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naomikritzerNext batch of five! This one has two real candidates in it and two extra-fake candidates to make up for it. (If they don't even have a pretense of a campaign website, that is extra-fake.)
Dan Cohen (Independent), former City Council member, Ward 7
James Everett (Green)
Bob Fine (DFL)
Cyd Gorman (Police Reform)
Mike Gould (DFL)
Dan Cohen (Independent), former City Councilmember, Ward 7
http://dancohenformayor.com/
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? Yes.
2. Could he plausibly win? Yes. I'd describe him as a dark-horse real candidate. He's the sort of candidate that ranked-choice voting is supposed to be helpful to; someone might like him best, but also really want to vote for someone they thought had a better chance of beating Jackie Cherryhomes. With RCV you can vote for Dan Cohen as your first choice, with your favorite front-runner as a fallback choice.
3. Should you vote for him? Maybe -- especially if you're really infuriated about the Vikings Stadium.
The first thing that struck me, visiting Dan Cohen's website, is that he is OLD. He has a wealth of political experience on the City Council, etc., and yet when I look at his history ("I was elected to the Minneapolis City Council. I served two terms, my second term as President of the City Council, ran for Mayor and was soundly defeated by an independent candidate, a policeman, Charles Stenvig") I was struck by the extent to which this happened long enough ago that I've never heard of this former mayor. I am not exactly a newcomer to the Twin Cities; I moved to Minneapolis in 1995, so I lived there for 17 years. Stenvig was Minneapolis Mayor from 1969 to 1973 and from 1976 to 1978. I was born in 1973.
There was a time when the people who were being elected to office in the early 1970s were not notably old. But at this point, they are, unless they got started really young, which I don't think Cohen did, since he talks about practicing law for several years before drifting into politics (and he served two terms on the Council before being defeated in the mayoral race that apparently happened in 1969.)
The advantage of age can be experience, and he has tons; on the City Council (though not recently), on the Planning Commission (THAT was recently), etc. His Issues page spells out some very specific and reasonably distinctive policy goals:
1. He wants to build a casino in downtown Minneapolis. (I don't like that idea, but you might.)
2. He wants to act decisively regarding conflicts of interest among people on the Minneapolis Planning Commission. I think this would be a good idea; Minneapolis is not a notably corrupt city but it is definitely a city where people tend to let a certain amount of "oh, I'm TOTALLY unbiased! really!!!" BS slide.
3. He wants to reform the city charter, which would be a good idea, though it wouldn't be a top priority for me personally.
4. He wants to work a lot harder to stamp out racism in the Minneapolis Police Department. I am STRONGLY in favor of this, and I think a mayor that made this a priority could do a lot of good.
5. He thinks the deal made with the Vikings is terrible, and has some specific thoughts on how to amend the deal; I don't know enough about the fine print to assess whether his approach would work. (Do you want to know the honest truth? I tuned out most of the debate, because despite a solid majority of city residents vehemently opposing tax money being spent on a new Twins ballpark, OH HEY LOOK, A BALLPARK. I fully expected that the same thing would happen with the Vikings stadium and I just don't want to invest the emotional energy into protesting something that's going to happen sooner or later no matter how many people think it's stupid.)
There are definitely friends of mine who ought to take a much closer look at Dan Cohen, though the people who have ranted to me about the Vikings stadium may overlap with people who think a downtown casino is a bad idea.
James Everett (Green)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Everett-for-Mayor-of-Minneapolis/311427892320870
While googling for information about James Everett, I found a blog post from Johnny Northside about trying in 2009 to get a photo of James Everett for his blog, and how James Everett was a complete dick about it. You know one of the things that real candidates do? If someone wants to take their picture for a news story, they smile and let that person take their picture. You don't pre-screen them for ideology, because politicians are public figures, and they have to deal with media ALL THE TIME.
We actually elected someone else who couldn't deal with the press, years back. JESSE VENTURA.
Anyway. James Everett doesn't seem to have a real campaign website, but he does at least have a campaign-specific Facebook page. Browsing through the page for his positions, I found:
"I am the only candidate that will address these issue,has addressed the issues for over 20year and am working actively with the police chief to change them" (caption on a photo that seems to be of a Justice 4 Trayvon protest).
