Mark Fischenich
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO
June 21, 2008 12:20 am
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State Rep. Tony Cornish of Vernon Center said his race with Madison Lake software engineer John Branstad is well underway, but the Branstad campaign missed in targeting one voter recently.
Both Cornish, a Republican, and Branstad, a Democrat, were in the Janesville parade last weekend. Cornish doubled back after completing the route to check out the competition because Branstad was further back in the parade line-up.
One of Branstad’s supporters came up to a woman near Cornish and explained that they were trying to defeat him. The woman said “I know Tony.”
The Branstad supporter said, “I bet you want him out, too.”
The woman, though, happened to be Republican Sen. Julie Rosen who was campaigning with Cornish. She proved a tough sell.
“She says, ‘No, I love Tony,’” Cornish said.
Busy season begins
Branstad, making his first run for elected office, said he and his supporters have knocked on 2,000 doors already and had good support at the first two parades in Janesville and Mapleton.
“We had a pretty good crew,” Branstad said.
He planned to be at another in Lake Crystal last night and in an additional 15 parades scheduled later in the summer in the large rural district, including a pair in Kiester and St. Clair this weekend.
While he’s a first-time candidate, Branstad did door-to-door work for congressional candidate Tim Walz in 2006 and for presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004.
“It’s exciting to do door-knocking with my own name and face on the literature,” he said.
Watching from afar
With the Republican National Convention just up the road in St. Paul in early September, it would have been a great opportunity for longtime Republican activists from the area to go to the Grand Old Party party on the cheap.
In fact, a couple of veterans of past Republican national conventions — Mark Piepho of Skyline and Jerry Groebner of Madison Lake — said they weren’t going to compete for delegate slots this year so that others, who couldn’t afford past conventions in places like New York or San Diego, could attend their first convention.
As it turned out, the Mankato area got shut out. There are no delegates from Blue Earth County or Nicollet, Le Sueur, Sibley, Watonwan, Faribault and Waseca counties. The nearest delegates are from New Prague (state Rep. Laura Brod) and Fairmont.
Volunteers needed
Opportunities to be in the Twin Cities for the convention festivities continue to be available for Minnesotans — more opportunities than convention organizers would like. The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul have scheduled a press conference for Monday to try to drum up interest in volunteering at the convention, scheduled for the first four days of September.
Organizers are looking for 10,000 volunteers and remain several thousand short of the goal.
Those interested can fill out an on-line application at www.msp2008.com.
Mating outdoors/arts
The old cliché about politics making strange bedfellows looks to be especially true with the constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot on Nov. 4 asking whether Minnesotans want to raise the state sales tax by three-eighths of a percent.
Among the backers of the amendment are the Loft Literary Center and the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society, two groups that probably don’t hold a lot of joint meetings. But the amendment would dedicate proceeds of the sales tax to hunting habitat, clean water and the arts.
Another example? Former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson and former DFL Gov. Wendell Anderson teamed up to rally support for the “vote yes” campaign. More information about the effort to pass the amendment is available at www.yesforMN.org.
DCCC notices Sarvi
Steve Sarvi — running for Congress in the 2nd District, which includes Le Sueur County — has been added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s list of “emerging races.”
The classification creates a list of potential qualifiers for the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” program that targets money and other support to campaigns where the national party leaders think a Republican incumbent can be knocked off.
That means Sarvi, an Iraq war veteran, is still deep down the list of candidates that top Dems are excited about. A total of 37 Democrats are already in the Red to Blue program and 20 more are in the “emerging races” category.
The Sarvi campaign was excited to get the national party’s attention, however, and can take some solace in knowing that Walz didn’t reach the “emerging races” status until September on his way to knocking off Republican Congressman Gil Gutknecht in 2006.
Kline clobbers clays
Kline, a Marine Corps veteran and three-term incumbent, can once again refer to himself as a “straight shooter” while campaigning and have evidence to back it up. Kline was named as the top Republican shot in a trap, skeet and sporting clay shooting competition among members of Congress.
Kline hit 81 percent of his targets. The event, sponsored by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, names a top Republican, top Democrat and overall champion. The overall top shooter was North Carolina Republican Rep. Robin Hayes.
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