – Tim Pawlenty is taking the stage for a speech to a very large applause, not quite Bachmann standards, but large anyway.

11:07 – Incidentally the MN GOP does have a live feed of the proceedings at their website…

11:10 – Pawlenty : We\’re gathered here shortly after April 15th, Tax Days….or as the Democrats call it, Christmas

11:12 – Paraphrasing Pawlenty here : Democrats call themselves Progressives, which leads one to believe they\’re in favor of progress or new solutions, but what they\’re offering is the ideas of Eastern Europe from a century ago.

11:15 – Coleman arrived here this morning through the loading dock area….he swung through the press area again just recently.  Not really chatting with anyone, just passing through.

11:17 -Pawlenty makes an elaborate setup to a big secret…..\”We can\’t spend more than we have\”.

11:20 – \”We can\’t spend more than we have\” is a repeating theme.  He\’s also pointing out that people behave differently when they are spending their own money, as opposed to someone else\’s.  He points out you just have to look at how people behave around an open bar.  He compares this to government spending people\’s money.  The crowd is very appreciative.

11:27 – Pawlenty is touting \”concealed carry\” in Minnesota.  Points out more people have been killed by the Hiawatha Light Rail line than \”Concealed Carry\” despite claims that it would be the Wild West from liberals.  That got his biggest applause so far.  I know there are at least three people in the room armed right now, although I wouldn\’t be surprised if it\’s actually MANY times that.

Of course, I should point out that Pawlenty is wrong.  He didn\’t sign a \”Concealed Carry\” bill….there is no such thing.  We only have carry permits, not concealed carry.  Concealment is purely optional.  It\’s a common misconception and it\’s a little disappointment that the Governor is furthering that misconception.  But his heart is in the right place.

11:33 – The Seifert camp has been ready to take the stage for about a half hour now….they do realize they aren\’t the first speaker right??

11:34 – Pawlenty is done speaking…to the tune of \”Fortunate Son\”.

11:35 – We\’re about to begin the Governor endorsement process….

11:38 – According to credentials, we are just short of being a full delegation.

11:40 – Okay we\’re beginning the endorsement process, the motion has been made and passed.

11:42 – Everyone but Leslie Davis agreed to abide by the endorsement.  That caused some annoyance in the nominating committee, because at first he didn\’t have enough signatures to pass the nominating process.  So the members of the nominating committee signed for him just to give him enough signatures…..and then they asked him to abide by the endorsement and he refused.

11:48 – Herwig is speaking

11:52 – Okay I was trying to decide whether to publish this but I\’m going to toss this out there, but I repeat this is a VERY unconfirmed rumor.  Supposedly there is someone coming to endorse Emmer for Governor that requires a very high level of security, as in higher than anyone else so far.  Keep in mind we have Congressman, former Senators and a Governor in the room.  Who could possibly need even more security??

Obviously there are suspicions…most prominent is Sarah Palin.  The Emmer campaign had wanted her endorsement to be secret until today, but it leaked yesterday and they are pissed about it.  Originally the idea was to have her record a video endorsing Emmer and have it played during his speech, but that apparently feel through.  So some are wondering if she\’s making an appearance instead.

I find that hard to believe….if you didn\’t even have an opening in your schedule to record a video, how would you have an opening to attend the convention??

But to be honest, I\’m a little struggling on an alternate name that fits the mold….although like I pointed out this is just a RUMOR at this point.

12:06 – Phil Herwig is done speaking.

12:07 – While Phil was speaking, had a chance to talk with Michelle Bachmann.  She was very adamant about staying out of the Governor\’s race, she\’s not endorsing anyone.  And she complimented how civil the entire process has been.

12:08 – Marty Seifert is on stage, being introduced by Taxpayer\’s League\’s Phil Krinkie.

12:19 – Huge response from the crowd for Seifert, it looks to be roughly half the crowd.  I think we\’re up for a long endorsement battle here.

12:20 – I gotta compliment the Seifert campaign, they have been working the press area HARD.  Every fifteen minutes or so I have a Seifert staffer swinging by to drop off some information.  Couple minutes ago I got an advance copy of Seifert\’s speech.

12:27 – Lots of red meat in the speech obviously, it\’s a laundry list of conservative requests….immigration, taxes, spending, welfare, health care, etc, etc, etc

12:28 – He\’s done with his speech….confetti falling from the ceiling.

12:33 – Emmer\’s team has taken the stage….kind of a folksy theme to his presentation.

12:51 – Emmer just got done speaking….and I think there is a game of one-ups-manship going on.  Emmer had confetti falling all over the hall, plus pyrotechnics!

12:55 – Haas is speaking now…no supporters with him, he never gives up that\’s for sure.

