The DFL fails with a capital F when it comes to choosing candidates - every time Norm Coleman has been elected (or Jesse Ventura?!?) it was because the DFL candidate was extremely unpalatable to Minnesotans for one reason or another. Any other canditate could have beaten Coleman - particularly anyone who was actually FROM Minnesota - the margins are just ridiculous.
It's always possible Franken could win... but either way - :p
I disagree a little with this - I actually think Franken wasn't a bad candidate. I supported him in the primaries over the more traditional political candidate, Mike Ciresi, because he was more innovative and revolutionary, and took harder stances on things like the war, gay rights, and the environment. Minnesotans like unconventional politians. (Ventura is a good example of this, as is Paul Wellstone.)
Franken's problem wasn't him - it was a terrible campaign. Like, awful. He let Coleman dictate the terms of the campaign dialogue, he didn't respond adequately to Coleman's slander, and he completely failed to motivate a young, Democratic base which was already galvanized for Obama. I'm not sure why that is - did he just have a bad manager? - and you can certainly make the argument that how a campaign is run demonstrates how the office will be run, but I'm not sure he was fundamentally the wrong choice.
I don't necessarily think Franken would be a terrible Senator. I think he was a very poor choice in terms of electability. Your point on voting in the primaries for the candidate that matches your views is well taken though. There's always a balance there. I just think that Franken is too far away from the electability side.
As for Ventura... I think he was elected because people hated the IR and DFL candidates so much - a protest vote - more than that people actually thought he would be a good governor. That was the vibe where I was living anyway.
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It's always possible Franken could win... but either way - :p
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Franken's problem wasn't him - it was a terrible campaign. Like, awful. He let Coleman dictate the terms of the campaign dialogue, he didn't respond adequately to Coleman's slander, and he completely failed to motivate a young, Democratic base which was already galvanized for Obama. I'm not sure why that is - did he just have a bad manager? - and you can certainly make the argument that how a campaign is run demonstrates how the office will be run, but I'm not sure he was fundamentally the wrong choice.
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As for Ventura... I think he was elected because people hated the IR and DFL candidates so much - a protest vote - more than that people actually thought he would be a good governor. That was the vibe where I was living anyway.
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