WoMN Focus

Via MNProgressive Project, Grace Kelly interviews 10 people at this morning’s “Breakfast with Gary” Governors Candidates forum. Of the 10 people interviewed, 5 responded that Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher would be in their top 3 choices for Governor — more votes than any other candidate at the event.

Margaret Anderson Kelliher (5) Margaret is described as a compassionate, energetic, leader, and coalition builder. While her name doesn’t always show up first, she shows up on more lists. People like the rural background with the hope that she will appeal both out state and in the metro area. I personally liked that she stepped forward when she spoke, which helped because she is shorter. Stepping forward was also inviting to the audience.

After a few recent tweets from gubernatorial candidate Pat Anderson about her facebook group being shut down for too rapid of growth, I thought I’d check in on some of the governor-hopefuls facebook groups.

Republicans:
Tom Emmer, 689
Pat Anderson, 721
Marty Seifert, 764

And the always popular “draft” mission:
Draft Laura Brod for Governor, 297

Democrats:
Matt Entenza, 32 (fan page, not group or supporter page)
Mark Dayton, 68
Susan Gaertner, 343
John Marty, 693
Margaret Anderson Kelliher, 864

And in the Draft:

R.T. Rybak, 596

Obviously, we won’t be casting out ballots in our status updates. But organizing online is a great way to engage with your supporters and get them involved in the most basic steps of the campaign. And facebook is making it even easier for supporters to spread campaign info for their favorite candidates.

See a candidate you want to support? Join their groups, or, if they don’t have one, offer to start it for him or her!
Note: I did not use personal pages, only support pages, be they fan pages, group pages or draft pages. Steve Kelley has only a personal page, so he was not included. Chris Coleman has only his personal page and his St. Paul campaign page, so he also was excluded.

August 24, 2009 — The North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters announces its endorsement of State Senator Tarryl Clark in her campaign for Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District seat against incumbent Representative Michele Bachmann.

“Tarryl Clark has been a proven leader for Minnesota’s working families,” said Kyle Makarios, Political Director for the Council. “It is important to have someone in Washington who is advocating for workers, especially in this time of economic hardship.”

This early endorsement jumpstarts the Carpenters involvement in the 2010 campaign for Congress. The North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters represents 13,000 members in Minnesota, including 2,447 in the 6th Congressional District.

North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters
Serving Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota
700 Olive Street, Saint Paul, MN 55130

www.northcountrycarpenter.org

So much has happened so quickly. It’s digest time!

Tarryl Clark seems to be everywhere these days. She was at Netroots Nation visiting the online activists, and answered a few of their questions. She answered a few for Huffington Post, as well, including calling Presidential Wannabe and Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin “Alaska’s Michele Bachmann.” Bachmann should be proud — I remember when folks around here used to call her “Minnesota’s Marylin Musgrave.”

Meanwhile, Margaret Anderson Kelliher has kept a fairly low profile since announcing her intention to announce. But Minnesota Brown managed to snag an interview before the candidate filed paperwork, and released it afterward.

Kelliher quickly stressed specific legislative accomplishments as speaker to justify her candidacy three years after ascending to the speaker’s chair with the DFL legislative landslide in 2006. Her top three included the 2020 renewable energy standard (signed by Gov. Pawlenty), the 2008 transportation bill (passed by overriding Gov. Pawlenty with the help of six Republican House members) and the advancement of the Legacy Amendment (the voter approved sales tax increase to fund outdoors and culture initiatives).

These three different accomplishments all involved bipartisanship, fervent negotiations and hard won victories, she said, examples of how she would approach the job of governor.

The entire interview is a very thoughtful, very personal look at the Speaker, and is a must read.

Meanwhile, women are making advances not just as candidates, but in leadership roles, as well. On Monday, the AFL-CIO elected Shar Knutson as the first woman president of the organization. The AFL-CIO is the state’s largest federation, and represents over 300,000 members across the state.

From “Who wants to be a Minnesota Governor,” the rundown of the female candidates:

Susan Gaertner

Home: White Bear Lake

Current position: Prosecutor

Experience: Ramsey County attorney since 1994 after 14 years in public and private law practice.

How does she break out of the pack? U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a former Hennepin County attorney, showed that a strong county prosecutor is electable statewide. Gaertner says she is the only candidate in the race with “executive experience running a multimillion-dollar, nonpartisan public office.”

Margaret Anderson Kelliher

Home: Minneapolis

Current position: Speaker of the House

Experience: A House member since 1998, she has held the top House office — the second-most-powerful post in state government — for the past three years.

