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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tom Emmer? Come on. No, seriously, joking aside, who will the GOP offer? Tom Emmer?

While I have noted Mike Jungbauer, the State Senator from my district, is a GOP candidate for Governor, now there is reporting on Tom Emmer. Despite whatever fault I might find in Jungbauer, and I have been critical, I believe him sincere and most certainly he is more intelligent, thoughtful, accommodating, and capable than Emmer.

But does this currently reigning batch of GOP yahoos want any of that? That is the concern and the question. Suggesting they might not value such sagacious qualities, there is this:

If the major party endorsement battles in the 2010 gubernatorial race are looking a little like poker tournaments at this early date, it appears that state Rep. Tom Emmer is currently playing the hot hand on the Republican side.

The staunch conservative from Delano officially got into the race July 6. Going into the Oct. 3 straw poll at the GOP convention in St. Paul, he’s frequently mentioned as a favorite among the GOP activists who are likely to attend.

“He answers directly from his heart. He’s [for] very limited government. That resonates well with the delegates,” said Rick Weible, co-chairman of the 3rd Congressional District GOP, which encompasses Emmer’s House district.

Weible places Emmer at the top of the heap ahead of former state Auditor Pat Anderson and former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert.

“Tom Emmer will probably place first, and it will be a surprise first,” said Weible , who is an Emmer supporter.

Close to home, Emmer handily won the Senate District 32 GOP straw poll in Maple Grove earlier this month with 34 votes to Anderson’s 15 and Seifert’s nine. There were 17 “undecided” votes. This year’s state GOP convention is the next big stop.

Matthew Kirkpatrick, a young conservative activist who has attended several gubernatorial forums and will attend the convention, said he counts Emmer among the candidates likely to do well in the convention straw poll.

Kirkpatrick picks Emmer to do well at the convention because he has built a reputation as a fierce conservative. That ethos serves him well among supporters of 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, who built up a movement within the GOP that played out during last year’s convention in Rochester.

Kirkpatrick and Weible both highlighted the intense passion with which Emmer pushes his beliefs.

Somewhat incongruously, Fitzpatrick compared Emmer to DFL gubernatorial candidate and longtime state Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia. “Both Toms are very passionate about what they believe,” Kirkpatrick said.

Nobody on the other side of the aisle mistakes where Emmer is coming from politically. One House DFLer referred to Emmer privately as the “angry face of doctrinaire conservatism.” The same legislator, however, wasn’t seething with resentment: “He’s a very likable guy until you put a microphone in front of him.”


That's an excerpt, the article says more, but the excerpt captures the main idea of the item. Again, this link, if you want to read the entire thing.