Jim Olson discusses "Boomer" at EP Library

This evening Jim Olson spoke at the Eden Prairie Library on his self-published novel Boomer. Olson served as a chaplain's assistant near Củ Chi, Vietnam, in 1967. Before rendering several passages from the novel, he read a moving memoirish piece about his Jackson, MN childhood friendship with Charlie Ryberg, later a gifted young man who published an anti-Vietnam War piece in the local paper, earning him ridicule. After graduating from Harvard, Ryberg enlisted* (perhaps in response to the dissing he'd received for opposing the war), went to Vietnam and was killed there. Olson's passages on Vietnam elicited a few tears and stimulated quite a bit of discussion in the audience, which included a number of people fully jiggy [to invoke a Madia family term of endearment for you-know-who] with Team Madia, including Ash's Osseo High social studies teacher--in red, above [name?]--who accompanied Olson on a cathartic 2001 trip to Vietnam, himself having lost a beloved brother in the war.

**

In the current presidential campaign, John McCain's Vietnam narrative is being repeated in ever more vivid detail. It bears remembering that a lot more Vietnamese human rights got violated, during the war, than did American human rights. I made this point today within a discussion thread--and got called an 'Obamabot,' a moral equivalence proponent and 'a cocksucker.' (In the spirit of the weekend just passed, I take offense at the first two of these charges.) In acknowledging this reality, I am not momentarily justifying McCain's treatment as a POW, nor am I diminishing the sacrifice of our Vietnam veterans. But were I a newspaper-reading citizen of Vietnam who was trying to follow the US election campaign, I'd be irritated that the American political discussion was constantly revisiting McCain's horror in a manner implying most war crimes were visited by the VC upon us. Pshaw.

The MNIP Factor

In Minnesota politics, the Independence Party [MNIP] provided a vehicle for Jesse Ventura to become Governor. Since then, the party's primary real-world impact has been to divide moderate-to-liberal majorities and to elect Republicans. Tim Pawlenty would probably not have been elected in 2002 had the MNIP not fielded a candidate that year. Had the MNIP [in an act of patriotism] disbanded in early 2006, Pawlenty almost certainly would have lost to Mike Hatch. When you start looking up election results in Minnesota, you begin to see a lot of elections thrown to the Republicans by the MNIP.

I had long thought that DFL Party rules prevented a DFL candidate from actively seeking the endorsement of another party. Given the present situation, Republican candidates have every incentive to elevate the stature of their MNIP opponent, while DFL candidates should attempt to neutralize the MNIP role.

David Dillon is a good person, but he's an independent political entrepreneur; he's not making a strong MNIP-related rationale as to why a third party candidate is needed now, in this district, for this office. He wanted to run for Congress and didn't want to have to deal with the complications, interest groups and activists required of a serious GOP or DFL candidacy. With the MNIP endorsement in hand, Dillon has no army of committed activists nor any traditional interest group bases to tap for a serious attempt at winning. A minor danger lurks--for Team Madia--in a November result in which Dillon siphons off 5-15% of the electorate which, in Dillon's absence, would likely break 60-40 Madia-Paulsen.

So I was surprised when Chris Truscott reported that [DFL endorsed Sixth District US Congressional candidate] El Tinklenberg was trying to get endorsed by the MNIP, and succeeding. For a rules clarification, I put the question to David Weinlick, the DFL's Party Affairs Director. The upshot is that it is permitted. In retrospect, it is regrettable--imho--that Ashwin Madia didn't enter the fray within the MNIP, seeking its endorsement over David Dillon who, like Madia, has no history of involvement in the MNIP.

The moral of the story is that I believe Team Madia must tread carefully in mapping a strategy of neutralizing/diminishing Dillon's candidacy, and that future CD3 DFL-endorsed candidates should consider the strategic benefit of actively seeking the MNIP nod.

For the record, here's Weinlick's clarifying response:

Gavin—

There was a rule in the 2002-2003 Official Call that prohibited it, but it was a new item that cycle, and it was not included in subsequent cycles. The prohibition remains that someone cannot be considered for endorsement if they are an “active member” of another political party, but that is all. Receiving the endorsement of another party does not make one an active member, although other parties may have rules that would prevent such a dual endorsement. I have included the text from the last five versions of the Official Call for your reference.