12:57 – Looks like a lot of the delegates took this opportunity for lunch1:36 – I stepped out for a bit to go grab lunch.  Looks like most of the delegation is back, although none of them are paying attention to Leslie Davis who is currently at the podium.

1:37 – And Davis is done….balloting to being.

1:40 – Apparently 13 BPOUs have requested a roll call vote….

2:39 – How long does it take for a group of adults to figure out how to vote?? Forever.  In fact my BPOU had so much fun, we decided to do it twice…..we screwed up the first time.

2:40 – Ok the numbers are flying in precinct by precinct….you can see the numbers as they are reported at the MN GOP livestream, but it would be damn near impossible to report live here.

2:48 – Emmer definitely has the early lead….I\’m predicting 55% on the first ballot for Emmer.  Of course at that point Davis and Herwig and Haas are gone, since they don\’t appear to be getting to 5%.  But if it\’s a 55-45 breakdown, does Seifert concede or insist on a second ballot??

It\’s hard to say, I would not be surprised if he wanted to go to at least a second ballot.  If nothing changes then he\’d concede….or at least that\’s my prediction.

2:51 – I do have to point out how greatly the state party is making to ensure transparency here.  I mean they are literally broadcasting a view of the spreadsheet as they enter the numbers, and that same feed is up on the big screens here in the hall.  The entire delegation is literally looking over the shoulder of the person totaling up the votes.

2:55 – Seifert is picking up ground here, but I don\’t think anyone is going over the top here.

2:56 – Seifert is over 40% now….so it won\’t happen on the first ballot.  The question here is does he concede?  Or does he think he\’s got enough votes in his pocket?

3:01 – Ok here are the final numbers….

Emmer  – 1076 (53.3%)
Seifert – 865 (42.8%)
Haas – 26 (1.3%)
Herwig – 36 (1.8%)
Davis – 6 (0.3%)

My prediction of 55% was close.  Haas, Herwig and Davis are all dropped from contention.  With the winner needing 1196 to win, even the combined totals of the dropped three aren\’t enough

3:05 – Haas just conceded and endorsed Seifert

3:06 – Davis just addressed the convention and did not endorse anyone.

3:07 – Herwig addressed the convention and endorsed Marty Seifert.  That\’ll definitely be enough to at least convince Seifert to go to a second ballot.

3:12 – Rep. Kurt Zellers is addressing the convention.

3:13 – Okay as was pointed out in the comments my predictions are pretty good, so here\’s my new one.  I\’ve previously predicted Emmer after three.  I\’m making a slight modification….it will be two ballots and then a concession by Seifert.  I think he\’ll do a second ballot to find out where the Haas, Herwig and Davis votes go.  Plus you have to think both candidates hide some votes.  So he\’ll do a second ballot to find out where all these votes settled down to.

My guess is that the second ballot won\’t really change the margins a great deal.  You\’ll still have Marty in the mid to upper 40s and Emmer in the low to mid 50s.  But after that ultimately what is Seifert\’s strategy for gaining votes from Emmer??  His floor organization will already be tested on the second ballot so he can\’t fall back on that.

So second and then a concession by Seifert, Emmer wins.

3:19 – Dave Thompson is addressing the convention.  He\’s addressing party unity, using his battle with Tony Sutton for Party Chair as an example.

3:24 – Tea Party Patriots, one of the main Tea Party organizers in MN, are addressing the convention.  They are studiously denying that they have endorsed ANYONE.

3:28 – Okay remember when I said the Seifert campaign was working the press area hard?? Well they just evened up.  The Emmer campaign just came through with Rice Krispie bars for all the press area.

3:37 – Ok there was a slight change to the numbers for Emmer and Seifert…..basically there was some double-counting of the affiliate votes.  So it\’s actually Emmer 1062 and Seifert 859, the percentage changes were negligble.

What is an affiliate, it\’s basically groups like the Young Republicans or the College Republicans that we give a few token votes to, but since they span multiple Congressional Districts they are prone to making counting difficult.

3:39 – We\’re beginning the second ballot

3:53 – Okay had a chance to talk with Tom Emmer for awhile and then I had to go vote.  I think the key takeaway from the interview was that despite what Phil Herwig says, he thought Herwigs votes were coming to his side.  If Emmer\’s percentage goes up at all, it\’s over.

3:57 – HELP!!! The Emmer team is attacking the press area!!!

4:00 – It\’s kind of amusing that the people in the press area are exchanging predictions.  General concensus seems to be that Seifert will concede after two.  Because really what\’s the logic for a third??  On the other hand there are a few claiming we\’ll go to a third ballot because Seifert is going to depend on his floor organization to turn some votes for him.

I just don\’t see that happening.  I\’ve been on the floor and the Emmer team seems far more organized and effective than the Seifert team.

4:00 – Tony Sutton is presenting the local elected official of the year award….the mayor of Plymouth, Kelli Slavik, won.

