Longing for Mike Ciresi?

I understand the main criticisms against Franken, but what First Read’s problem with Martin in GA? Initially people thought his grassroots wouldn’t be strong enough but most of what I heard was that he did a solid job in a state whose statewide Dem resources had falled into disarray. I don’t think the counter factual that Josh Lanier would have automatically been a stronger candidacy – any GA readers shed light on this one?

Of course, if the majority of Georgians decide that a candidate constructing some imaginary debate about the technical definition of a recession DOESN’T automatically disqualify them for public office well, I’m not sure who could have won the seat.

or how about JACK NELSON-PALLMEYER???

WE HAVE MORE TO DO:

Democrat Jim Martin is in a runoff against Bush Republican Saxby Chambliss for the Senate seat from Georgia. Bush’s Saxby Chambliss voted against spending a few measly dollars to provide health care coverage for Georgia, and Americas needy children. But he supported wasting hundreds of billions of your dollars, and the life BLOOD of Americas finest on an unnecessary war in Iraq.

At a time when 47 million of you have no health insurance coverage, and over 100 million of you with insurance are just one major illness away from complete financial destruction. Bush and Saxby Chambliss voted to make the heart break of bankruptcy relief even harder for all of you to use.

You see, Bush and Saxby Chambliss, and his family don’t have to worry about their health care coverage. They have the finest health care coverage your tax money can buy for them. Courtesy of you. The American Tax payer. In fact, no one but the super rich can afford the health care coverage you the tax payer provide for Saxby Chambliss, and his family for FREE! with your tax dollars.

He supposedly works for you. But he doesn’t think you and your family should have access to the type of taxpayer supported FREE health care that you provide for him, and his loved ones for FREE!. Doesn’t that just make you BURRING MAD!

Vote for JIM MARTIN for US senator from Georgia. Vote for JIM Martin who will be on your side. Vote for JIM MARTIN who will work with President Obama and a majority congress for you. Vote for JIM MARTIN most of all for your-self, your family’s, friends, and loved ones. Vote for JIM MARTIN for a better America, and a better World.

Don’t let Saxby Chambliss make a chump out of you by tricking you into voting against your own best interest. Saxby chambliss is NOT! on your side. He’s not one of you. He is on George Bush’s side. And we all know what a catastrophe the Bush Chambliss administration has been the past 8 years.

Contact all your family and friends and do every thing you can to see to it that JIM MARTIN and GEORGIANS! take that senate seat back for Georgia, and America. No matter where you live in America. This is important to you. President Obama will need all the help, and power you can give him to try and fix this catastrophic mess that the Corrupt Bush Chambliss administration has created.

As I said before you will have to vote in overwhelming numbers to overcome the Bush Chambliss “Let Them Eat Cake” vote fraud machine. Vote early if you can. Then help everyone you can get to the polls and vote for JIM MARTIN. You and your loved ones don’t have to be Saxby Chambliss’s victims anymore.

I know you will get it done. Just like you did for President Obama.

God bless all of you

jacksmith – WORKING CLASS…

Considering how early Mike Ciresi dropped out during the convention process, and why – the fact that he was taking third place in the number of delegates that he was getting, the title of this post should have been Longing for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer? Jack is much more of a progressive and clearly would represent the people of the state unlike Ciresi who leaned heavily toward the corporate side of issues and vote toward the failed DLC policies that helped to this state and country to condition that we are in now.

@Kai — 100% agreement! JNP would have been a much stronger candidate. The debacle of the Rochester convention, where DFL insiders shot themselves in the ___ (fill in the blank) again as they pandered to the idol named “celebrity,” is the reason I no longer consider myself a Democrat. And an I-told-you-so to everyone who thought Obama was going to be a progressive change agent.

Ciresi was the only candidate in the Senate race on the DFL side that had policy positions that made any sense coupled with real life experience proving the ability to deliver. He certainly was not on the ‘corporate side’ on the issues any more than JNP would have been in reality. Ciresi is simply pragmatic. He won’t promise you the moon that’s all. Obama is pragmatic as well. It does require an understanding of how the system works to be an effective Senator. Both JNP and Franken’s policy positions were unintelligble for people who took and understood a basic high school civics class. However it is all over. The moral of the story is that the DFL endorsement is fatally flawed. It is a handful of voters making a decision for the rest of the state. Most people who vote democrat and consider themselves democrat have no idea about the endorsement process. Whether it was Franken’s celebrity, Ciresi’s campaign organization, JNP’s I don’t know what we don’t know. The moral of the story fundamentally is the disgusting amount of money spent in this race. The ugly nature of the advertisements and where things currently stand. Ciresi could have won by five points with very little campaign organization and a few good tv ads frankly. That much is a fact. There were many Obama supporters that could not support Franken. There was no way to move them even with solid persuasion and face to face contact. Its a shame that the endorsement process is able to be such a clear example of lemmings off of a cliff. Move the endorsement up a month or two and put the primary six weeks behind no later than June 15. That is my suggestion. Sorry if I offended anyone. This is my opinion and I am more than willing to go to bat for it. JNP is a great guy. I don’t think he is a great candidate or realistic. Franken I voted for and campaigned for. Thats about all I can say there. Not a good candidate either. He will be a vote to help avoid Filibusters.

Thank you good night and good luck.

