Comments on: Tinklenberg campaign chief has record of defeating GOP incumbents

By: BREAKING NEWS: Dana Houle Named As Entenza’s Campaign Manager | Minnesota Political Blog - Change We Must Fight For

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:12:19 +0000

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

By: Bruce Anderson

Bruce Anderson — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:20:05 +0000

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.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:14:20 +0000

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.

By: Brix Smith

Brix Smith — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:28:29 +0000

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.

By: David

David — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:02:35 +0000

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.

By: Cybear

Cybear — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:43:31 +0000

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

By: UofMDem

UofMDem — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:10:56 +0000

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.

By: MNBlue

MNBlue — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:02:52 +0000

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

By: Eva Young

Eva Young — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:57:19 +0000

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.

By: Poison Dagger

Poison Dagger — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:31:34 +0000

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.