"RT Rybak current mayor Hangin with James Everett the Future Mayor at City Hall..lots to discuss...we will assure a smooth transition. Lbvs" (caption on a photo of James with R.T.)
and
"Ok..5 ton elephant in the room...I would like to say 1st and for most hats OFF to the GLBT movement to Politically ORGANIZE to get same sex marriage legalized in this state in a 2 YEAR CAMPEIGN . I Remember when hate free zones were being established in the 90's. Y'all have come along way. I STILL STAND BY MY ORIGINAL POSITION OF CIVIL UNIONS only because I believe the Institution of marriage is such a peculiar one that. The effects of its current success or lack there of should have been properly studied b4 adding any nuances. I believe the History of Homosexuality should be taught in the schools with different cultural breakdowns b4 Marriage was considered an option . WITH THAT BEING SAID I AM VERY PROUD OF MY FELLOW AMERICANS ABILTY TO ORGANIZE,MOBILIZE AND STRATEGIZE TO CHANGE THE FABRIC OF THEIR LIVES AND FREEDOMS!! I can't wait til the very priest that molested and condemned some of the alter boys..have to marry him and his husband at the very same alter! Karma is a bia! lol I AM STARTING A GROUP TODAY CALLED "GLBT SUPPORT REPARATIONS FOR WE!" I mean if we could get a ground swell of support like this issue got we might be able to get our 40 acres AND a Mule.! U can't hate the player u gotta hate the game. Just a thought"
I don't even know where to start with that one, so I'll just make one pedantic note: no religious functionary is ever going to have to perform a marriage they disagree with. Catholic Priests don't have to marry gay couples any more than they have to officiate at weddings for Catholic couples who didn't go to pre-Cana, or Catholic-Jewish couples who are intermarrying, or non-Catholic couples.
Anyway, I think that's enough about James Everett.
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? No.
2. Could he plausibly win? No.
3. Is there any other reason to vote for him? No.
Bob Fine (DFL)
http://fineformayor.com/
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? Yes. Bob Fine has spent almost 20 years on the Park Board as an elected Commissioner; he also has appointed positions on the Zoning Board and the Board of Estimate & Taxation. I think he's served in other volunteer/appointed positions in the city, as well. He may arguably be the most qualified candidate, given his breadth of experience.
2. Could he plausibly win? Yes, and like Dan Cohen, he's the semi-dark-horse legit candidate who should be helped by IRV. He also has some decent name recognition, due to his service on the Park Board.
3. Should you vote for him? Maybe.
So, one thing I would definitely say about Bob Fine is that he's unlikely to balance the city budget by cutting amenities in the parks -- he views the parks as absolutely central to city life, and the crown jewel of Minneapolis. Which they totally are.
The issues he calls out on his website as initial goals:
1. Audit each city department. (This is probably a good idea, and I would say that given his breadth of positions, if he thinks it's a good idea, he's probably right. On the other hand, the way you save money with that sort of thing is to fire people who aren't doing anything you think is super useful; you're guaranteed to get a ton of pushback. Though I'll note he doesn't talk that much about saving money so much as "streamlining," which could mean "saving money by firing people" but could also mean "speeding things up and making departments work better by changing how things are done.")
2. Reduce property taxes by 5% without harming police, fire, or snow plowing. (He doesn't say what he WOULD reduce.)
3. Support and partner with business; make the city friendlier to business.
Other random notes: he has backyard chickens. So if you're a backyard chicken fancier and want to make sure that the mayor you elect doesn't try to take away your chicken coop, Fine's your guy. He's on the board of a number of arts organizations, including the MIA and the Children's Theater, but he doesn't appear to be on the board of directors for the Minnesota Orchestra. (If he were, I would call that out as a big strike against him.)
So here's what I'd say. If you're a Democrat who thinks property taxes are way too high, but is hesitant to vote for people who say that we need to cut taxes because you're afraid of getting a Republican in disguise, Bob Fine might be a good pick. Ditto if you're a Democrat who thinks that the city needs to be more friendly to business. (You know what? They do. I have a friend who owns a really lovely small business in South Minneapolis; she and her business partners opened a branch this year in Northeast, and it took them months and months to get all the inspections done, the licenses lined up, etc. She said it was RIDICULOUS and frustrating as hell. This isn't a bar we're talking about here, but a pleasant retail establishment, the sort of thing that anyone would love to have nearby, and she said that dealing with the City of Minneapolis was a huge, enormous pain. THIS IS A PROBLEM. Both in South Minneapolis and in Northeast, she opened up in buildings that had sat empty for years. Being "friendly to business" does not have to mean "taxpayer handouts to huge corporations." It can mean "making life easier for entrepreneurs.")