4:09 – Sitting next to Eric Black today in the press area, he reminded me of a part of the Emmer interview I had forgot to mention.  Someone tried to trip him up on support for public stadiums, because there is a rumor going on that his Lt. choice supports public funding for them.  He pointed out it doesn\’t matter, it\’s what he believes that matters and that is that we should support the Vikings to keep them in Minnesota.  But then went on to say we should support ALL business, not just the Vikings, by creating a climate that makes Minnesota the place to be.

So while he doesn\’t specifically rule out public funding he certainly left the impression that the Vikings shouldn\’t get special treatment than any other business.

4:12 – We\’ve moving onto debate on the platform while we\’re waiting for results on the second ballot.

4:14 – Another motion to kill the platform and go back to just a statement of principles

4:30 – Carol Malnau is addressing the convention…

4:41 – Second ballot results are in…

Emmer – 1118 (56%)
Seifert – 876 (43.8%)

Ok that means it\’s all but officially over….Emmer needs 60% and he\’s damn close.  Now does Seifert concede or make us do a third ballot?

4:46 – Seifert just conceded and endorsed Emmer!!!

4:57 – Ok there is much celebration on stage.  Seifert and Emmer did the show of unity on stage together, holding raised hands.  Pictures will be up soon.  We also endorsed Meeks for Lt. Gov.

4:59 – We just adjourned until tomorrow morning….here are some pictures from the celebration….

I\’ll see you tomorrow!

Ok I\’m here at the MN GOP State Convention in Minneapolis.  Convention actually started at 6:30 PM, but at 7 PM I\’m still getting settled in.  Between setting up all my stuff and squaring away our BPOU I think I\’m also ready for business.  I\’ll be blogging the events of the days, both official and un-official and those will follow below.  Start at the top and keep scrolling…

7:15 – Stanek got a chance to speak before credentials and he notably made clear his support for carry permits.  The crowd gave that a big applause.  And so did I as a carry permit holder, who is exercising that right.

7:18 – The Severson campaign was staged to take the stage but apparently they didn\’t realize this credentials stuff always takes about an hour and they just broke up.

7:24 – Credentials are finished….we\’re getting ready for Auditor speeches, but in the meantime we\’re hearing from the Rules Committee via Michael Brodkorb.

7:27 – Ok now that I\’m caught up with happenings.  It\’s time to report some of the unofficial stuff happening.  Biggest news on the floor is the two most recent endorsements for Governor, and neither of them bode well for Seifert.  Sarah Palin endorsed Emmer via Facebook/Twitter this afternoon.  And the Star&Sickle (Star Tribune) endorsed Marty Seifert.  Upon hearing this news, most Emmer supporters break out in a grin.  Seifert supporters make a less than pleasant face.

7:34 – Mark Drake, the communications director, just swung by to let us know that as of tonite all candidates will be nominated, with the exception of Governor.  And for Governor, five candidates passed the nominating committee, those being Bill Haas, Phil Herwig, Tom Emmer, Marty Seifert and Leslie Davis….the rest didn\’t show up.

7:37 – It\’s always obvious who is new to these proceedings and has a little too much gumption for their experience.  There was some protest to the floor as to what constitutes a \”roll call\” vote.  The speaker apparently wanted all votes secret….which is fine, but eventually at least the totals need to be revealed….which wasn\’t okay with her.  Apparently having the BPOU chair stand up and report the number of Yay/Nay votes in their BPOU is too much like a union hall for her.  Nevermind that this isn\’t exactly new to conventions.

7:40 – Already the delegates are a little annoyed by the acoustics of the convention hall.  Even though conversations have been taken OFF the convention floor, they still echo off the walls and make it hard to hear on the floor.

8:03 – I went to grab something to eat, and came back to find out that Mitch Berg next to me, had lined up an interview with Pat Anderson, who is running for State Auditor.  Regarding her chances she\’s very positive, if it were just delegates she\’s positive she\’d have it on the first ballot.  But she isn\’t confident where the alternates stand.  So it might take a ballot or two for things to settle down.

8:05 – Theresa Collett is speaking.  She\’s running for Congress in the 4th District.  Big applause.

8:12 – Lee Byberg is speaking.  He\’s running for Congress in the 7th District.

8:15 – Some commentary on the convention itself.  We\’re not in the auditorium this year, we\’re in Hall E….which resembles a giant aircraft hanger.  Bleachers on either side for alternates and guests.  Chairs in the middle for delegates.  Stage with two screens and a flag up front.  Bleachers in the back, behind the TV cameras, which are overflow seating but are mostly there to create a wall so that there can be a row of vendors behind it, but still in the convention hall.  Meanwhile I\’m in the press area off to the left side (hehe) of the stage.

