IP spoiler in 1st CD?

Cross-posted at Vox Verax.

According to the Mankato Free Press, “Stephen Williams, a vegetable farmer from Austin, has announced a write-in campaign for the seat.” The Free Press says he has been endorsed by the Independence Party, but there is no indication of that as yet on its website.

So far, the most prominent IPer in the 1st CD, Tim Penny, has remained mum on the race. Will he come out and endorse a candidate? It’s anyone’s guess.

More…A true independent in the district is Greg Mikkelson, a grain elevator operator from Lake Crystal. Mikkelson ran as the Green Party candidate in 2002, garnering 3.75%; as the IP candidate in 2004, winning 4.8%; and as a Republican challenging incumbent Gil Gutknecht in the GOP primary, earning 12.71%.

I have to confess. I know Greg fairly well and like him a lot. (Okay, I haven’t told him this. So now it’s public.) I saw quite a bit of him during the 2004 campaign as we would both inevitably show up to debates that the incumbent, Herr Gutknecht, boycotted, no doubt thinking that such events were beneath him to attend. (So much for the democratic exchange of ideas.)

Greg and I agreed on most issues: We opposed the war in Iraq. We believed in fiscal responsibility