For that matter, if you're a Republican who lives in Minneapolis and is a pragmatist, you should also take a closer look at Fine, despite the fact that he advertises himself as a DFLer. Let's face it: you're almost certainly going to get a Democrat. Would you prefer to shoot for a Democrat who calls out lowering property taxes, auditing the city departments, and partnering with businesses as his three top issues? Especially bearing in mind that you can pick three -- you can list Cam Winton as your top pick, Bob Fine as a fallback.
Cyd Gorman (Police Reform)
So, when I googled Cyd Gorman, I didn't find a campaign website, but I DID find an author website. She's a self-published author who doesn't seem to really know what she's doing -- I mean, leaving aside the rampant grammatical errors on the site, there's the fact that everything seems to be available in print format but NOT available as an e-book (except for "The Lost Lamb," which has other issues, like that the description on Amazon.com and the description on her web site don't seem to match).
I looked at the excerpt from "The Soul Killer" and while it's not precisely good, it's better than I would have expected from her website. There's definitely a market for inexpensive self-published thrillers on Kindle (or maybe it's not a thriller? the Amazon.com description suggests that it's a thriller, but the description on her own website seems to suggest that it's a book about past lives. Maybe it's a thriller about past lives?) Regardless -- there might be a market for this but it needs to be available for Kindle and Nook.
This is all completely tangential, mind you, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the mayoral race that she filed for. But I could find NOTHING online related to the mayoral race; in fact, I'm not even 100% sure it's the same person, although she has a rather unusual name and the author website says she lives in Minnesota.
1. Is there any reason to think she could plausibly do the job? No.
2. Could she plausibly win? No.
3. Is there any other reason to vote for her? No.
Mike Gould (DFL)
There's a blogger who interviewed him, here. Based on the interview I'm going to say that Mike Gould is either mentally ill or on drugs or possibly both.
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? No.
2. Could he plausibly win? No.
3. Is there any other reason to vote for him? No.
James Everett's incoherent ramblings about gay people got me wondering: why is there no actual endorsed Green Party candidate for mayor in this race? The Greens are pretty active in Minneapolis, have gotten a number of people elected to Park Board and City Council over the years, and I would have thought that the Mayor's race would be a heck of a tempting prize, especially with the Democrats so thoroughly divided.
It turns out there's totally an answer to this! Which I found on the e-democracy forums, here. Holle Brian wrote: "We held two endorsing meetings this year, in February and May, in conjunction with widely publicized candidate recruitment efforts. As a result, we have a great slate of qualified and committed candidates for Park Board and City Council; but nobody came forward to request our endorsement for Mayor."
I have to say, the fact that James Everett and Doug Mann represent themselves as Greens on the ballot, but couldn't be bothered to ask the Green Party for endorsement, is almost as pathetic as the fact that the a Libertarian needed a ride because the Libertarian meeting wasn't on the bus line. You know, the public transit line funded by the tax dollars he doesn't think anyone should have to pay. Awkward.
Election 2013 Index of Posts.
Dan Cohen (Independent), former City Council member, Ward 7
James Everett (Green)
Bob Fine (DFL)
Cyd Gorman (Police Reform)
Mike Gould (DFL)
Dan Cohen (Independent), former City Councilmember, Ward 7
http://dancohenformayor.com/
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? Yes.
2. Could he plausibly win? Yes. I'd describe him as a dark-horse real candidate. He's the sort of candidate that ranked-choice voting is supposed to be helpful to; someone might like him best, but also really want to vote for someone they thought had a better chance of beating Jackie Cherryhomes. With RCV you can vote for Dan Cohen as your first choice, with your favorite front-runner as a fallback choice.
3. Should you vote for him? Maybe -- especially if you're really infuriated about the Vikings Stadium.
The first thing that struck me, visiting Dan Cohen's website, is that he is OLD. He has a wealth of political experience on the City Council, etc., and yet when I look at his history ("I was elected to the Minneapolis City Council. I served two terms, my second term as President of the City Council, ran for Mayor and was soundly defeated by an independent candidate, a policeman, Charles Stenvig") I was struck by the extent to which this happened long enough ago that I've never heard of this former mayor. I am not exactly a newcomer to the Twin Cities; I moved to Minneapolis in 1995, so I lived there for 17 years. Stenvig was Minneapolis Mayor from 1969 to 1973 and from 1976 to 1978. I was born in 1973.