David Weinlick
Party Affairs Director
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party

2000 text:

Nothing

2002 text:

Eligibility. No person may speak or vote on any motion, resolution,nomination or election at any caucus, convention, meeting or conference of the DFL Party who is a member of any other political party or a participation any of its meetings. No person may be considered for endorsement who is a member of another political party or a participant in any of its meetings,or is seeking endorsement from another political party.

2004 text:

Eligibility. No person may speak or vote on any motion, resolution,nomination or election at any caucus, convention, meeting or conference of the DFL Party who is an active member of any other political party. No person may be considered for endorsement who is an active member of another political party.

2006 text:

Eligibility. No person may speak or vote on any motion, resolution,nomination or election at any caucus, convention, meeting or conference of the DFL Party who is an active member of any other political party. No person may be considered for endorsement who is an active member of another political party.

2008 text:

Eligibility. No person may speak or vote on any motion, resolution,nomination or election at any caucus, convention, meeting or conference of the DFL Party who is an active member of any other political party. No person may be considered for endorsement who is an active member of another political party.

Local Indian Americans Rally Behind Ashwin Madia

Drs. Shashikant and Kumud Sane of Excelsior hosted a successful fund-raiser this evening for Ashwin Madia. Members of MAIDA [The Minnesota Asian-Indian Democratic Association] were invited, as were various other Madia supporters.

It was a cool evening, the food was great and Ash gave an excellent speech.

Lee Carlson was also in attendance this evening. Carlson came very close to replacing ultraconservative Kurt Zellers during the previous cycle. He's working hard at it again this summer, door knocking Maple Grove for himself and for Ashwin Madia. Carlson is delighted to be appearing on the same ticket as Ashwin, saying 32B residents find Madia's story attractive.

Loon Goes Door Knocking in 42B

Supporters of Republican 42B candidate Jenifer Loon gathered today at the Eden Prairie Library to go door knocking. Loon is at right, above. Loon is opposed by DFLer Jerry Pitzrick, to whom I have made a small contribution.

A Visit to Rep. Oberstar's Duluth Office

I drove up to Duluth today, having the day off work, stopping on the way in Carlton, MN for the first time, for a jog on the Munger Trail. Recommended.

**

After picking up my son, we visited Rep. Jim Oberstar's office at the Federal Building in Duluth, above. The Congressman was in DC; the woman staffing the office (a friendly original hire) kindly handed me a copy of How Our Laws Are Made and a pocket Constitution. Coolness!

Jim Oberstar represents Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District, which includes seventeen counties and part of another. He's served seventeen terms thus far, and now seeks another. Oberstar ranks #28 in the House, in power. And he's a pristinely prolife, pro-gun DFLer, an avid cyclist and of course he's Mr. Transportation. The Republican Party hasn't mounted any serious challenge to his tenure, with former Sen. Rod Grams opposing Oberstar in 2006, and getting nowhere. The Minnesota Republican Party doesn't currently show any candidate for Oberstar's seat. It must be odd, in life, to achieve such lofty power with no real opposition. Yet Oberstar comes across as a pleasant man whose ego is in check.

Speaker of the House Carl Albert, swearing in Oberstar in 1975.

One-third of Rep. Oberstar's hardhat collection.

It pays to support labor: The AFL-CIO provided

Oberstar with this one-off cribbage table.

A Brief Dissent on Heller

Mitch Berg loves guns and is delighted by Heller, the Supreme Court ruling striking down DC's anti-gun ordinance:

By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court of the United States today ruled in the Heller case that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is exactly what the founding fathers intended; that a right “of the people” means “people”, not “the National Guard”.

The court dealt forty years of erosion of civil liberties and contempt for the law-abiding citizen a sharp kick in the groin with pointy boots. The decision stands as the capstone on one of the most remarkable bits of grassroots politics in American history - a three-decade battle where the nation’s people, black and white and Republican and Democrat, fought their elites first to a standstill, and then came back to an escalating series of victories, starting in the courts of public opinion, extending through legislatures and city councils around the nation, to today.

