My Blue Heaven

In 2006 I made a commitment to do whatever I could to turn the Midwest blue.
I worked on Amy Klobuchar's campaign for U.S. Senate in Minnesota and contributed to the campaigns of rising political stars Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Claire McCaskill in Missouri--I was able to attend a McCaskill rally in Kansas City featuring Barack Obama. All three candidates won in 2006 and have solid progressive voting records. You can check their voting records on govtrack.us. The Midwest is where Democratic leaders are coming from these days. We can't quit now. Minnesota is considered a purple state, with a Republican and a Democrat in the Senate and a Republican governor. Of course, as you know, Missouri and Ohio are also considered important swing states.

2008 is our chance to change the political landscape in the Midwest. That is one reason why I am working for Al Franken for U.S. Senate in Minnesota. I met Al Franken at a "Women for Franken" event in St. Paul last week. Of course, I knew he was funny, but I came away from that meeting with a positive impression of his grasp of the issues and his commitment to social change and political reform. I am also more enthusiastic about working for Franken now that he has hired Stephanie Schriock, a Hillary supporter and former chief of staff for Montana Senator Jon Tester, as his new campaign manager, and has hired Natalie Volin from the DFL Feminist Caucus to work with him on policy issues. At the event he implied that Natalie was giving him more guidance and information on women's issues. The crowd of about fifty women seemed to be similarly impressed. I was standing with a group of academics (we can be pretty cynical and critical) who all seemed to be on board.

It is going to be a very close race; current polls have incumbent Republican Norm Coleman with a slight lead. I'm sure he will get a slight bounce with the Republican convention in St. Paul and an even bigger bounce if Minnesota's Governor Tim Pawlenty is McCain's VP pick. Coleman is also help from outside interest groups, especially from a mysterious group spending millions of dollars for anti-union political ads that are currently running in Maine and Minnesota. See the August 21 article in the New York Times. Coleman has adopted a Roveian campaign strategy. In other words, his is going negative with simplistic ads that attack Franken's character. So, it will be an up hill battle to elect Al. I'll be working in the campaign office, helping with fundraising, and registering voters in South Minneapolis. Both Franken and Obama need record voter turn out in the Twin Cities to win in Minnesota.

I'll keep you posted on the campaign.