There was a time when the people who were being elected to office in the early 1970s were not notably old. But at this point, they are, unless they got started really young, which I don't think Cohen did, since he talks about practicing law for several years before drifting into politics (and he served two terms on the Council before being defeated in the mayoral race that apparently happened in 1969.)
The advantage of age can be experience, and he has tons; on the City Council (though not recently), on the Planning Commission (THAT was recently), etc. His Issues page spells out some very specific and reasonably distinctive policy goals:
1. He wants to build a casino in downtown Minneapolis. (I don't like that idea, but you might.)
2. He wants to act decisively regarding conflicts of interest among people on the Minneapolis Planning Commission. I think this would be a good idea; Minneapolis is not a notably corrupt city but it is definitely a city where people tend to let a certain amount of "oh, I'm TOTALLY unbiased! really!!!" BS slide.
3. He wants to reform the city charter, which would be a good idea, though it wouldn't be a top priority for me personally.
4. He wants to work a lot harder to stamp out racism in the Minneapolis Police Department. I am STRONGLY in favor of this, and I think a mayor that made this a priority could do a lot of good.
5. He thinks the deal made with the Vikings is terrible, and has some specific thoughts on how to amend the deal; I don't know enough about the fine print to assess whether his approach would work. (Do you want to know the honest truth? I tuned out most of the debate, because despite a solid majority of city residents vehemently opposing tax money being spent on a new Twins ballpark, OH HEY LOOK, A BALLPARK. I fully expected that the same thing would happen with the Vikings stadium and I just don't want to invest the emotional energy into protesting something that's going to happen sooner or later no matter how many people think it's stupid.)
There are definitely friends of mine who ought to take a much closer look at Dan Cohen, though the people who have ranted to me about the Vikings stadium may overlap with people who think a downtown casino is a bad idea.
James Everett (Green)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Everett-for-Mayor-of-Minneapolis/311427892320870
While googling for information about James Everett, I found a blog post from Johnny Northside about trying in 2009 to get a photo of James Everett for his blog, and how James Everett was a complete dick about it. You know one of the things that real candidates do? If someone wants to take their picture for a news story, they smile and let that person take their picture. You don't pre-screen them for ideology, because politicians are public figures, and they have to deal with media ALL THE TIME.
We actually elected someone else who couldn't deal with the press, years back. JESSE VENTURA.
Anyway. James Everett doesn't seem to have a real campaign website, but he does at least have a campaign-specific Facebook page. Browsing through the page for his positions, I found:
"I am the only candidate that will address these issue,has addressed the issues for over 20year and am working actively with the police chief to change them" (caption on a photo that seems to be of a Justice 4 Trayvon protest).
"RT Rybak current mayor Hangin with James Everett the Future Mayor at City Hall..lots to discuss...we will assure a smooth transition. Lbvs" (caption on a photo of James with R.T.)
and
"Ok..5 ton elephant in the room...I would like to say 1st and for most hats OFF to the GLBT movement to Politically ORGANIZE to get same sex marriage legalized in this state in a 2 YEAR CAMPEIGN . I Remember when hate free zones were being established in the 90's. Y'all have come along way. I STILL STAND BY MY ORIGINAL POSITION OF CIVIL UNIONS only because I believe the Institution of marriage is such a peculiar one that. The effects of its current success or lack there of should have been properly studied b4 adding any nuances. I believe the History of Homosexuality should be taught in the schools with different cultural breakdowns b4 Marriage was considered an option . WITH THAT BEING SAID I AM VERY PROUD OF MY FELLOW AMERICANS ABILTY TO ORGANIZE,MOBILIZE AND STRATEGIZE TO CHANGE THE FABRIC OF THEIR LIVES AND FREEDOMS!! I can't wait til the very priest that molested and condemned some of the alter boys..have to marry him and his husband at the very same alter! Karma is a bia! lol I AM STARTING A GROUP TODAY CALLED "GLBT SUPPORT REPARATIONS FOR WE!" I mean if we could get a ground swell of support like this issue got we might be able to get our 40 acres AND a Mule.! U can't hate the player u gotta hate the game. Just a thought"
I don't even know where to start with that one, so I'll just make one pedantic note: no religious functionary is ever going to have to perform a marriage they disagree with. Catholic Priests don't have to marry gay couples any more than they have to officiate at weddings for Catholic couples who didn't go to pre-Cana, or Catholic-Jewish couples who are intermarrying, or non-Catholic couples.
