Tinklenberg campaign chief has record of defeating GOP incumbents

I have said it on here before, and I will continue to say it as many times as needed. Elwin is a good and honorable man with a heart of gold.

He is by far the best qualified candidate to defeat the evil MB. Then once he gets to Washington, he can begin to erase the legacy of that embarrassment we currently have in office.

Maureen is an outstanding candidate. She is absolutely going after the endorsement and has a good chance of getting it, too. The one who stands no chance of getting the endorsement is Tinklenberg. Right now it’s a race between Clark and Reed. The 6th dist dems have been so disappointed with Tinklenberg who was forced down our throats as the “solution” for the district because he’s so conservative.

Well, a man who believes in outlawing legal abortion and supports an amendment to the federal constitution to ban gay marriage is not going to win a DFL endorsement over two progressive or at least left leaning candidates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elwyn_Tinklenberg#2006_campaign

Thanks for the nice piece.

As for MNBlue, thanks for pointing out to us that El’s Wiki page is wrong. In fact, El does NOT support overturning Roe v Wade, as has complained about by MCCL:
http://www.politicsinminnesota.com/2008/jul/21/mccl-sees-only-one-pro-lifer-cd6-race-and-its-not-tinklenberg

El in fact is where most people are on abortion: would like there to be far fewer abortions, but recognizes that criminalizing abortion doesn’t solve the problem of unwanted pregnancies, and in fact, just makes things worse. It’s a position espoused by many Democrats, especially Catholic elected officials, who have personal and religious positions on reproductive issues but do not impose those personal religious beliefs on others through punitive public policy.

For more, we have this, from his Stonewall DFL questionnaire last year:

>13. What would you do, if elected, to ensure that lesbian and bisexual women have access to a diversity of reproductive health options, including birth control, in-vitro fertilization, and abortion?

Access to reproductive health options is a threat to all women, regardless of sexual orientation. I believe that Roe v. Wade should be upheld and that any universal health care plan should include full access to responsible reproductive options and choices.<
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2008/01/elwyn-tinklenbergs-stonewall-dfl.html

Since these are statements that he himself made or issued, I think that should settle the matter for any fair-minded person, which I’m sure is the case with the vast majority of readers of the Minnesota Independent.

Thanks again.

Houle unfortunately also has a track record of setting fire to his candidates’ political contacts in their districts — he was driven from Hodes’ staff after a series of offenses, and became universally scorned by Democratic leaders in Himes’ district despite managing the ship for a scant six weeks.

That doesn’t mean he can’t get the job done, but fifteen months is a long time for this poisonous figure to serve as the campaign’s public face to allies and local Democratic leaders. Subtract 5% from Tinklenberg’s chances of making it to November for each month with Houle at the helm.

One of the candidates Houle helped defeat was Chris Shays – a moderate pro-choice, pro-gay republican in Connecticut. In my opinion, it is too bad Shays was defeated. I’m not sure about the other candidate. The Connecticut district is nothing like the 6th District. Also, Houle doesn’t appear to understand the MN endorsement/primary system. He needs to get up to speed on that. He stated that on ET’s recent diary on Daily Kos that ET wasn’t planning on running against the endorsed democrat after the primary. Well that’s true. Tinklenberg would not have the Joe Liebermann option of running after losing in the primary. Minnesota law prohibits that. He is planning on running for DFL endorsement, but then running in the primary should he lose the DFL endorsement. He has been criticized for the timing of this announcement – that it comes AFTER Tarryl Clark was rumored to be getting into the race.

Tinklenberg’s record is mixed. When he ran in 2006, he ran as a “pro-life”, support the Federal Marriage Amendment to take it off the table democrat. He later backed off that position after Patty Wetterling got in the race – and supported civil unions in an Almanac debate shortly before the DFL endorsement convention. In 2008, he ran as a “Blue Dog” (the Blue Dog caucus was his first proudly displayed endorsement) – but took the nuanced position Houle describes on abortion, and supporting civil unions. He also took the position of supporting repeal of DADT. In 2008, and in my recent interview, he said he would be willing to co-sponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (repealing DADT) should he get elected.

This year, he appears to have taken the line Al Franken and Tim Walz have taken – saying that he believes gays ought to have full equality in their relationships.

You’re right, I should have stated that he Believed and that he Supported. Past tense, he apparently no longer does.

This will come down to a two horse race with Reed and Clark. Tinklenberg is not in a position to get new voters this time around and has nowhere near the support that the other two candidates do. Considering last time he only gained votes because Bachmann was such a terrible representative, there’s no way he could gain any more in the upcoming election.

Reed has the ability to relate to some voters while Clark has the experience that could put her ahead. I hope Reed gets the endorsement, just because I think she has the most to offer the district compared to the others.

Elwyn Tinklenberg is the man most responsible for the collapse if the I35W bridge.

The headline reads: Tinklenberg campaign chief has record of defeating GOP incumbents. Tinklenberg himself, though, does not.

I appreciate that Mr. Houle came to Minnesota for the laudable goal of defeating Michelle Bachmann. But, he seems to have chosen the wrong horse. Tinklenberg has completely lost the support of a tight-knit group of 6th CD DFL activists. With Tarryl Clark now in the race, Tinklenberg will not be able to find any donors this year.

Prediction: Houle will be out of Minnesota by April of next year.

I second David’s comment. Tinklenberg had his shot, now it’s time to step aside. In addition to being politically accomplished and astute, Tarryl Clark has the charisma and ability to excite the base that Tinklenberg lacked. Bye bye, El.

David is correct about Tinklenberg’s loss of CD6 DFL activists. Too many were disappointed in his last campaign performance and his lack of taking the advantage after the Hardball ‘incident’. Houle will have national bloggers attention being that he a well known ‘Kossack’ and has the connections. As well he will be using the momentum gained from Bachmann’s Harball performance in 2008 since Daily Kos was a big reason Tinklenberg received the $1.5 million in contributions. Tarryl is by far the strongest candidate but will need to reach out to the blogger community nationally as well as locally if that hasn’t already been done. Starting diary on Daily Kos would be a good start.

Yet another Minnesota campaign being financed and run by the professional political and special interest class in Washington D.C.

Bob Anderson of the Independence Party will be the only candidate in the race that will own and operate an exclusively Minnesota campaign to present to the MINNESOTA voters.

And that will make a difference.

I am SO sick of the D.C money and elite coming in here and telling us how we should vote.

[...] As previously reported, Dana Houle is no stranger to beating Republicans.  According to Minnesota Independent: [...]