Would a split conservative vote in November create a pick-up opportunity for the DFL? November is a long way away but the prospect of a brutal primary and conservative alternative may cause Tom Emmer to experience a 2010-esque defeat all over again.
Emmer lost to Governor Mark Dayton by under 9000 votes, in part because Horner drew moderate Republicans from the Emmer ticket. Is Krinkie spoiling for another Emmer defeat?
Viewpoints do differ. SC Times reported:
Anoka County Board Chairwoman Rhonda Sivarajah will take her congressional campaign to a primary election, she announced Wednesday in an interview with the Times.
The 6th District seat is being vacated by Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is serving her fifth term. Republicans are set to endorse a successor Saturday in Monticello.
The other GOP candidate in the 6th District, former state Rep. Phil Krinkie, said Wednesday that he won't attend Saturday's convention or seek the endorsement. Krinkie also said for the first time that he's mulling a third-party run but said a Republican primary remains his most likely path.
Both Sivarajah and Krinkie long have left open the possibility of running in a primary. Only Emmer has said he'll abide by the GOP endorsement.
Sivarajah still intends to seek the endorsement Saturday, but said she expects Republican delegates to endorse Emmer on the first ballot.
[...] Sivarajah said she wanted to announce her primary plans before the convention so delegates wouldn't be taken off-guard.
"I really believe that the voters in the district deserve a choice," Sivarajah said. "I believe that the voters will want someone that has a record of real accomplishment, rather than rhetoric."
Emmer, by implication, is long on rhetoric, short on accomplishment - something where it appears Sivarajah's judgment is spot on, not questionable at all.
With the DFL having an endorsement contest over Secretary of State between Steve Simon and Debra Hilstrom, where each is expected to abide by the endorsement; and the Sixth District endorsement contested between Jim Read and Joe Perske as active candidates (is Judy Adams still drawing breath); a question is whether any unendorsed DFLer will cause a primary. If there is none, or if Hilstrom and Simon go to a primary where either is a fine choice, the DFL leaning voters are free to cross-over and look to the GOP primary ballot side. Fun, no?
A parting thought on a GOP CD6 primary; here's hoping it costs Stanley Hubbard a bundle. If Emmer's his bet in the horserace, let him pay to play.
Hubbard's pocket is deep enough, so how exactly will that factor into things?
Best seat in Congress money can buy?
Emmer? Sure 100% name recognition, but the same can be said for Warren G. Harding, or Vlad Dracula.
Replace an ineffective blow-hard CD6 Rep. with ------- Emmer?
GOP folks. Please don't.
Do better. Reach higher. Sure, it's all among low hanging fruit; appropriate in terms of where Mark Kennedy and Michele Bachmann set the performance measure. But ...
UPDATE: Readers are strongly urged to read each of the three linked items (see the opening paragraph).
Gary's post even has an impressive comment thread. At least one comment there looks out of lockstep, as to Emmerism/Hubbardism destined to carry the day. Have a look. Actually, a range of opinions is expressed, and the notion that a handful turnout of preprogrammed zealots at caucusing will prove decisive in August, even that is questioned within Gary's comment thread. From Gary's own main statement and comments one can infer he'd prefer to not have his boat to be rocked. Don't Rock My Boat, as an Emmer/Hubbard et al. campaign song?