Many liberal legal observers find the Scalia reading of the "ambiguous" Second Amendment strained and unpersuasive [as John Paul Stevens said]. In addition, it's long seemed weird to me to call the right to carry a gun a civil liberty. But I realize Mitch Berg disagrees with me; herewith, a few questions:

Long ago, I lived in Taiwan for almost a decade, where gun-related fatalities occur at less than 3% of the US rate. Gun ownership is severely restricted in Taiwan, a quite democratic island polity of 21m people, about one-sixth the size of Minnesota. I never met any citizen there who believed his civil liberties were paltry due to his inability to legally purchase a gun. In addition, Taiwan was, for decades, much praised and supported by the American political right, as a bastion of anticommunism and capitalism. And even among this right-wing crowd, I never heard any of Taiwan's American conservative supporters argue that civil liberties in Taiwan were unimpressive and insufficient, due to gun control. By refusing to criticize Taiwan for its highly restrictive anti-firearms laws, conservatives implicitly acknowledge that the individual's right to legally own a gun may be a fine policy preference, or an American peculiarity--but it is in no way a fundamental civil liberty, nor is it required for democracy to flourish.

Agreed, Mitch?

DFL African American Caucus Hears Team Franken

African American DFLers listen to Team Franken's pitch

Near the intersection of West 38th St and Nicollet Ave S, there's a small, mustard-walled soul food restaurant named Chelly's Cafe. I stopped by this evening to observe a meeting of the DFL African American Caucus. About twenty people shared dinner, participated in the meeting and interacted with two representatives from Team Franken. The group's attitude towards Al Franken was unenthusiastically supportive; if tonight's group in any way reflects the attitudes of African American Minnesotans, it's surprising just how muted and qualified is their thinking about the endorsed DFL candidate for US Senate.

Bobby Joe Champion, endorsed DFL candidate for 58B

While listening in at this evening's event, I met Bobby Joe Champion, the endorsed DFL candidate for state representative in 58B, the north Minneapolis constituency currently served by Augustine "Willie" Dominguez. So Champion challenged a sitting DFL state representative, in other words, and got the endorsement from the DFL Party. Bobby Joe--an attorney who earned his BA at Macalester--says that the foreclosure problem is hitting 58B with particular severity and making it his key issue put him over the top in the endorsement battle. Dominguez, Champion told me, promised he'd accept the outcome of the endorsement contest--prior to learning its result--but is now having second thoughts.

During this evening's meeting, Champion described his experience door knocking for Democratic candidates. When he'd ask people if they would support Barack Obama, they said yes with excitement; then he'd ask people if they would support Al Franken--and the wind then left the sails.

Champion wouldn't let me leave without his brochure; we walked out of Chelly's together, crossed the street and he was immediately spotted and enthusiastically greeted by well-wishers. Champion's spotless BMW was parked near the intersection with all windows open. It'll be interesting to see if he can weather the predicted primary challenge.

Paulsen at Play

"So you're positive this thing can

generate an Iraq position for me?"

This evening while out for my constitutional, I was surprised to see Erik Paulsen--solo--rollerblading toward me. I was speechless, sensing some recognition in his eyes. He sported a certain trench coat mafia sartorial blackness. Neither of us said a word. I blade quite a bit myself and noted he was wearing both elbow pads and knee pads--likely signs of either extreme anal-retentiveness or greenhorn rollerblading, in my book. Where's my camera when I need it?

A Chat With Stuart Rosenberg

I spoke yesterday with Stuart Rosenberg, as he was driving across Ohio. (Rosenberg has been hired as Ashwin Madia's new campaign manager.) Yesterday was moving day for Rosenberg, necessitating his drive from DC to MN.

Madia's name recognition now likely trails Paulsen's considerably. (Rather odd that Bodell would run with a rumor to the effect that Madia leads Paulsen by five points in a [likely non-existent] Paulsen-arranged poll.) Were a good poll conducted today--surveying likely CD3 voters on who they'd vote for--Paulsen would probably come out significantly ahead. If such a poll instead asked likely voters whether they would prefer a Democrat or a Republican to be their next congressional representative, I would still expect the result to favor Paulsen. Madia might win this thing in November, imho, but he's got a lot of work to do between now and then.

In the precinct caucuses held on February 5, CD3 Democratic participants outnumbered Republicans by more than three to one. Widespread grassroots participation is what got Madia the endorsement; the party leadership didn't simply prefer Terri Bonoff--they didn't even think Madia merited a hearing. And the general consensus among DFL pooh-bahs remains skeptical concerning the Madia pick; like MSM political journalists, few have made any attempt to learn why CD3 DFL activists selected Madia over Bonoff--and by such a wide margin. (Far easier to ascribe the selection to activist immaturity or irrationality, wrong though such an ascription would be.)

Ashwin's ability to impress and excite a large group of DFL activists is what got him the endorsement; getting Ash elected in November will only happen if that field operation proves capable of massively expanding and deepening. For Madia to win, he has to orchestrate an explosion of grass roots excitement and participation unlike anything previously seen in a CD3 congressional race.