Haha, yeah, JNP DEFINITELY represented the state. Or the 5th district, whatever. And he voted with DLC policies? Funny, I don’t remember ever having seen him in office. Well, it was probably at the same time he was supporting corporate issues, whatever the hell that means.

Do you people seriously think JNP would have gotten the support of a single person in CDs 1, 2, 6, 7, or 8? You should throw him up in a CD5 primary where he belongs, not in a statewide race. Have you ever even been to rural Minnesota?

Agreed that the endorsement process is a failure. Disagree about everything else you say.

“Both JNP and Franken’s policy positions were unintelligble for people who took and understood a basic high school civics class.”

Well said.

If Franken wins, the DFL will look ingenious for picking him, and many critics will pretend they were behind him all the way. Win by one vote, you ran a brilliant campaign. Lose by one, get out the firing squad.

Ummm no, Read the article this is electoral history in MN to if Franken wins blah blah. Both in Senators losing in pres winning years as well as the incredible amount of money spent. I do agree that people will forget and celebrate and all that. However the taxpayers and other organizations that are spending tons of time on the recount could be focusing on something that mattered.

Yeah, DFL tossed away plenty of elections. Running Larry, Curly and Moe for gov instead
of the many Klobechar type lady candidates that would have waltzed away with landslides.

So now we are stuck with Frankenstein, but hey, just get the spoiled 4% (criminal spoilage by the way) of the absentee ballots counted and Franky will take it by the skin of his fore.

Not counting 4% of the absentee ballots is a huge hole in the elections and must be corrected
by rules and legislation for future elections. Do they toss 4% in WA and the mail in ballot?
The absentee ballot procedures have serious problems, it creates a large pool of ballots
that can be manipulated by capricious decisions, (ooo, I don’t like the look of that signature…),
and the increase of absentee ballots to 10% of ballots cast is too large a problem to be
ignored. I know the Sec of State office reads this stuff, so get this problem fixed.

JNP is a nice guy, and he did improve during the campaign for endorsement. He went from a complete unknown who couldn’t make a cohenrent speech to save his life to a complete unknown outside of the party insiders who could rattle off one heartwarming story about his high school football career followed by a string of populist hot buttons. JNP is a nice guy, a very bright guy, a true populist, a believer who would have worked hard for a liberal agenda, and could not under any circumstances have won a general election statewide. That is why he didn’t get the endorsement, not because of some back room deal making. He wasn’t the spirit of Paul Wellstone reincarnated, much as he and his supporters tried to paint him as such.

Franken is a good public speaker, a very smart guy, and has clearly been able to pull together the money for a serious run. If he is elected he will work with the new adminstration. His policy papers and statements show that he is also a dyed in the wool liberal. The positioin differences between Franken and JNP seem trivial compared to where Coleman’s record puts Coleman. The DFL convention was an exercise in prgmatism vs. philosophical purity. It usually is. What was unusual is that this year pragmatism won.

You can debate forever why Mike Ciresi did so poorly early on, whether it was the wrong year, his past with the party, or a bias against anyone who actually knew a corporate CEO. What is obvious is that Ciresi would have been a far stronger candidate in a statewide race than JNP ever could have. Ciresi was the second DFL candidate for endorsement who had a chance of bringing together the money it was going to take to run against Coleman. He was already a good public speaker, not a novice learning his way around the podium. He had a solid record he could point to on events which the public would recognize and remember. He had coherent and complete statements on policy issues. And lastly, he was known to all of the DFL party faithful who needed to actively support the endorsed candidate. A major part of what hurt Franken’s candidacy was the opposition he received from too many within the DFL itself, particularly pouting JNP supporters.

The bottom line is that the DFL would have preferred any one of the three to Coleman. JNP could not have won, and we may find out that Franken did not win, but Mike Ciresi definitely could have been a strong candidate, and likely stronger than Franken in the end. Should Franken end up losing, I hope that Ciresi still has one more run in him. Whether Ciresi can muster enough faith in the DFL to try again, and the DFL can get pragmatic enough to endorse him would be a long shot, but one can always hope.

I agree with Gardog. JNP was a decent person but there is no way he would have done better in the general than Franken. Had JNP beaten Franken in the endorsement, Coleman would have been called the winner shortly after the polls closed.

Ciresi was the best choice, but failed because he has common sense and an incredible record. The two criticisms I remember most from my SD convention were a) he’s a weathly lawyer and b) he’s too conservative. While he is wealthy (based on his personal finance disclosure), it is because of his commitment to fighting for the common good that put him there. He made history with his case against the tobacco industry and our state benefits every year from his courage and capabilities. It down right infuriating when I’d hear someone talk about how great Obama was and then turn around and disparage Ciresi for being a lawyer (Obama is a lawyer, too).

He certainly isn’t conservative, either. I saw Mr. Ciresi speak at a GLBT rally, one of the candidate debates, and at the state fair in 2007 and I can’t believe people didn’t see what I saw. A smart, pragmatic leader who would not just be a Democrat in the Senate, but a truly amazing law maker. He had excellent positions on health-care, education, taxes, the economy, GLBT rights, etc. but people chose to disregard it. At my SD convention, for example, one of the largest sub-caucuses was Franken-Universal Health Care, which was a joke to anyone paying attention.

I doubt Ciresi will run for the Senate again, but if he does, I’ll be his strongest supporter. Let’s hope that DFL activists learn something from this disaster and don’t pick a candidate based on their celebrity or irrational policy positions ever again. Better yet: EARLY PRIMARY!