Some campaigns have hung banners above the delegation.  Seifert and Emmer of course.  Bachmann has a small one up.  Herwig has a GIANT ugly neon green one hanging as well, that says \”Change We Can Believe In\”.  Really?? Ugh.

It\’s absolutely impossible to get in and out of the convention hall without being accosted by staff/supporters of a number of candidates.  At first you feel bad about waving them off but ultimately I\’m not making my decision 5 minutes before endorsement based upon something I read on a pamphlet.

8:24 – There is a motion on the floor to delay the endorsement for Auditor to tomorrow.  Basically the reasoning being that there are some Congressional Districts that have to drive a great distance and they are not well represented right now.

8:33 – Motion failed…by a huge margin.  From the debate on the floor, clearly one of the campaigns took stock of what the credentials report told them and knew they were in trouble and tried to change things to buy themselves time to get more of their supporters here.  From our conversation with Pat Anderson earlier I think it\’s safe to say it\’s not her campaign.

8:40 – Nominating Committee is reporting one candidate for Secretary of State, Dan Severson.

8:41 – And the Dan Severson horde takes the stage….we\’re gonna need a bigger stage.

Um is \”Danger Zone\” really the best campaign song???

8:43 – Uh, never mind, I just learned he\’s a former Navy Pilot….nevermind, it makes sense now.  My bad.  In fact the slideshow behind him while he\’s talking includes pictures of F-14s and such.  Cool.

8: 54 – Dan Severson has been endorsed for Secretary of State.

8:58 – Nominating Committee reports here is one candidate for Attorney General, Chris Barden.  His gang is up on stage now.

9:14 – Chris Barden has been endorsed for Attorney General

9:16 – Okay now we\’re getting ready for the endorsement for State Auditor.  There are four candidates, Pat Anderson, Tom Conlon, Randy Gilbert and Jeff Wiita.  That will be the speaking order.

Motion to endorse for Auditor passed so this will happen tonite, latecomers be damned.

9:18 – Pat Anderson\’s presentation is on…a video presentation, instead of speeches.

9:28 – Pat is done speaking….a little lackluster compared to her usual self.

9:29 – Tom Conlon is up and speaking

9:38 – Wow….Conlon in his speech just withdrew from the race and endorsed Pat Anderson.  It took him this long to get to it so it took everyone by surprise.

9:40 – Randy Gilbert\’s team is up.

9:50 – And finally Wiita is up….he\’s not a real good public speaker.  If he\’s smart he\’ll have his daughter do his speech for him.  I have no idea how old she is but when she gets older she\’s one to keep an eye on because she has a natural ability for public speaking.  Of course, that\’s assuming she\’s not just interested in this because her dad is running.

9:54 – He did not…he\’s speaking

10:00 – Okay we\’re preparing to beginning balloting instructions.  I really wouldn\’t expect this to take too many ballots.  It\’s basically Anderson vs Gilbert.  I\’m expecting high single digits for Wiita.  Then mid-30s for Gilbert, with the balance going to Anderson.  Then Anderson will take it on the second ballot.

10:06 – I forgot to mention….Luke Hellier of MDE is sitting nearby me here in the press area.  He\’s live-blogging as well.  Got to catch up on the latest gossip through him as well.

Derek Brigham stopped by to chat as well, and he\’s got some minor scandal about the resolutions committee that I\’ll share soon.

10:38 – Beginning discussion of resolutions. So, onto the gossip… Basically a lot of people have complaints about how God awful the current platform is….it\’s approximately 7584 pages long and half of it contradicts the other half.  It\’s absolutely impossible to \”support the platform\” unless you have some major mental issues.

So in answer to that, weeks ago CD3 unanimously passed a document that sought to be an alternative to the standing platform.  Mitch posted about it here and here….the first link including a preliminary version of the writeup.  All they wanted was to present it as a marketing tool.  There was a huge debate in the resolutions committee….which was finally settled when one of the people supporting it accidentally cast a ballot the wrong way.  As a result it won\’t actually be presented to the delegates, but there will be an effort from the floor to try to present it.

10:57 – We\’re working on resolutions….this is the part of conventions I hate.  It used to be so exciting when I was new, after all I was helping to write the GOP platform!!  And then I lost my innocence and realised none of it really matters.  As I said it\’s impossible to support the platform.  And it\’s horrendously long so nobody actually reads it.  The only use it has is for DFLers to use against our candidates.  Time to delete and start over….with basic broad principles we can all agree with, rather than getting bogged down in the weeds of policy.

11:03 – A motion to do what I just said, was just made from the floor (not by me!).  Basically to delete the platform and write a set of principles we can all agree with.  It was ruled out of order at this time since we\’re discussing changes to the platform.  Later we\’ll have the chance to vote up or down the entire platform.

11:15 – Thirty-seven minutes later, we just adopted Section 1….dear Lord have mercy on us…

11:21 – Another motion to delete the platform and just kept the planks of principle.