Anyway, I think that's enough about James Everett.
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? No.
2. Could he plausibly win? No.
3. Is there any other reason to vote for him? No.
Bob Fine (DFL)
http://fineformayor.com/
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? Yes. Bob Fine has spent almost 20 years on the Park Board as an elected Commissioner; he also has appointed positions on the Zoning Board and the Board of Estimate & Taxation. I think he's served in other volunteer/appointed positions in the city, as well. He may arguably be the most qualified candidate, given his breadth of experience.
2. Could he plausibly win? Yes, and like Dan Cohen, he's the semi-dark-horse legit candidate who should be helped by IRV. He also has some decent name recognition, due to his service on the Park Board.
3. Should you vote for him? Maybe.
So, one thing I would definitely say about Bob Fine is that he's unlikely to balance the city budget by cutting amenities in the parks -- he views the parks as absolutely central to city life, and the crown jewel of Minneapolis. Which they totally are.
The issues he calls out on his website as initial goals:
1. Audit each city department. (This is probably a good idea, and I would say that given his breadth of positions, if he thinks it's a good idea, he's probably right. On the other hand, the way you save money with that sort of thing is to fire people who aren't doing anything you think is super useful; you're guaranteed to get a ton of pushback. Though I'll note he doesn't talk that much about saving money so much as "streamlining," which could mean "saving money by firing people" but could also mean "speeding things up and making departments work better by changing how things are done.")
2. Reduce property taxes by 5% without harming police, fire, or snow plowing. (He doesn't say what he WOULD reduce.)
3. Support and partner with business; make the city friendlier to business.
Other random notes: he has backyard chickens. So if you're a backyard chicken fancier and want to make sure that the mayor you elect doesn't try to take away your chicken coop, Fine's your guy. He's on the board of a number of arts organizations, including the MIA and the Children's Theater, but he doesn't appear to be on the board of directors for the Minnesota Orchestra. (If he were, I would call that out as a big strike against him.)
So here's what I'd say. If you're a Democrat who thinks property taxes are way too high, but is hesitant to vote for people who say that we need to cut taxes because you're afraid of getting a Republican in disguise, Bob Fine might be a good pick. Ditto if you're a Democrat who thinks that the city needs to be more friendly to business. (You know what? They do. I have a friend who owns a really lovely small business in South Minneapolis; she and her business partners opened a branch this year in Northeast, and it took them months and months to get all the inspections done, the licenses lined up, etc. She said it was RIDICULOUS and frustrating as hell. This isn't a bar we're talking about here, but a pleasant retail establishment, the sort of thing that anyone would love to have nearby, and she said that dealing with the City of Minneapolis was a huge, enormous pain. THIS IS A PROBLEM. Both in South Minneapolis and in Northeast, she opened up in buildings that had sat empty for years. Being "friendly to business" does not have to mean "taxpayer handouts to huge corporations." It can mean "making life easier for entrepreneurs.")
For that matter, if you're a Republican who lives in Minneapolis and is a pragmatist, you should also take a closer look at Fine, despite the fact that he advertises himself as a DFLer. Let's face it: you're almost certainly going to get a Democrat. Would you prefer to shoot for a Democrat who calls out lowering property taxes, auditing the city departments, and partnering with businesses as his three top issues? Especially bearing in mind that you can pick three -- you can list Cam Winton as your top pick, Bob Fine as a fallback.
Cyd Gorman (Police Reform)
So, when I googled Cyd Gorman, I didn't find a campaign website, but I DID find an author website. She's a self-published author who doesn't seem to really know what she's doing -- I mean, leaving aside the rampant grammatical errors on the site, there's the fact that everything seems to be available in print format but NOT available as an e-book (except for "The Lost Lamb," which has other issues, like that the description on Amazon.com and the description on her web site don't seem to match).
I looked at the excerpt from "The Soul Killer" and while it's not precisely good, it's better than I would have expected from her website. There's definitely a market for inexpensive self-published thrillers on Kindle (or maybe it's not a thriller? the Amazon.com description suggests that it's a thriller, but the description on her own website seems to suggest that it's a book about past lives. Maybe it's a thriller about past lives?) Regardless -- there might be a market for this but it needs to be available for Kindle and Nook.
This is all completely tangential, mind you, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the mayoral race that she filed for. But I could find NOTHING online related to the mayoral race; in fact, I'm not even 100% sure it's the same person, although she has a rather unusual name and the author website says she lives in Minnesota.
