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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Minnesota politics: Neither of the legislative district special elections flipped party affiliation. Chris Coleman "suspends" his campaign for Governor.

PiPress and Strib have coverage. Search the web if you care. The Coleman decision is interesting; PiPress quoting:

“The 2018 DFL field for governor is very strong,” Coleman said. “As the candidates continue to campaign, I encourage each of you to stay true to our shared progressive values: good jobs for working families, universal healthcare and a retirement that we can all depend on.”

“We have an opportunity in 2018 to establish a DFL majority in the state Legislature and elect a governor who will continue to advance the cause of progress for all Minnesotans.”

Those are soft wording of issues, which might explain Coleman's not firing up compelling voter interest. Not saying "Single Payer" nor "Healthcare as a right" is mush. Indeed, "Cradle to Grave Federal Government Provided Healthcare as a Right financed by fairly taxing wealth and income of the rich," might be the most unequivocal way to say it; and, why equivocate? It's not motivational to equivocate when others in the running are less prone to try a please-all straddle. Progressives need to be given a reason to show up at polling places in November; equivocation not helping with that goal.

A caveat is that Huey Long got shot dead while running on a theme of "Share the Wealth," so perhaps there may even in our time be cause to equivocate.