[Speed Gibson,
Monday July 17, 2006 at 10:20am]
Fifth District Primary
The "Almanac" panel featured the DFL candidates in the September primary: Keith Ellison (endorsed), Mike Erlandson, Ember Reichgott-Junge, and Paul Ostrow. Now I went in prefering "none of the above" and came out feeling the same way. FYI, I don't live in this District, and I'm certainly not a Democrat, even if I did vote for Paul Wellstone once.
I think the DFL is all but certain to retain this seat in November. If the race were at all close, I think the DFL would probably do best with Erlandson, not Ellison. But the fact remains that Ellison won the DFL endorsement fairly, even if it got a little nasty afterwords. I saw nothing from his challengers on "Almanac" to justify a change.
Erlandson came off as environmentally hysterical, as he did on "Taxpayers League Live" (TPL) recently. Reichgott-Junge stayed on the Mommy Track with her incoherent calls for Universal Health Care, again like TPL recently. Paul Ostow continues not to understand that as a City Council member, he is in fact causing the increase in Minneapolis crime with his foolish priorities. His answer? More gun laws, even ammunition laws. The man is clueless.
Ellison was actually great this time, parrying the scandal talk easily and effectively. And, he didn't play any race or religion cards. He wandered close to the edges of the extremism of the others, but no further. He looked like the class of the field.
Better DFL candidates could probably be found, but they're not running. Yes, Ellison has some baggage, but if there's an issue here, it's only the press's biased treatment of it. I see no reason for the DFL voters in this District not to support their endorsed candidate, Keith Ellison.
I think the DFL is all but certain to retain this seat in November. If the race were at all close, I think the DFL would probably do best with Erlandson, not Ellison. But the fact remains that Ellison won the DFL endorsement fairly, even if it got a little nasty afterwords. I saw nothing from his challengers on "Almanac" to justify a change.
Erlandson came off as environmentally hysterical, as he did on "Taxpayers League Live" (TPL) recently. Reichgott-Junge stayed on the Mommy Track with her incoherent calls for Universal Health Care, again like TPL recently. Paul Ostow continues not to understand that as a City Council member, he is in fact causing the increase in Minneapolis crime with his foolish priorities. His answer? More gun laws, even ammunition laws. The man is clueless.
Ellison was actually great this time, parrying the scandal talk easily and effectively. And, he didn't play any race or religion cards. He wandered close to the edges of the extremism of the others, but no further. He looked like the class of the field.
Better DFL candidates could probably be found, but they're not running. Yes, Ellison has some baggage, but if there's an issue here, it's only the press's biased treatment of it. I see no reason for the DFL voters in this District not to support their endorsed candidate, Keith Ellison.