So that's the challenge for Stuart Rosenberg--activating and expanding the Madia volunteer corps. Getting neighbors, friends and family talking up Madia to each other, getting CD3 residents informed on who Ashwin is. Making those blue t-shirts ubiquitous. Rosenberg views the top issues in the race as being the economy, Iraq and health care. It is especially important for Madia to establish his willingness to work productively with people from across the aisle. (Madia's past life as a Republican should work to his benefit in this regard.)

Rosenberg believes that the congressional race will be perceived as distinct from the presidential and senatorial contests, and thinks CD3 voters are more likely to view them independently than voters elsewhere in the state, with plenty of ticket-splitting.

Ahmed Tharwat's 10th Anniversary in Twin Cities TV

Ahmed Tharwat was feted today with an evening of food and entertainment in a large studio at Twin Cities Public Television. About 100 people attended, despite the cancellations of Rep. Keith Ellison and Al Franken, both of whom were listed on the program. See more of the event by clicking on Ahmed's picture, above. Ahmed tapes a weekly public access talk show in an Eden Prairie studio 'from an Arab-American perspective.' Earlier this evening, Eric Eskola interviewed Ahmed on TPT's Almanac program [click on BelAhdan].

Happy 40th, Debra Hilstrom

Linda Scheid, Tim Willson, Debra Hilstrom & Mike Hatch

Celebrating Debra Hilstrom's 40th today

At the workday's end I battled rush hour traffic, heading north twenty miles on 169, so as to attend Rep. Debra Hilstrom's fortieth birthday party. More than a dozen people took part on this hot sunny evening; I took in an hour or so of the three-hour party, held under awnings near the detached garage and chain link fencing of the modest 1953 north burbs house. Rep. Hilstrom looks forward to a summer of door knocking the district, as she squares off against Republican candidate Tim Olson and the Green Party's Allan Hancock. (Good luck, guys!) During the recent legislative session, Hilstrom secured additional state funding to put four or five additional police officers on the street in her district, one of her proudest accomplishments as a legislator.

[Several previous posts here have also mentioned Rep. Hilstrom... one two three].

MTV Deems Ashwin Madia 'Cool Enough'

Ashwin Madia firing up the insiders

This evening the DFL CD3 Central Committee met at the Minnetonka Community Center. A number of seats went unoccupied, but most of the party leaders were present. I'd received a reminder that Ashwin Madia would be speaking tonight, so I made a point of getting there on time. When (at 7 PM) Marge Hoffa convened the meeting, she announced that Ash wouldn't be addressing the group until 8:15 PM. That provided an opportunity to leave the meeting room and meet Andy LaVigne, Team Madia's new Field Director, fresh to Minnesota from getting Don Cazayoux elected in Louisiana's special election. LaVigne inspires confidence; he noted that Team Madia now has 18 interns--several present this evening--with more likely on the way.

I also ran into a team of four young journalists who were covering the event for MTV News--a bit of a surprise.

**

Above: Rep. Erik Paulsen appeared glum this evening

CD3 DFL leaders liked what they saw in

new Madia Field Director Andy LaVigne

At 8:20 or so the Central Committee adjourned and Ashwin addressed the group. One sensed some of the crowd enthusiasm of a few months ago. The candidate was relaxed and self-confident; he spoke for awhile reiterating some popular themes. Then he opened up the floor for questions, of which there were a half dozen or so, all nailed.

Not one to put on the dog: Helen Clark

While door knocking recently on behalf of DFL candidates, a Wayzata German Shepherd bit Helen Clark clear though her jeans, thankfully not requiring stitches. Impressive dedication, Helen! Sixty-eight is the new forty-eight!

Steven Simon on Withdrawing from Iraq

I finally got around to reading Steven Simon's Foreign Affairs piece on Iraq this evening. It's quite good, and seems generally in accord with Ashwin Madia's position:

Although fixating on an exact timetable for withdrawal might be unhelpful at this juncture, a new administration should begin to draw down deliberately and in phases as soon as its internal deliberations are complete and the process has been coordinated with Baghdad. These steps could take months, as the new team conducts its policy-review process; military planners plot safe and efficient withdrawal routes; congressional consultations are carried out; conclusions are reached about where the forces being drawn down should be redeployed; planners determine the size, roles, and missions of the residual force; and the numerous dependencies created by the occupation and the surge are gradually shed. Once under way, however, a drawdown of most of the troops now in Iraq could be completed within two years. The redeployment might proceed more quickly if U.S. public support for the war collapsed, the Iraqi government demanded a swifter withdrawal, or the political situation in Iraq settled down; alternatively, the process might take more time if U.S. forces were under attack, an atrocity claiming the lives of many Americans occurred, or a responsible, reconciliation-minded Iraqi government and a concerned international community sought a slower drawdown.

