Senate Debate: DFLers, Mostly in Agreement, Find Contrast in the Details
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 8:32 am
- 4 Comments
Four DFLers seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman debated Tuesday evening before an audience of several hundred that filled the Roosevelt High School auditorium in South Minneapolis.
The four — comedian Al Franken, attorney Mike Ciresi, attorney Jim Cohen and Professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer — agreed in general on many issues while differing on important details.
Nelson-Pallmeyer, the newest entrant in the race, consistently drew the loudest applause and the sharpest contrasts with his opponents. Considering that the pattern started as soon as he was introduced, that obviously had something to do with who had the most supporters in the room.
He also took the leftmost position on almost every issue, and did it in a bastion of South Minneapolis liberalism where the audience agreed with Nelson-Pallmeyer:
4 Comments
Comment posted November 28, 2007 @ 10:17 am
Sorry I missed it… the debate, that is, but props for catching me up. This is the most comprehensive summary I’ve read on it so far.
I see more evidence that Ciresi is the darling of the DFL than is Franken – and if Ciresi wins the nomination, that will be the reason why. All of the political events I’ve attended over the past two years where Franken was present (not necessarily even speaking), it was clear that he was the darling of the people.
Nelson-Pallmeyer is a favorite among the far (far) left, but this could render him unelectable statewide.
Cohen is, indeed, passionate and he actually has some decent ideas but he lacks name recognition, which may or may not be a big factor. I wonder – did he happen to joke about his resemblance to Martin Scorsese last night?
Comment posted November 28, 2007 @ 11:28 am
JNP Besides the fact that he’s very well organized on getting his supporters out to events, I think one of the reasons there was so much support is because this was held in the 5th district, where JNP gave a really good showing in the congressional endorsement race.
Comment posted November 28, 2007 @ 4:17 am
Sorry I missed it… the debate, that is, but props for catching me up. This is the most comprehensive summary I've read on it so far.
I see more evidence that Ciresi is the darling of the DFL than is Franken – and if Ciresi wins the nomination, that will be the reason why. All of the political events I've attended over the past two years where Franken was present (not necessarily even speaking), it was clear that he was the darling of the people.
Nelson-Pallmeyer is a favorite among the far (far) left, but this could render him unelectable statewide.
Cohen is, indeed, passionate and he actually has some decent ideas but he lacks name recognition, which may or may not be a big factor. I wonder – did he happen to joke about his resemblance to Martin Scorsese last night?
Comment posted November 28, 2007 @ 5:28 am
JNP Besides the fact that he's very well organized on getting his supporters out to events, I think one of the reasons there was so much support is because this was held in the 5th district, where JNP gave a really good showing in the congressional endorsement race.
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