Terri Bonoff's 'District Dialogue' Tour

The Party of Lincoln, today

As a state senator, Terri Bonoff periodically has reserved the Minnetonka city council chambers for 'district dialogues,' wherein constituents can come in and say hello, ask questions and share concerns. As a candidate for the US House, Bonoff has expanded on this practice by holding such events elsewhere within the congressional district.

It was -10°F today in the Twin Cities but that didn't stop Terri's campaign from taking the district dialogue tour to Brooklyn Park. Several Bonoff staffers were there as was her husband Matthew Knopf. Sen. Lisa Scheid, a strong Bonoff supporter, sat by her side. I counted eight citizen attendees.

This was the second Bonoff district dialogue I've attended. The last one was in Minnetonka just over a month ago. A mildly unnerving feature of these tiny meetings has been the presence of the young woman pictured above, who identified herself as being with the MN Republican Party. It's a public meeting in a public space; the Republicans are free to record these events of course--and I have heard that the Democrats do the same thing. But it's an aspect of contemporary politics I find a bit creepy.

Erik Paulsen has efficiently eliminated his camcorder shadow by not holding any public meetings. He has yet to declare any position in this campaign; he claims to be the candidate of integrity, though his basis for such a claim remains a closely-guarded campaign secret. Constituents who have emailed him for information on upcoming campaign events have been stonewalled. A mysterious brand of integrity indeed!

The citizens who attended today's meeting made a number of comments and asked questions. The pace was relaxed and the guests appeared receptive to Bonoff's message. Terri is very good with this kind of neighborly meeting; she's friendly, personable and well-spoken. Many of the questions raised today didn't concern federal issues.

Terri sent out a direct mailing to likely precinct caucus goers that just arrived the other day--a 7x10" four-page 'Meet Terri Bonoff' brochure that was quite slick, making an effort to break the ice in a friendly, informal manner. Ashwin Madia has been mailing 6x11" postcards at a fairly regular clip of late. The Madia cards have been somewhat less sophisticated, as advertisements, as they cut right into the discussion of issues and the photos used don't have the professional photographer's sheen noted in Meet Terri Bonoff.

There are some 220 precincts in CD3. (Find yours here.) Events are moving forward very quickly with many unpredictable facets. At the precinct caucuses citizens will elect delegates to the March senate district conventions--the next rung up on the ladder. So the focus now for Madia, Hovland and Bonoff is to motivate citizens to prepare to attend their precinct caucus on February 5 and to get elected to be a delegate to their senate district convention. In my experience, almost anyone wishing to go to the senate district convention (as a delegate) has been able to do so, but this year is radically different than any in memory.

Madia has been running a highly transparent operation: He lists numerous events on his site. Strategically, Madia's house parties appear to be very valuable events. A house party gathers the highly committed and the fence sitters and attempts to mobilize them into 'precinct captains.' A precinct captain attends his precinct caucus, rallies support for her candidate at the caucus and then reports back to the campaign on what transpired at the caucus. So when a respected Maple Grove homeowner packs their house with neighbors for the Ashwin Madia Show, these events are of very high strategic value to the campaign. When you attend a house party, you are being motivated and pitched toward a specific course of action. An effort is going to be made to close the sale.

Which brings me back to Terri's district dialogues: These are pleasant, informative events. Everyone is friendly. The candidate happily responds to all kinds of questions. But an attendee is not left with any feeling of urgency concerning a course of action. No 'sale closing' seems to be intended. Perhaps Bonoff and Hovland are holding many other campaign events that they don't list on their sites. But attending a Madia house party is a lesson in smart campaigning. You get a strong sense that 'you have a choice to make, we want you on the team and once you're on the team you have both benefits and obligations.' As a team member, you are accountable. And when you're speaking at a private residence, no Republican camcorder is tracking your every word. In short, a house party is worth a dozen district dialogues, speaking purely from the perspective of campaign strategy.

(Note to all candidates: Please invite me to your events; I'm really interested in getting a close look at this process. I'd particularly like to observe a Hovland or Bonoff house party. I adore bridge mix.)