How does she break out of the pack? She already has. As speaker, Kelliher has been the highest-profile Democrat in state government and may be the party’s best-known candidate. She has proved to be a calm, even-tempered leader who can work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, but she also is an effective advocate for mainstream DFL policies. She has gone toe-to-toe in negotiations with Pawlenty but stumbled a bit this year when he outmaneuvered DFLers and balanced the state budget on his own.

Pat Anderson

Home: Dellwood

Current position: President of the Minnesota Free Market Institute, a conservative think tank.

Experience: The former Eagan mayor and city council member was elected state auditor in 2002, a post she lost in the 2006 election. Pawlenty appointed her state employee relations commissioner in 2008, a job she eliminated by merging her agency with the Finance Department. She’s also a former business owner.

How does she break out of the pack? She’s the only woman in the Republican race, but that may change soon. Anderson says she has executive experience in both the public and private sectors that most of her legislator rivals lack. “I’ve downsized government twice,” she said, referring to merging one agency and trimming the auditor’s staff.

State Rep. Laura Brod, of New Prague, postponed her exploratory campaign for health reasons last month, but supporters predict she will return to the race soon. The lead Republican on the House Taxes Committee, she is an advocate for small businesses and downsizing state government. She’s the candidate some Democrats fear most.

Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, of Lafayette, has said it’s unlikely she would run for governor, but she hasn’t ruled it out. She plans to decide this summer. Some Republicans are talking about her challenging U.S. Rep. Tim Walz in the 1st District.

Video can be found here.
(Via Blue Man )

Minnesota Independent:

An already packed gubernatorial field for Democrats just got bigger with the addition of a high-profile DFLer: House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher announced this afternoon that she’s filed to run for governor.

Minnpost:

The whole business of announcing a political candidacy has become more and more ritualistic. Take, for instance, the case of House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher.

For months, the Minneapolis DFLer has made it clear that she plans to get into the race for the DFL nomination for governor.

Today, she took another step toward “officially” getting into the race by posting a message on Twitter saying she is running. Kelliher’s campaign website reports she’s filed the paperwork to start her campaign. She also has sent a letter to supporters.

“Over the past few months I have traveled the state talking to Minnesotans just like you,” she writes. “Today with the support of my family, friends and people across the state, I took the first step to become our next governor by filing the necessary paperwork to run.”

But, of course, none of this means she’s absolutely/formally/officially in the race.

“In a few weeks I will formally announce my candidacy,’’ she wrote in the letter to supporters.

Won’t that be dramatic.

MNPublius:

The Entenza campaign has tried very hard to develop an air of inevitablity — that he is going to be the DFL candidate for Governor. MAK’s candidacy is a bowling ball off an overpass for the Entenza 18-wheeler and right now I’d have to speculate that she will be the DFL endorsed candidate for Governor.

(Note, the piece has been edited, but I’ve decided I enjoyed the original more, so I kept it.)

City Pages:

There is yet another high-profile Minnesota Democrat aiming for the governor’s seat. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher announced her intentions and said she has filed the paperwork needed to run.

We hope all the Democrats don’t slaughter each other just trying to win the DFL endorsement. This could get messy. Too many egos in one pool.

MN Progressive Project:

MAK brings a lot to the campaign. Her rural roots and powerful position at the legislature make her quite formidable. She’s had significant successes and failures at the legislature, but the bottom line is she’s been a leader these last few years as the state legislature has done amazing things like override 2012 Presidential candidate and occasional MN Governor Tim Pawlenty’s veto.

Polinaut has audio from the Speaker.

Her appearance on Quick on the Uptake:

And of course, the inevitable Republican Party statement:

Democrats have put forth yet another big city liberal. The rest of Minnesota cannot afford Margaret Anderson Kelliher’s ‘leadership.’ Whether she’s hiking gas taxes, the metro wide sales tax or income taxes, Kelliher is a dependable pro tax vote. Given her failed leadership as speaker and complete inability to pass a credible budget bill, Kelliher is the last Minnesotan who deserves a promotion.

She’s signed the papers, and she’s ready to run for governor!

See her campaign website here.

From the press release:

Over the past few months I have traveled the state talking to Minnesotans just like you. Today, with the support of my family, friends and people across the state, I took the first step to become our next governor by filing the necessary paperwork to run.

Growing up on a southern Minnesota dairy farm, I learned at a young age there is always more work to be done. The same could be said for our state right now. Our economy has been battered by the global recession and many families are worried about job losses, wage cuts and the ever-rising cost of health care.

