Fanning lands early endorsements in bid against Cravaack

Clark, Nolan and Fanning are wrapping up a mess of endorsements from people no one has heard of while Jeff Anderson is the only candidate yet to get endorsed by a sitting legislator from the district. Add to that Anderson’s endorsements from the key power brokers on the range, and we have the makings of a race between Fanning, Clark and Nolan for second place. Had fanning stepped off the public dime a bit earlier to start his race, he cold have likely been a contender, but the district is firming up behind Anderson as the candidate with the best chance to win.

In defense of Nolan he did announce endorsement from sitting legislators Ward and Persell. Persell doesn’t hold much sway and the support of Ward in the Brainerd Lakes area reinforces the strong support Nolan has there being it’s where he is from.

The bulk of the delegates and voters in a DFL primary will come from the immediate Duluth area and the Iron Range. Two areas where Anderson has announced substantial support. Anderson’s position as an at large city councilor in Duluth garners him good name recognition there and his family and roots are on the Range.

With the support of the new generation of Range leaders (Melin) and the old guard (Dicklich and Janezich) it looks like Anderson is cementing support up there. He also Range political expert Gary Cerkvenik on board.

I would hope that these aren’t the two biggest endorsements Fanning has to offer. Jugovich is well respected in Chisholm, but he supported the losing DFL candidate in the 5B race and Pulford is from the small town of Buhl. I would think there may be one sitting legislator inclined to support him, but can’t see anymore.

The 8th CD is holding it’s annual Fall fundraiser in Hibbing next weekend. All four announced candidates are participating in a forum following the dinner. There will also be a non-binding straw poll taken among the members of the 8th CD committee, consisting of County/SD Chairs, Ass. Chairs and Directors, roughly about a 100 people evenly spread throughout the District. My question is….who does best in the forum and what will the straw vote totals look like? Any guesses?

The straw poll is irrelevant because it is set yo happen so far in advance of any of the days actual events and will happen before the candidate forum. I also heard that Jeff Anderson had his name pulled from the straw poll because. There’s a lot of blatant bias from the CD8 chair so don’t expect a lot of integrity behind the vote and the event.

Sorry folks, but if Fanning can communicate as well as he looks, combined with his record as a vet, he will wipe the floor with the tired out political hacks who have entered this race. he is a young, good looking vet, and, if he can communicate with the voters, he will take back this district from the chipster………..

I think Anderson’s folks are afraid of Fanning giving this race a sorely needed kick in the butt. Why?

I think Anderson asking not to be on the straw poll ballot had nothing to do with Fanning getting into the race and had more to do with the fact that there was only one campaign pushing the straw poll and they had supporters and the executive advocating for it. There was some concern by the other campaign of a tainted result being used to artificially inflate the status of one of the campaigns. I am now hearing there will not be a straw poll.

I sure hope the District announces that there will NOT be a straw poll. How silly to do one a few hours before the Candidate forum. Was it just a hook to get folks to travel a long distance for their fundraiser? It’s time to rewrite the book on how to do politics.
Only one candidate is putting such a strong emphasis on the endorsement, and I strongly disagree with him. Let’s allow the whole district to decide, not just a handful of party insiders. Turning the Chipster into a one term Rep will require all of us to get behind the winner of the Primary, why burn valuable bridges with an inner-party fight?
Let all the good folks of CD 8 decide, vote “NO Endorsement until Primary”.