11:22 – There was just a motion that people are having too much fun socializing and visiting and discussing issues, so that we should table further discussion of the platform till tomorrow.  Basically that we\’re to adjourn to social/happy hour.

And the motion passed.

11:24 – We have the results for the first ballot for auditor and there will be a need for another ballot

Anderson – 860 (47.9%)
Gilbert – 598 (34.3%)
Wiita – 327 (18.2%)
Conlon – 5 (o.3)

1078 (60%) is needed for endorsement, so we\’re going to a second ballot.  By the rules Conlon, and only Conlon is dropped from consideration since he did not get 5%.  This is roughly what I expected the first ballot to be so I\’m not hugely surprised although Wiita apparently has more support than I thought.

11:28 – It occurs to me that we\’re in for more than a second ballot.  Basically Anderson is the clear leader.  However, Wiita if he drops out, will likely throw his support to Gilbert.  Even if all Wiita\’s votes follow him to Gilbert, it\’s not enough to put Gilbert over the edge.  So regardless, this comes down to either Anderson or Gilbert trying to convince the others supporters to swing their vote to them.

This could very well go beyond three ballots now that we\’re in this situation.

11:32 – We just had a motion to adjourn.  Seriously???  After one ballot?? If you\’re wussing out now, what are you going to do tomorrow when we\’re arguing over endorsement for Governor all day long???  Buck up buttercup., it\’s not even midnight.

12:24 – Ok we have the results of the second ballot and we\’re going to a third ballot.  1032 was the needed number of votes to get 60%.  Here are the results

Anderson – 900 (56.5%)
Gilbert – 600 (34.9%)
Wiita – 140 (8.1%)
Blank – 117 (There were only 36 last time)

So we\’re still short of 60% of endorsement.  Basically both Anderson and Gilbert kept their votes.  Wiita dropped almost a couple hundred, but most of them kept their ballots blank.  Had they just voted we\’d be done.

12:28 – There was a motion to recess, because the speaker didn\’t think there were enough people in the hall to achieve the 60% (which still requires at least 50% of the original strength).  That motion failed.

12:30 – We\’ll get it on the third ballot I\’m pretty sure.

12:57 – Someone (couldn\’t catch the name) is celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary with us here. Wow.  Congrats but I could think of much better things to be doing for a wedding anniversary.

1:01 – Yet another wedding anniversary being celebrated here.

1:02 – State Party is asking all delegates to bring non-perishable food items in for their food drive.

1:03 – Yet a third wedding anniversary being celebrated here….WTF?

1:08 – Wow….now we\’re singing Happy Birthday to one of the delegates.  The convention is starting to get a little goofy.

1:10 – Oh I forgot to mention, I ran into Andrew Rothman, a very highly regarded carry permit instructor, here at the convention.  He\’s open carrying, which I was very glad to see, but as far as I am aware he is the only one open carrying.  I briefly considered it since concealing in dress clothes can be a pain but ultimately sitting back in the press area that would just cause more problems.  So it\’s loosely concealed under a light jacket.

But I highly recommend that anyone considering getting their permit contact Andrew.  He\’s an excellent instructor, look him up.

1:20 – Randy Gilbert is addressing the convention to concede and is endorsing Pat Anderson.

1:22 – Motion to endorse Pat Anderson, which passed.

1:24 – Motion to adjourn until 9 AM, which passed.

See ya tomorrow!

Last weekend, the DFL got together to decide which of a whole slate of tax-raising high-spending liberals they were going to run for Governor of Minnesota.  After beginning with a formal objection to saying the Pledge of Allegiance, they finally got down to business and eventually picked Margaret Anderson-Kelliher, who now gets to face a bunch of other rich fatcats in the DFL primary.  Now this weekend the MN Republican Party will gather to pick who they want to run against whomever the DFL finally decides to run, although realistically the choice comes down to Tom Emmer or Marty Seifert.

I haven\’t been real open on my choice, because….well, I\’m just this guy, who happens to have a single vote, which I intend to cast for Tom Emmer when it comes time.  To be fair, for the most part I think both candidates are damn near the same, and the decision large comes down to personality preferences.  So regardless of who wins I have no problem supporting them.  To be quite honest, at this point I barely even care, I just want the darn thing to be over with….if for no other reason than it means I can finally plug my phone back in and my email spam should drop by a third at least.

What does peak my interest about this content however, is that both candidates have recently made what I consider real boneheaded unforced mistakes in their campaigns which doesn\’t reflect overly well on their political instincts.  Each mistake stemmed from two separate attacks by the Seifert campaign on Tom Emmer.  We\’ll start with the most recent.

