Report from the DFL state convention

BY SID PRANKE

Operating on the premise that at least part of the world belongs to those who bother to show up, I showed up at the DFL state convention in Rochester over the weekend. Wearing two sets of credentials (one for media, another as an alternate delegate eligible for upgrade in Senate District 64, St. Paul)—I knew I would have floor access at all times, and not be relegated to the balcony.
I was upgraded to full delegate status on Friday; apparently a few delegates decided to skip what they thought would be Amy Klobuchar Day, which it eventually was, but not before the Peace First!ers made some impressive points about the issues, grabbing 20.4 percent of the first-ballot vote for “No Endorsement” in the U.S. Senate race.

The DFL had promised to run a free and open convention, most likely because of reports of intensive control by Republican leadership in its own convention the week before. DFLers “allowed” the floor nominations of Peace First!er Charlie Underwood (who gave one of the best speeches of the entire convention), and Phil Ratte—and with the pair’s subsequent Q & A on the same stage with Klobuchar, the convention seemed off to a good start.

A balloon drop malfunction put a damper on the eventual Klobuchar endorsement—and I later ran into Ford Bell greeting convention-goers on their way out. One delegate asked Bell why he decided to skip the convention and go directly to the primary instead. Bell answered, “We had to let the Peace First!ers make their point.” Bell does seem to be all about the issues in the senate race, considering he told Klobuchar that he would drop out of the primary if she would support Single Payer Health Care and vote to end the Iraq War. So far, she has not taken that bait, but instead reached out to moderate Republicans during her speech at the convention (“Follow the North Star, not the Lone Star”) was one phrase she kept repeating).

The new rules for balloting rankled some party leaders and legislators, as well as delegates. Those rules, however, apparently had come down from Democratic top brass on the national level, according to several sources. The new rule required all delegates to write down their name on one side of the ballot, and who they were voting for on the other side of the ballot.

Minnesota Senator Jane Ranum (DFL-Minneapolis) was present in Rochester, but said she complained about the “new rule” even before the state convention. “Why would you require them [delegates] to sign their name? Then you no longer have a secret ballot.” Ranum wanted to know whose idea this was, and when did it come down from the DNC as a new rule. “The people in Minnesota should be asking: Should we have a formal protest?” Ranum said.

On Saturday, I got demoted back to alternate—most full delegates had arrived for the three-way contest between Becky Lourey, Steve Kelley and Mike Hatch. First ballot results were: Hatch with 512.5 votes, or 39.4 percent of the vote; Lourey with 403.5 votes, or 31 percent of the vote; and Kelley in third place with 382.5 votes, or 29.4 percent of the vote. Sixty percent of the vote was required for endorsement.

After the fourth ballot, Lourey had to drop out of the race, since she had fewer than the 25 percent required by the dropoff rule, which was increased with each ballot. Lourey and her running mate, Tim Baylor, an African-American businessman and former Vikings player, took the stage when Lourey announced, “We are seriously going to see you in September.”

I was, and continue to be, a Lourey supporter—I think her positions on health care, taxes and the Iraq War present an exciting, hopeful platform. In my opinion, Lourey controlled the room on the issues, but Hatch owned the floor organization.
The Hatch campaign had encouraged delegates to volunteer as delegation chairs, where they would be equipped with headsets for easy communication with their headquarters in the bowels of the Rochester Civic Center. They had a tight operation—even an elaborate assembly line of note-passers—and they seemed to have quicker numbers on ballots then did the official vote counters to the convention. Sources in the Hatch campaign said they were surprised at Lourey’s dismal floor organization, so much so, that they had to rethink their convention strategy in terms of Kelley as Hatch’s remaining opponent, rather than Lourey.
Lourey’s campaign chair, John Blackshaw, responded to questions about its floor plan: “Did we execute well? No. Part of that was we were caught off guard with the results of the first ballot.” He said they expected higher numbers for Lourey, and went on to describe the Hatch floor people as too “aggressive.” (Yes, they were, but they won.)

Lourey supporters probably want some assurance that the state campaign leading to the primary and perhaps beyond, will have legs. Jim Robbins, Lourey’s communication person, said the campaign is indeed tough enough to challenge Hatch in the primary. “We have to suck it up and move on tougher,” he said. “It’s going to look different in a state campaign.”