Precinct caucuses on Tue. March 7

By PHIL WILLKIE

Sen. John Kerry recently spoke at a poorly-attended fundraiser for the DFL Party. While he complained about conduct concerning the war and the rising uninsured millions, he offered no solutions to either problem. The DFL attracted 100,000 people to its caucuses in 1968 when Eugene McCarthy ran. Former Party Chair Mike Erlandson said 57,000 attended caucuses in 2004.

On March 7 at 7 p.m, the four largest political parties will hold caucuses: the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), the Green Party, the Independence Party, and the Republican Party. The DFL is the only party with contested races for party nominations.

U.S. Senate race
The two DFL candidates up for nomination in the U.S. Senate race are Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar and Ford Bell, a veterinarian and community activist. Bell was a past chair of the Minneapolis Council of Churches.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer, head of the Democratic Senatorial Committee, endorsed Klobuchar for U.S. Senate on Jan. 20. Schumer had urged Patty Wetterling to abandon her race for the Senate and to run again for Congress in the Sixth District (north suburbs—Stillwater to St. Cloud). The Democratic leaders, like the Republicans, wish to end intraparty contests. They are not backing candidates with strong anti-war positions.
Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett was muscled out of the Senate race in Ohio. In the New York Times on Feb. 14, Hackett said he was pressured out of the race by Schumer and Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate Minority leader. Hackett was outraged that party leaders called his contributors to ask them to stop giving money to him.

Klobuchar has no clear position on an Iraq War exit strategy whereas Ford Bell called for U.S. roops to be out of Iraq by Christmas of this year. Klobuchar, while complaining that 46 million Americans have no health care—has no solid proposal for health care reform. Bell has proposed a single-payer Canadian-style health care plan. He proposed on Feb. 24, as a first step, placing all uninsured children in America on Medicare.

Klobuchar is the third female DFL candidate for the U.S. Senate in the past 20 years. Yet, prominent women in the DFL are backing Ford Bell, including State Representative Alice Hausman, Arvonne Fraser and former St. Paul City Councilmember Ruby Hunt. All three said while they would prefer that another woman go to the U.S. Senate, they were supporting Bell because of his clear stance on the Iraq war and single-payer health care. Klobuchar wrapped up the endorsements of dozens of state legislators before Bell entered the race.

U.S. House of Representatives
In the Fifth Congressional District, peace and justice activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is challenging Martin Olav Sabo. While Sabo voted against the Iraq War resolution, he has voted for appropriations to continue the war. At a public forum in January, Sabo said the war was not about oil and he saw no reason for a Congressional inquiry on how we got into this mess. Hundreds of activists, including Marv Davidov, were outraged by Sabo’s arrogance. Davidov and others urged professor and author Nelson-Pallmeyer to enter the race.

Governor’s race
The race for governor has four major candidates vying for the DFL nomination: State Senators Becky Lourey and Steve Kelley, Attorney General Mike Hatch, and businessman Kelly Doran. Kelley and Lourey are actively seeking the endorsement. Only Kelley will not run in the primary against an endorsed candidate.

Lourey has gone the farthest on improving health care for uninsured Minnesotans, proposing an expanded MinnesotaCare with the goal of insuring all Minnesotans by 2010.

This is the third time Hatch has run for governor. He has the backing of older party leaders like Walter Mondale and former governor Wendell Anderson.
Doran, a wealthy businessman, is financing his campaign out of his own pocket. He had named State Senator Sheila Kiscaden his running mate for lieutenant governor. Kiscaden, a former Republican, was only the second candidate elected in the Independence Party line; former Gov. Jesse Ventura was the first. Hatch, Doran and Lourey all have vowed to run in the September primary. Other candidates are running for lower Constitutional offices.

Secretary of State race
DFL candidates for secretary of state are Mark Ritchie and Christian Sande. Ritchie heads the Institute for Ag and Trade Policy; he took a leave of absence in 2004 to create a nonpartisan voter registration drive called the “November 2 Campaign,” which registered more than five million new voters through civic groups, social service agencies, churches and businesses. Ritchie worked as a trade policy director in the Minnesota Department of Agriculture under former Gov. Rudy Perpich.
Sande, an attorney, has experience in election law. He served as former State Sen. Steve Novak’s campaign manager in 1992, and was treasurer for David Lillehaug’s campaign for attorney general in 1998.

philwillkie@earthlink.net
editor@pulsetc.com