Minnesota’s next governor faces tough challenges. We need a leader who understands the task in front of us, and who knows it will take more than one person to rebuild our state. That’s the experience, and the commitment, I will bring as Minnesota’s governor. It took more than one person to finally break through and improve the safety and quality of Minnesota’s bridges and roads. I built a coalition of people who did not always see eye-to-eye, but were ready to find common ground and work together. It took more than one person to pass Minnesota’s nation-leading renewable energy standard. Together, we made Minnesota a leader in the green economy.

Now as we look ahead, the challenges are real, but our path forward is clear. As Minnesota’s next governor and with your support, we will make Minnesota a world economic leader, build a healthier, more productive workforce and provide every child from pre-kindergarten through college the opportunity for a great education.

In a few weeks, I will formally announce my candidacy. It will take more than one person to win the DFL endorsement and this election. It will take a coalition of people who believe in Minnesota and our ability to succeed. I’m asking you to take the next step in making me our next governor.

Politics in Minnesota does their latest at a glance of the Minnesota 2010 governor’s race, with a hot or not snapshot of both parties.

Not hot, according to PIM? Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher. And, with such a flattering write-up, that may not be such a bad thing:

WHO’S NOT

DFL: Margaret Anderson Kelliher

A few months ago, there were many at the Capitol who thought Kelliher could claim the DFL endorsement without breaking a sweat. We’ve been a little shocked at the vehemence with which her role in the end-of-session dynamics at the Legislature this year has been condemned by people in and around the gubernatorial race. To hear some of them tell it, her failed tactical judgment–and her lack of composure when the unallotment bomb was first dropped–have damaged her not-yet-announced candidacy past repair.

As the lone candidate from DFL legislative leadership, she’s bound to take that heat. But we would argue that if Kelliher’s stock was artificially inflated before the end of the legislative session, it’s artificially depressed now. She’s still a leading endorsement contender for several reasons. Kelliher is one of the most visible, connected, and publicly liked people in the Legislature. As a farm girl who now represents one of the toniest districts in the Twin Cities, she sports a personal biography that straddles the town-and-country divide, and her style reflects that. As a woman who is very popular with female pols and organizations, she has built enormous goodwill and fundraising potential in advance of a race in which many Democrats want to see a woman running. (Susan Gaertner, the other DFL woman in the field, appears to have far less traction on this front.)

If this is the “not” I can’t wait to see what people write about her when she’s on the “hot” list.

Upon learning that state Sen. Terri Bonoff is considering a second run for congress against Rep. Erik Paulsen, it seemed like a good time to see if a woman could be a better fit for the district.

One of Paulsen’s supporters’ favorite arguments for his candidacy in 2008 was that Paulsen “fit the demographics of the district” better than his challenger, Ashwin Madia. Applying that to Bonoff, you can see that much like Paulsen, she is a Caucasian resident of the 3rd district between the ages of 18 and 65, a married homeowner with children, all facts which match with a large number of her potential constituents. Unlike Paulsen, however, she is female, as is 51.1% of the district. So, in Paulsen’s supporters’ own criteria, she would actually be a better fit than the Congressman.

But demographics aren’t what matters to voters, and people don’t and should not vote simply because a candidate is “most like me.” So here is a look at some of the issues that 3rd CD voters could face:

Homes: Nearly 75% of the district lives in single family units, either owned or rented. As housing values plummeted, Paulsen voted against the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 that would allow home owners to modify their mortgages when facing foreclosure possibilities.

Paid Parental Leave:26.6% of the district is under the age of 18. When children are hurt, sick, or their schools or care centers are closed for holidays, in services, illness, vacations or other reasons, someone will need to stay home and care for them. As employers cut back more on paid personal and vacation time, more families find themselves losing income they desperately need in order to care for their children. And, for the nearly 7% of the district that are single parents, there is no second income to rely on should leave need to be taken.

Erik Paulsen’s vote against the Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009 raises a significant question of whether he will be supportive of any efforts to enact paid family leave legislation. Leave for federal employees is an excellent first step in helping all businesses see that allowing employees to care for their families creates a more productive work environment that retains better employees, as well as helps to decrease the wage gap that hits women, who tend to stay home unpaid more than their male counterparts.

And speaking of fair pay… Paulsen also voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fairpay Act of 2009, an act that allows workers to claim discriminatory compensation practices occurred every time compensation is issued, rather than just with 180 days from the first payment. The passage of the bill sends a strong message to businesses that women need to be compensated with the same benefits for the same work as their male counterparts, and Rep. Paulsen voted against it.

I wonder how that will fly with the 51.1% of women in his district?