Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Minn Independent reports - Aubrey Immelman will be a GOP primary challenger to Michele Bachmann. Immelman is intelligent and not a huckster. In today's Minnesota GOP that will weigh against his effort.



This link.

Luke Hellier dislikes or questions Immelman because of his friendship and respect for Patty Wetterling and their mutual concern for child abduction issues. E.g., this link. Hellier does not explain the underlying situation, which is well known and not cause for anyone but one with a RINO hunter mentality to show a conditioned reflex of dislike or distrust of Immelman's politics, because he shares a social concern over disruptive and bad things in the community with a Democrat.

Get a life, Luke.

Taking Immelman seriously becuase of his capabilities relative to Michele Bachmann is the kind of thing that could resurrect the GOP as something beyond moribund and out of touch, but it seemingly does not mix well with rank and file Koolaid.

Best wishes to Aubrey Immelman. May you win the primary. Defeat the 58 year old Valley Girl of hate, please. You, Aubrey Immelman, are correct in being troubled by extremism and rabble rousing rhetoric - which you analyze at length. Here and here, for example.

________UPDATE_______
In the comment the links did not register by Blogger as hot links. You can cut and paste each of them into the Browser address line, or toggle the same seven hotlinks given here in order, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Immelmen makes it a total of three well qualified candidates raising major party challenges to Bachmann. The IP will not be dabbling in cross endorsement this election, and Bob Anderson already has announced he will run IP again.

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________
I have introduced a new sidebar poll, open until 11:59 pm, Cinco de Mayo. It is on the open question Immelman left in announcing he would again run. He mentioned the GOP and running as an independent. That latter option means either an IP independent, or an unaffiliated independent.

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Believing Immelman's candidacy is interesting, I have changed the post date to coincide with the ending date of the sidebar poll so that it remains the first feature readers will encounter until Cinco de Mayo. As I enter other posts they will start below this item. Keeping it on top will make adding newer updates easier without the changes being buried in a stream of older posts.

With the DFL choices as outstanding as they are, Reed and Clark, in this election I likely would not vote for Immelman. But for those remaining in the GOP as moderates, all three of them besides Immelman, there is an option for them that does not entail voting DFL, leaving a blank ballot, or voting Bob Anderson in the IP.

While I supported Anderson's challenge last cycle to IP leadership's cross-endorsement tactic and know him to be a gentleman similar in basic character to Immelman, but with differing views, if Immelman runs IP then I honestly would favor him over Bob. But the IP will make its own endorsement choices and I would not in any event be voting in the IP or GOP primaries. As I have noted I would unequivocally vote for and endorse without doubts or concerns, the DFL primary winner be it Reed or Clark, as being both an excellent candidate and person, and a suitable, clearly superior replacement for Michele Bachmann.

If both Immelman and Anderson run IP it would be as with the DFL situation, either of two candidates with an appeal far superior to the flawed incumbent.

_________FURTHER UPDATE - Sat. Apr. 10, mid-day_________
Additional delayed mainstream media attention toward Immelman's candidacy:

MPR, here and here.

PiPress, here. This excerpt:

The field in the 6th District race is already crowded. State Sen. Tarryl Clark of St. Cloud has the DFL endorsement.

She has a primary challenger in Maureen Reed, a physician and former University of Minnesota board of regents member from Grant.

Bob Anderson of Woodbury so far is the only candidate for the Independence Party endorsement April 17.

Troy Freihammer of Sartell is running as an independent. Anderson ran in 2008, getting 10 percent of the general election vote.

Bachmann, who turned 54 Tuesday, is seeking a third term representing the district that includes Stearns, Benton, Sherburne, Wright, Anoka and Washington counties.

Immelman said he is not going to do news media interviews. He said he will leave that to Bachmann.

"I am a single-issue candidate. That is to defeat Michele Bachmann," Immelman said.

Unless Immelman files to run under one of the three major parties, he will have to gather 1,000 signatures to get his name on the ballot.

That has to happen between May 18 and June 1, the state filing period.

First, I cannot believe Bachmann is that young. She looks so haggard, I had her figured for 58, calling it 57 to give benefit of the doubt. Somebody has to be kidding, 54, for that one I am a birther. Show me the certified copy of a birth certificate, please.

Back to Immelman, the paragraph I italicized, if anyone signs or otherwise learns of a petition to run as an unaffiliated independent, please email me ASAP.

STRIB; we're still waiting. Not news to Strib, as was the Palin thing with Bachmann where they had Tiny Tim hanging onto the skirt hems.

____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Aubrey Immelman has left another comment about posting on his site a rebuttal to the MDE attack that Luke Hellier leveled against him as a GOP contributor backing Wetterling's earlier candidacy, and the comment filtering stripped his hotlink so that this UPDATE gives it -

http://www.immelman.us/news/fighting-to-protect-our-children/

An apology to the candidate and to readers, but comment spam has recently been rampant on Blogger sites, including posting comment links to malicious sites. To not let readers be burned by any such things, the valid links get stripped too. It's an editorial choice.

________FURTHER UPDATE - Friday, Apr. 16__________
My understanding is the IP endorsement process is happening this week or next for the MN 6 congressional contest, and that Immelman and Bob Anderson are seeking IP endorsement. If this proves to be the case and the IP announces an endorsement I shall post it.

________FURTHER UPDATE - Apr. 16, 2:00 pm___________
Well it is official, Minn Independent, reported:

Immelman told the Minnesota Independent on Friday that he’ll submit his name for consideration at the Independence Party convention on Saturday.

“I’ll have a clearer picture about my options to help defeat Bachmann after tomorrow’s 6th District Independence Party nominating convention, where I’ll be offering delegates a choice between myself and Bob Anderson.”

So far Minn. Independent has topped the daily print outlets in covering the Immelman story. The screenshot, below, is from their home page, as of the time of this posting.


Click the image to enlarge and read, or go to the link, again, here.

__________Thurs. Apr.22___________
Bob Anderson is the endorsed IP candidate. That was decided days ago, over the weekend. That IP result gives Immelman options of running for Congress in the Sixth District as an IP challenger to Anderson, a GOP challenger to Bachmann, or an entirely unaffiliated candidate unless he changes his mind about not considering running as a DFL candidate. Changing that is unlikely, but if he runs Immelman will be a ballot choice without an endorsement. I wonder what the politics within the IP convention were. I respect Bob Anderson's run last time against the cross endorsement of Tinklenberg and against the party, in effect, having within its leadership endorsed a lobbyist overly fond of the word "Oberstar" when soliciting transportation consulting business - at least as reported in various online local government minutes and web postings, as I read them. However, I believe the IP has chosen the weaker of two candidates. It surely is their choice, not mine, but I can judge it as I judged Bob Olson's and Elwyn Tinklenberg's contesting last cycle for the DFL endorsement to oppose Bachmann. Always an option, Immelman can decide as Bakk and Steve Kelley did, that the stars don't align properly this time. If he makes that choice it should not lessen the respect he earned by pursuing the directions he has taken over the last several years. Immelman is someone I respect and shall continue to respect, whatever course of action he takes between now and election day.

Finally, participation in the sidebar poll is disappointing. Although Anderson has been endorsed the options remain. Any reader who has not already thought it over and entered a choice should at least think it over.