RTWT: The Price of the Surge. (Or listen to it, if you have ironing to do.)

Murray Out, Rosenberg In; A Sirota Talk

As regards Madia-Paulsen, the information vacuum briefly relented this morning when Shivanthi Sathanandan emailed, notifying us that Jonathan Murray will leave, having concluded that Team Madia--headed toward certain victory in November--can now give the second-stringers some field time. The news has a sound somewhat resembling a canning, but who knows, maybe he just wants to go spend time with his family. I've put in a request to interview the new chap.

This evening I attended the David Sirota talk at the Galleria's Barnes & Noble. Sirota was announced at 7:30 PM but didn't show up until five minutes later. In mid-talk, he walked away from the lectern, apparently nauseous, returning five minutes later. He didn't look ill, but it was an odd performance. Sirota talked briefly about his new book The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington. The author thanked Wellstone Action for getting people to show up for this evening's talk.

I'd hoped to find Sirota's talk stimulating, but didn't. Among the 40 attendees, I heard a number mention they'd attended the National Conference on Media Reform. Sirota himself apparently attended the conference, briefly.

During his talk, Sirota cautioned against excessive faith in politicians moving the country in a better direction. He complained that Alexander Hamilton had advocated a US Senate that would be a 'permanent barrier' against democratic, grassroots democracy. Hamilton in fact used the phrase 'permanent barrier' in praise of the British House of Commons, though Sirota would be fair to suggest Hamilton admired that institution's various safeguards; if you read the entire passage it's difficult to view Hamilton as a radical anti-democrat; he's discussing the difficulties involved in instituting a federal government. The US Senate clearly isn't a very democratic institution--fair enough--but Hamilton's purpose wasn't so much to thwart the popular will as to craft a republican federal government that could win public support and endure. Sirota's invocation of Hamilton's two-word phrase, then, is unfair.

Ciresi Can't Win in September

Mike Ciresi

Minnpost notes the new Draft Ciresi website, which doesn't look legitimate. A number of bloggers have been commenting on the wisdom of a Ciresi challenge. Some remain nervous about Franken's accounting and publication-related vulnerabilities. Perhaps--even at this late date--some other DFLer would stand a better chance of beating Norm Coleman. I'm just not convinced that person is Mike Ciresi. How could Ciresi re-enter the race at this point, given his repeated, strong promises to accept the endorsement decision made in Rochester?:

Ciresi Campaign Denied Rumors That They Would Force A Primary If They Failed To Secure The DFL Endorsement. In March 2008, MinnPost.com reported, "Ciresi’s apparent troubles in gaining the support of delegates at district conventions have led to persistent rumors that the Twin Cities attorney will announce that he will not honor the endorsement process but, instead, will run in the primary in September. Ciresi’s campaign again strongly denied those rumors Thursday morning. ‘Mike has said a million times that he’s going to abide by the endorsement process,’ said campaign spokeswoman Leslie Sandberg. ‘Nothing has changed. Mike Ciresi will abide by endorsement.’”

Ciresi Spokeswoman Denied Self-Funding Indicated He Was Going Back On His Promise to Abide By The DFL Endorsement. In February 2008, the Duluth News-Tribune reported, “Ciresi spokeswoman Leslie Sandberg denied speculation that Ciresi’s recent $2 million donation to his own campaign means he is planning to break the promise all candidates made to abide by the official DFL nomination. Staying competitive was the only motivation behind the donation, she said.” [Duluth News-Tribune, 2/29/08]

Ciresi: “We Need To Be United, So I’m Going To Abide By The Endorsement.” In February 2007, Minnesota Public Radio reported that unlike his 2000 US Senate campaign, Ciresi “says he will seek the DFL endorsement and honor it, supporting whomever delegates choose and forgoing a primary battle. ‘I think that it’s essential that Democrats come out of our convention united behind one candidate,’ Ciresi says. ‘Republicans nationwide are going to pour enormous resources into this race. The Republican convention is going to be here. They will put Norm Coleman front and center of that. They’ll give him all of the exposure he needs. We need to be united, so I’m going to abide by the endorsement.’”

