Tinklenberg withdraws from Sixth District race

Well that certainly didn’t last long! He just entered the race last week!

When Tarryl Clark entered the race the handwriting was on the wall – good for Mr. Tinklenberg for putting the 6th District and his party before the personal. Tarryl Clark is a more experienced pol, looks as good as Bachmann on camera, and is a much better public speaker than Mr. Tinklenberg. She is the more compelling candidate stylistically between her and Mr. Tinklenberg. If Democrats want to win the 6th, Clark is the better prospect from my view.

The man had some really top notch staff, both last year and this year. I hope TC can find good people to help her out as well.

I don’t live in the district and if I did I’d probably vote for Clark, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beneficial for all involved to have a contested primary.

Only in Minnesota do Democrats think it’s appropriate to have Stalinist endorsement conventions where the old hands clear the field before the crops have had a chance to grow.

A contested primary race between Clark, Reed and Tinklenberg would have helped the eventual winner to defeat Bachmann in November 2010. Instead we’ll have the usual one-tenth of one percent of district DFLers anoint a candidate in June so that person can hide from the voters the rest of the summer only to emerge in all their glory at the State Fair where they’ll do their damnedest to remind voters that there is in fact a Democrat running in that race.

El is a class act and always has been. This would have been a fight between two old friends and El is right about the results of such a battle. This is yet another example of El putting whats right for the district ahead of his own personal agenda. This has to be very hard on him and his friends.

Mark, that “Stalinist” remark is ridiculously over the top. You don’t like the decisions being made by those bothering to show up? Then how about you bother to show up.

I sent El Tinklineberg last year, as did many out of staters. As much against crazy Bachmann as for El. The more I learned about Mr. Tinklinberg though, the more I liked what he stood for. It’s too bad he has stepped out of the race, as I would have dontated much more to his campaign. I wish Minnesota and Clark much luck. And to El, he is definitely a class act and deserves the all the best.

Eric, spoken like a true DFLer, as in spoken like a true Birther. Your mythology does not match my experience.

I did go to my last Caucus. I was elected to the Rules Committee. The DFL never posted the meeting times and the committee never contacted me. I know, I know — if I were a REAL Democrat I would have known the process well enough to suss out the meeting places and times.

But you can’t escape the math of your process. Even among those who choose to participate the odds of becoming a delegate to the next level are daunting. The odds of getting from the next level to the state endorsement convention are even more daunting. DFL endorsements are voted on by people who have survived three winnowing processes, and who have invested at least ten hours in a process that in no way speaks to general voter education or anything even vaguely resembling a get out the vote process.

Yes, even a janitor can become a DFL delegate, but that just speaks to how the DFL enables janitors to become elites. Instead of empowering janitors maybe the DFL should focus on the primary and how to empower regular Minnesotans so that they feel like they’re a part of the DFL, instead of just sheep waiting for the DFL elites to tell them who to vote for.