DUI

Seifert sent out a letter from a GOP delegate, Sandra Berg, attacking Emmer for basically having gotten a DUI 20 and 30 years ago.  First of all, we live in a post-shame world…and with 10% of the Minnesota population having gotten a DUI at some point, even if he got it yesterday it\’s hardly a career-ending fault.  But what most people are going to hear is 20 and 30….as in the number of years ago that he got that.  Let\’s put a frame of reference on that….at that time of the first one, I was a zygote.  For many that was a full home mortgage ago.  People spend less time than that in jail for first-degree murder.  The Voyager spacecraft spent less time traversing the entire solar system.  Point being, it\’s a long time.

Of course it wasn\’t just that, that the Seifert camp was attacking Emmer for.  They were also attacking him for introducing legislation seeking to change laws regarding DUIs.  The first that those SOME of those accused (not yet convicted) of DUI can keep their license.  And the other that if you behave yourself for 10 years, it\’s taken off your public record.  Those are hardly earth-shattering concepts and for those of you supporting the concepts of due-process and innocence until proven guilty are inclined to support.  Plus he did this 18 full years after his most recent conviction.  At that point it\’s doubtful he did it for himself.  Besides, which the public has such a low opinion of politicians as it is, that even if they did care, it\’s likely to fall into the \”politicians doing what politicians do\” category.

So it\’s an attack on an issue that the public has little interest in and which by any stretch is ancient history….which ends up making Seifert himself looking petty and cheap.   Having to attack your opponent over what amounts to nothing is pretty amateur.  And due to the timing of it, it was certainly intended to be an \”October Surprise\”….but it happened far too early to work as such, but happened far too late for it to develop into anything more than just a cheap smear.  An unprovoked boneheaded move by the Seifert camp….not encouraging.

Taxes

This got less publicity which is probably good for Emmer as politically it looks he bungled a softball toss.  The Taxpayer\’s League of Minnesota has a pledge they ask politicians to sign promising not to raise taxes.  Short, simple, it plays well.  Seifert signed it, Tom did not.  What? Why? Well if I understand his reasoning, is basically that Pawlenty signed it and then every time he made a principled stand on taxes, people just ignored it as due to his pledge.  Basically that promises to special interests, even ones he agreed with, got in the way of effectively governing on principles.  Okay fine, I can respect that, but the problem is that Emmer takes 2:06 minutes to explain that position….guess what, the public tuned out about 2:04 minutes ago….all they heard is \”Seifert is against taxes, Emmer isn\’t\”.  When it takes you a long time to explain something, you\’re losing the public debate.

Moreover, Emmer has claimed he won\’t sign pledges, even though he eventually did…..and in the past he has as well.  And then to counter-attack his opponent by claiming that Seifert has broken his pledges not to raise taxes….by voting for a bill that was both majorly pro-life and raised taxes….and that Emmer skipped voting on that bill entirely.

In the end he could have just signed the damn pledge like he has in the past and eventually did and the whole issue disappears.  Instead he picked a very murky bog as his hill to die upon and bungled what should have been an easy softball toss, and gave Seifert an opening to make an effective attack, especially considering the political climate.  An unprovoked boneheaded move by the Emmer camp….not encouraging.

The right often makes fun of Obama\’s administration as \”Amateur Hour in the White House\”, and rightly so.  So it\’s a little discouraging to see these moves by two veteran GOP candidates for Governor.  Both are far too experienced to still be making what should have been fairly obvious mistakes.  Let\’s hope that after Saturday, whomever wins this contests leaves the boneheaded mistakes to the Democrats, they\’re far more adept at it.

[Crossposted at True North]

Yeah, you might have noticed we were offline for most of the weekend and part of yesterday.  Turns out some hackers from Malaysia decided to try to take over my server.  Took a little bit of effort but I think I finally got everything squared away.

As a result I\’m a little busy with that and no bloggy time…I had hoped to put up a commentary on the Emmer vs Seifert battle but that\’ll have to wait for tomorrow.

Remember VH1\’s Pop-Up video?  Where little bits of trivia would pop up during a music video….for those of you younger folk, at one point Music Television (MTV) and Video Hits 1 (VH1) actually played music videos at one point in their history.

Anyway Pop-Up Video is back! And in such an amusing new format.  I\’m with the boys over at HotAir, this should most certainly be required for all political speeches from this point forward.

STEELE!!! SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!

Why should an African-American vote Republican?

\”You really don\’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven\’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True,\” Republican National Chairman Michael Steele told 200 DePaul University students Tuesday night.

Seriously, why do we still let him talk? He\’s worse than Biden.

Shut up and stick to fundraising.  If all you can do as the RNC Chair is to trash Republicans, you are hereby forbidden to come within 500 feet of a microphone.