If Ciresi decides to oppose Franken in the primary, I think Minnesota Democrats will stand by their man, particularly given Ciresi's statements, quoted above.

Franken Completes Minnesota Tour With Mpls Rally

This evening Al Franken ended his four-day post-endorsement Standing Up for Minnesota tour, with a rally at the Communication Workers of America Hall in Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood. It was a beautiful sunny evening; I expected more than the hundred supporters who turned out for the event. Franken was preceded at the lectern by Jeff Hayden, Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Al's daughter Thomasin Franken. The US Senate candidate was relaxed, warm and good-humored, working the room extensively before and after his speech. His strongest rhetorical moment came when he spoke of restoring America's position in the world.

Diaspora Studies

Michele Garnett McKenzie, Kerper Dwanyen,

John Keller & moderator Vic Rosenthal

This evening I attended Ending Temporary Status – Providing a Permanent Home for Immigrants at the Sabes Jewish Community Center, where three people spoke on various immigration issues. Forty people attended. I expected a woolly general argument in favor of the moral imperative to grant US citizenship to anyone requesting it, but the presentation was somewhat more focused than that.

John Keller discussed Temporary Protected Status. TPS, enacted in 1990, allows the US Attorney General to designate that people from certain countries who are in the US may stay here temporarily. Countries are put on the list due to armed conflict, environmental disaster or other extraordinary and temporary conditions, Keller explained. If you're an undocumented alien [definition 2, noun] in the US and you get TPS, you can then likely seek employment legally, but this designation is not supposed to lead to permanent status. The AG can extend TPS year after year, as has been done with regard to the Liberians, or he can announce its termination--as has been announced to the disappointment of the three dozen Burundians currently on TPS in the USA.

Fewer than 500,000 US residents currently hold TPS immigration status. More than half of the people who are now in the US on TPS status are from El Salvador. Salvadorans in the US were granted TPS status due to the two earthquakes that struck in 2001 and as a thank you note for signing on to the Multi-National Force - Iraq, a speaker hinted.

Kerper Dwanyen then spoke a bit about the history of Liberia. Some 4,000-10,000 Liberians hold TPS now. That status is set to expire on March 31, 2009. Dwanyen rattled off a number of statistics on present-day [post-conflict] Liberia: 85% unemployment, 5% have access to electricity, the railroad tracks have been looted, schools and hospitals gutted. I was surprised to learn that the CIA essentially confirms Dwanyen's description. Dwanyen was arguing that Liberia is in too bad of a situation for the US to forcibly repatriate TPS-holding Liberians, that the US bears some responsibility, historically, for Liberia's meltdown and that having the Liberians remain in the USA--many remitting payments to loved ones back home--benefits Liberia's effort to get back on its feet. Dwanyen's analysis of the historical situation was nuanced: He believes the US played a role but he also blames Muammar al-Gaddafi and Liberians themselves for bringing the country to its current dire state.

Michele Garnett McKenzie spoke about the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation hearings now taking place at Hamline, through June 14. She made a somewhat stronger argument on behalf of extending the Liberians' TPS status, claiming that the US has a moral obligation to assist the Liberians, to compensate for various historical crimes, such as the depredations of Firestone Rubber in Liberia. (All speakers this evening eventually want a path to citizenship for all TPS holders, I'm quite sure.)

During the Q&A following the panelists' presentations an older gent asks what the word DIE-ə-SPORE-ə means. (He's heard a number of the panelists use the word, he says.) And I think, What a question to ask in a crowd of [mostly] Jewish people! But no one responds impolitely or with any discomfort; Keller I think ventures a stumbling definition. Then Vic Rosenthal explains, If you're Jewish and you're living in Israel, then your a diaspora. Odd, I reflect, but I resist any temptation to correct Jewish Community Action's Executive Director concerning the definition of diaspora. An audience member corrects him, telling him he's got it backwards. Dwanyen then ventures, 'If you're an American and you're living in Liberia, then you're diaspora.' No, an audience member says--'then you're an expatriate.'

Steve Sarvi for US Congress

Steve Sarvi at the April 5, 2008

SD34 DFL Convention in Chaska

Steve Sarvi is running for US Congress--seeking to represent Minnesota's Second Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, now unhappily sat upon by John Kline.