1. Is there any reason to think she could plausibly do the job? No.
2. Could she plausibly win? No.
3. Is there any other reason to vote for her? No.
Mike Gould (DFL)
There's a blogger who interviewed him, here. Based on the interview I'm going to say that Mike Gould is either mentally ill or on drugs or possibly both.
1. Is there any reason to think he could plausibly do the job? No.
2. Could he plausibly win? No.
3. Is there any other reason to vote for him? No.
James Everett's incoherent ramblings about gay people got me wondering: why is there no actual endorsed Green Party candidate for mayor in this race? The Greens are pretty active in Minneapolis, have gotten a number of people elected to Park Board and City Council over the years, and I would have thought that the Mayor's race would be a heck of a tempting prize, especially with the Democrats so thoroughly divided.
It turns out there's totally an answer to this! Which I found on the e-democracy forums, here. Holle Brian wrote: "We held two endorsing meetings this year, in February and May, in conjunction with widely publicized candidate recruitment efforts. As a result, we have a great slate of qualified and committed candidates for Park Board and City Council; but nobody came forward to request our endorsement for Mayor."
I have to say, the fact that James Everett and Doug Mann represent themselves as Greens on the ballot, but couldn't be bothered to ask the Green Party for endorsement, is almost as pathetic as the fact that the a Libertarian needed a ride because the Libertarian meeting wasn't on the bus line. You know, the public transit line funded by the tax dollars he doesn't think anyone should have to pay. Awkward.
Election 2013 Index of Posts.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-08-27 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-27 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-27 05:27 am (UTC)ETA (after conversation in my living room): pro-slavery southerners referred to slavery as "the peculiar institution." But maybe Everett doesn't know that.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-27 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 03:46 am (UTC)Oh, just read the this remembrance for a little more info on his anti-tax, law-and-order, let's-exploit-racial-tensions approach. He vowed to "take the handcuffs off the police" and to crack down on "racial militants." His supporters called themselves the T-Party. His opponents called him "the George Wallace of the North."
What it boils down to is that Cohen, by mentioning Stenvig and by stating that he wants to stamp out racism in the Minneapolis Police Department, is talking about some very long-standing issues of racism and justice in this city, as well as signaling to anybody who knows that history that he hasn't forgotten. I'm betting that very few people of color who have been in Minneapolis as long as I have will have forgotten either. Since you got here in 1995, and you may not have been hanging out with people given to fierce and fervent discussions of Minneapolis' history around racism, law'n'orderism, and mayoral races, it makes sense that you hadn't heard of ol' Charlie Stenvig yet, but this is huge, huge stuff for some of us oldpharts.
Dunno whether it's going to make me vote for Cohen, but it definitely makes me want to go read all his positions on the issues.
(Edited to aim for clarity a little better.)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 04:27 am (UTC)The bottom line is, unless you are SO motivated by this that you're going to go volunteer for him and round up your fellow older political wonks to do the same, he's got no real shot at winning.
Still, you do get three votes and my guess is that he'll appeal to you, so by all means check him out. If you have questions, he writes back very promptly to comments left on his Facebook page.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 04:55 am (UTC)I was struck by the extent to which this happened long enough ago that I've never heard of this former mayor. I am not exactly a newcomer to the Twin Cities; I moved to Minneapolis in 1995, so I lived there for 17 years. Stenvig was Minneapolis Mayor from 1969 to 1973 and from 1976 to 1978. I was born in 1973.
and probably what I should have done was just say, "Oh, my God, let me digress and tell you about Charlie Stenvig." Because whoah. And also, hey, history. (Apparently there was an exhibit about Stenvig's campaigns and reign at the Andersen Library at the U a while ago that I missed, drat it all.)
I don't know whether Cohen is "banking on long political memories." I do know that his signals definitely reached me, for whatever that's worth. One vote, possibly; I haven't read all his stuff yet, and I'm still pondering Hodges, and thinking about
how strongly I want to avoidMark Andrew and his not-so-publicised supporters.no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 11:46 am (UTC)The bottom line is, unless you are SO motivated by this that you're going to go volunteer for him and round up your fellow older political wonks to do the same, he's got no real shot at winning.
Still, you do get three votes and my guess is that he'll appeal to you, so by all means check him out. If you have questions, he writes back very promptly to comments left on his Facebook page.