Despite being labeled the \”immigration guy\” around the local blogosphere, I\’ve been purposely ignoring this issue, because quite honestly this issue just doesn\’t have legs….not for at LEAST a year, probably longer.  Despite all their protestations otherwise, there is no possible way they are seriously tackling the immigration issue before November, and if November turns out like we all think it will, probably not for at least two years after that.

But regardless, the Democrats need to pander and I\’m enough of a political hack I can respect that, even if it is disingenuous.  But perhaps one of the most talked about aspects of this issue is the new position of John McCain

But on Monday, McCain was talking only about enforcement: \”The lesson is clear: First we have to secure the border,\” McCain said.  \”If you want to enact some other reforms, how can that be effective when you have a porous border?”

He\’s suddenly very pro border enforcement.  He\’s wanting to put National Guard on the border.  He\’s stopped the \”you\’re racist if you oppose amnesty\” talk.  So on and so on.  And it\’s very very easy to criticize McCain for flip-flopping just because he\’s facing a primary challenge, in fact it\’s my gut reaction.  But….and I can\’t believe I\’m doing this, I\’m actually going to defend McCain on immigration because…

…

Sorry, I had to vomit there for a little bit.

…

Ok, what was I saying? Oh yeah, defending McCain….be still my stomach.  I\’m afraid I have to give McCain the benefit of the doubt here.  He\’s dense and he\’s stubborn but even he has his limits, and conditions have changed drastically along our southern border.   So much so, that even McCain can no longer ignore it and the wishes of his constituents.  It\’s actually summed up pretty well in a recent letter to The Corner.

As someone who has lived in Tucson, AZ since 1972, I don\’t think you all back east understand how much things have changed down here in the last few years. This is not the same border we were protecting just a few years ago. The difference is the Mexican drug cartels and the war that is going on down there between them and the Mexican government and among themselves. Just last week, three of the cartels joined together to try to take out the Zetas, a sort of rogue group responsible for all sorts of horrible things. We have never had a rancher murdered before Mr. Krentz two weeks ago.

We\’re rapidly losing control down there, and there is very little stopping the cartel wars from spilling across the border and we start seeing non-corrupt police officers gunned down.  Our resources are stretched thin and there is very little on deck to help them out in the near future.  The Secure Border Initiative project by the Department of Homeland Security, to use technology instead of a proven fence to secure our borders was a craptastically miserable failure and has since been abandoned.  That means nothing new is coming online any time soon to help.

So I\’m not going to criticize McCain on finally coming around on this issue.  That said, his inability to see this coming years in advance demonstrates a horrifying lack of awareness and horrible judgment.  And his enthusiasm for demagoguery of his opponents on this very issue has earned him no good will.  So I would shed no tear if he was defeated for his seat, especially if it\’s taken by someone that didn\’t have to come around on this issue years too late to do anything about it.

Sorry, McCain, I\’m glad you\’ve finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but unfortunately that light is a train.

[Crossposted at True North]

In honor of Indentured Servitude Day

Another letter arrived from Mount Olympus…and this one is such a deviation from reality it\’s hard to even make fun of it.  It\’s like kicking a drunk quadriplegic or something.

Kevin –

Did you know that the average tax refund is up nearly 10% — about $3,000 — this year? And that there are more than a dozen Recovery Act tax cuts that over 100 million Americans can take advantage of this tax season?

See how much you could save thanks to the Recovery Act.

Together, in February 2009, we passed the Recovery Act — taking our economy from the brink of disaster to the road to recovery, and keeping President Obama\’s campaign promise of giving 95% of working Americans a tax cut.

Now, it\’s tax season, and there are more than a dozen ways the Recovery Act is helping folks save — credits for new homeowners, help with saving for college, and rewards for making your home more energy efficient.

After you find out how much you can save, make sure your family and friends can do the same by forwarding this email:

http://my.barackobama.com/TaxSavings

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

You hear that? We all got tax cuts?

Funny, I don\’t remember getting one…and what\’s more, even if you did, prepare to have it canceled out and then some.

Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes — in 2019 alone — due to healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress\’s official scorekeeper.

Even if you did cut taxes, it doesn\’t count if you promptly raise them even more later on.  Although that does fit a pattern with the Obama administration.  They tripled an already too-high federal deficit, then shaved a few million off and called that deficit reduction.

Ahh, been busy with stuff, so it\’s another edition of linky love….lots of stuff I find interesting, had some snarky comment about but never got around to writing about.  Enjoy.

And as many of you probably already knew, but some are just hearing about, I\’ve agreed to be Senator Gerlach\’s campaign manager for his re-election campaign.  Things promise to ramp up quickly, in fact, we already have some pretty ambitious goals in mind.  Now the job will definitely be lots of fun, and it\’s exciting to be paired with one of the better campaigners in Minnesota politics, but it\’s also a job I\’m determined to do well, and that takes time.  Out of necessity I may very well have to reduce or outright stop blogging for awhile, depending on how things go.  I\’ll play it by ear for now.