Today being Steve Sarvi Day here in blogland, I drove out to Watertown, MN this evening. I found one open establishment, a bit past 10 PM--the Luce Line Lodge--a spacious sports bar. I asked the bartender what he knew about Steve Sarvi. He hadn't heard of him.

'I think he's mayor.' No, the barman said, K.J. McDonald is mayor now. We summon a doctor--who happens to be the only other Watertown resident seated in the establishment. A family practitioner--thin, graying, working a laptop computer, drinking a soft drink. He has nothing but positive things to say about Steve Sarvi. The doctor had a building constructed during Sarvi's [three-term] mayorship and says Sarvi was a great help along the way, and to Watertown's main street generally. The mayor of Watertown is a non-partisan office; the doctor mentioned his surprise on learning that Sarvi is now running for US Congress as a DFLer. (Yes, the doctor was already aware of Sarvi's current candidacy.) He says Watertown is probably about equally divided, Democrats and Republicans, with a predominantly pro-life position on abortion, he volunteered. He mentions that Sarvi's tenure as mayor only came to an end as a result of Sarvi's deployment to Kosovo. 'Will you consider voting for Sarvi come November?' I inquire. Oh, yes, for sure, he's a great guy, the doctor answers.

Watertown, said to now house over 4000 people, according to my medic/interviewee, has surprisingly little nightlife, even for a town of its size.

Sarvi's the man. He served our nation gallantly abroad and he's much admired by the one prominent former constituent I met today. Please consider contributing to Steve Sarvi for US Congress today! Click here to give.

That New York Magazine Matter

Al Franken won the DFL endorsement for US Senate today. I subcaucused for Franken in 42B and wish his candidacy well.

During Franken's speech today, he issued a vague 'apology' for having written unfunny and offensive material at times in the past. Franken's response will not succeed in laying the issue to rest. Clearly, the New York magazine account must be addressed head-on. The quotation appears 5,125 words deep in a 10,000 word anti-SNL article that was published in the March 13, 1995 issue of New York magazine. The tasteless skit under discussion in the magazine article did advance to the dress rehearsal stage, unhelpfully.

Even if the article is accurate, Franken owes no one an apology. As an artist he is responsible for the finished product--the television program that actually went on the air. Laura Brod's grandstanding on this is repulsive. Franken needs to lay this specific matter to rest, and he should do so forcefully and without excessive self-laceration.

Btw: This just in: Darryl Stanton will challenge Al Franken in the primary...he told me this evening as we met, coincidentally, at Eden Prairie's McDonald's. (See this for a bit of background on Stanton.)

The Attack on Imagination

Lucretia (Rembrandt -- 1666)
Minneapolis Institute of Arts

If Republican women teamed up with DFL feminists, Minnesota comedy could be improved massively--right? It's not quite working out as I'd hoped. The attack by the humorless and the hyperliteral upon Al Franken is intensifying.

The comments come after the Republican Party held a news conference criticizing a 1995 story in New York magazine that quotes Franken joking about rape, while he and other "Saturday Night Live" writers discussed ideas for a sketch.

So Al Franken is now being attacked for something he is reported to have said in a brainstorming session more than a decade ago. Even if the quotation is accurate--Franken does not confirm its accuracy--few utterances merit greater protection than those made in brainstorming sessions, no?

In addition, DFL U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum of St. Paul released a statement saying, "it is appalling that anyone could characterize rape, a violent and horrible crime, as a joke."

I'm puzzled by the a violent and horrible crime, in the sentence above. Does McCollum seriously perceive herself to be bringing heretofore unknown information to public attention, when she informs us that rape is horrible? Isn't that just a little bit insulting? Or does McCollum think that violent and horrible crimes of all types should be forbidden from appearing within the brief fictional form of the joke? If so, McCollum's menace to American comedy--indeed, to American freedom--is frightening indeed. Fiction, like dreaming, is an activity rarely improved upon by busybodies. If McCollum and Brod seek to banish the word rape from American humor, why stop there? Why don't we agree that no work of fiction can ever include a rape? Wouldn't that make the world a better place?

Beware the politician who seeks to govern your conduct in brainstorming sessions, I say. Be particularly leery when it comes to the painfully unfunny legislator who believes American comedy might benefit by her proctorship. We expect such rhetoric from Republicans, of course:

"When he could talk about a skit and throw ideas out there, he chose drugging and rape," said Brod. "These are his words. He's painting his own picture. And I think the picture he's painting with his own words is a picture that Minnesota would absolutely reject."