And now onto the linkiness….

Let\’s look at some of the items that Obama has made a big production of mulling over…and which order they took place in….1) White House dog 2) Reinforcing troops in Afghanistan 3) Nuclear Defense plans.  Interesting set of priorities there.

RNC raises $11 million but only $2 million of that makes it through Steele\’s hands into the RNC elections warchest.  By comparison, the DNC raised $13 million.  Keep in mind, that enthusiasm and momentum favor Republicans by far, yet the DNC claims victory in fundraising.  Can we get rid of Steele yet?

Black Tea Party members are attacked by opponents and called all sorts of racially charged names….yet it\’s the Tea Party that is racist??

White House has no idea how to create more jobs, but at least they\’re all over what the next new tax is going to be….Value Added Tax…the puns just write themselves at this point.

Scientists prove that parallel universes really exist…you realize what this means right?  Somewhere there is a parallel universe in which France hasn\’t surrendered….that\’s a little eerie isn\’t it?

Really, at this point, why would anyone ever even consider attending Duke??  According to new policies, the minute you enroll you\’re automatically officially guilty of rape.  You\’d think the school that\’s still wiping egg off it\’s face from the lacrosse rape hoax would be smarter than this.

Pot. Kettle.  MN AG Lori Swanson defended federalism when Bush was in office, now when Obama is in office she attacks it….on exactly the same issue.

I\’ve gone relatively easy on Lori Swanson, because when it comes to Second Amendment rights she has acted very favorably here in MN.  A Democrat whose pro-firearm is rare enough, it\’s worth encouraging.  But on an issue like this, one can\’t really bite their tongue.

Someone finally runs the iPad through the most critical test for any new technological toy…can it be used in the bathroom.  The iPad fails.

Reid has supposedly promised Spector chairmanship of the Judiciary committee.  Well sure, that\’s an easy promise to make, because if either of them gets re-elected it probably means hell froze over and who is chair of the Judiciary committee is probably the last of anyone\’s worries.

I preferred it more when the world was scared of the US because our President was a cowboy, rather than today when the world is mocking the US by jokingly referring to our President as a \”cowboy\”.

Ten inconvenient truths about ObamaCare….wow this bill sounds better and better the more I read.

In this day of deficit spending, you hear a lot of people complaining about public sector employees and their pay/benefits on the taxpayer dime.  Predictably you\’ll then have public sector employees claim they aren\’t paid near as much as the private sector…have pity.  Well, consider that myth blown.

Shocker news of the day : Tea Party activists more in tune with reality than members of Congress.

Scientists discover a giant lizard with two penises (or would that be penii??).  Lizard announces plans to return to golf shortly.

Napolitano says those full body scanners are okay because they don\’t see everything….well that\’s a ringing endorsement for a device meant to find hidden items.

Heh, good news for us, bad news for all global warming kooks.  The gulf stream is not slowing down.  Perhaps it just looks like is was slowing down relative to the rate of bullshit coming out of Al Gore\’s mouth??

History Channel recently showed a special entitled \”The Real Face of Jesus\”…basically the image on the Shroud of Turin is a 2-D representation of a 3-D face…and it\’s not a perfect 2-D image because it wasn\’t tight against the face it laid upon.  So they did a big production trying to interpret what a 3-D view of the face that caused the image of the Shroud of Turin looked like.  One of the things they learned is that the face looks longer and older on the cloth than it does in real life. Really was a spectacular special to watch….end result is a face that looked sort of like the traditional image of Jesus but not quite….looked like a quite normal, albeit definitely Jewish, face.  Very interesting.

The ULTIMATE debunking of the Tea Party crowd as a hate-mongering rabid bunch of crazies….what was Letterman thinking?

Someone actually chronicled the worst Biden gaffes….the enormity of that task is mind-boggling….I would have that they would tackle something easier, like world peace, or the meaning of life, or finding extraterrestrial life.

An equally daunting task it chronicling all Obama\’s expired campaign promises.

Liberals want to cry about supposed hatred and threats of violence coming from the Tea Party crowd.  Fact is the liberals have been endorsing hatred and real violence for all eight years of President Bush.

Half of US households don\’t pay income taxes….but their vote counts the same as yours.

A device which allows you to \”feel\” physical sensations in internet conversations…yeah, you know exactly where this is going.

Poor Democrats…their favorables have hit an all-time low.

The difference between nerd, dork, dweeb and geek explained via venn diagram.  You\’re welcome

A cure for skin cancer??? More of this please!!

Two-Thirds of Americans think we are overtaxed….in other news, one-third of Americans are masochists.

Those that want to see ObamaCare repealed has risen to 58%.  Pelosi, Reid and Obama claimed the public would love it once they passed it….instead it\’s getting more unpopular the more the public finds out about it.