Laura Brod and Betty McCollum's McCarthyite assault on imagination ought to be rejected.

Coleman on Darfur; Madia on Sullivan

Thanks MinnPost

Sen. Norm Coleman has responded to my inquiry concerning Darfur, Sudan. Thanks, Sen. Coleman. (For the record, Erik Paulsen refuses to articulate any position concerning Darfur.)

Ashwin Madia issued a spot-on, skillful hit on Erik Paulsen, slamming Paulsen for sidestepping the Iraq issue. Madia notes that Paulsen's website doesn't mention Iraq. (This remains the case today.)

A frequent commenter on this blog wrote recently to Ashwin Madia, seeking redress for various statements I've published on this site. I found this quite odd; while I admire Ashwin Madia, I have no official position on the Madia campaign and have tried hard to be fair to all candidates; I don't in any way answer to Ashwin Madia for my statements on this site. So I expected Team Madia to reply to Twice Blessed, though Team Madia's actual response was a bit surprising:

Thank you for your interest in the campaign and our apologies for the delayed answer in the future please call the office for a more rapid response. Gavin Sullivan is in no way connected to our campaign. As a blogger he has the right to raise questions of candidates running for public office but that by no means constitutes an endorsement of his tactics. If you look into some of his previous entries during the DFL endorsement race you will notice that he was no less aggressive with the Madia campaign.

The exchange is interesting--as it's an example of what happens when a rock-ribbed Erik Paulsen-supporting Republican directs a contentious (indeed, batshit crazy) question to Team Madia: They get a polite, forthright, substantive response.

Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing

Several observers of the Minnesota political scene, I noted yesterday, have criticized Al Franken for his Porn-o-rama article in the January 2000 Playboy Magazine. When friends or enemies of Team Franken dispassionately observe 'Porn-o-rama isn't beneficial to the candidate,' fine. But I do object when people playact at being offended by Porn-o-rama so as to showboat as simpletons or justify their anti-Franken blathering. Take Betty McCollum:

“As a parent and an aunt, and talking to other parents, people are very concerned about the type of Internet use that’s out there, and how it has a potentially harmful effect on children,” McCollum said.

"As a woman, a mother, a former teacher, and an elected official, I find this material completely unacceptable," McCollum said of Franken's piece"

Bizarre, no? Do your kids troll the internet for eight-year-old Playboy articles? Does McCollum find Franken's article unacceptable, or does she find Playboy Magazine unacceptable? If either is genuinely unacceptable, what ought we now do, given that the article has long since been printed and mailed out? Would a public execution of Hugh Hefner suffice? Does McCollum actually require an America in which Playboy readers don't imagine--what's the word?--congress?

And why does it matter that McCollum is an aunt, parent, woman, mother, former teacher, elected official, etc.? I mean, how do McCollum's personal identity attributes impact whether Franken's article does or doesn't deserve moral condemnation? Does she seriously mean to suggest that Porn-o-rama wouldn't be offensive if only McCollum's sister had never given birth? As an uncle, parent, former hat salesman and left-handed, near-sighted athlete's foot sufferer, I'd like to know, damn it.

Yesterday I discussed Esme Murphy's recent interview with Franken. In the interview, Murphy--with both hands in the air--confronts Franken face-to-face. And it wouldn't rankle if Murphy were to disinterestedly ask Franken about Porn-o-rama. But Murphy's perceived need to ham it up for the camera, pretending to be personally offended, irks. So I asked [Harvard grad] Murphy if she felt personally offended by Franken's article: 'I have no objection to anyone writing an article like that. But an article like that is going to trouble people,' she replied. Fine, but then why the huffing and puffing and arms in the air?

Reps. Ellison and Walz have also announced their delicate sensitivities concerning the mention of oral sex, etc. With bold leaders like Ellison and Walz, the future of the missionary position looks bright indeed. What spine!

My friend Chris Truscott has also bashed Al Franken for Porn-o-rama: 'State Rep. Laura Brod is absolutely right. Al Franken has engaged in satire that is “demeaning and degrading” to women.'

So I questioned Truscott about his posting. Is Truscott really personally offended? He responded by saying 'It was offensive generally. I personally don't care, but recognize it as offensive.' So, as with Esme Murphy, we learn that Truscott's initial fainting spell was in fact playacting; Truscott is not personally offended. He doesn't even care. We find Murphy, Truscott and I are similarly unoffended by Franken's article, but we think that politically it might be damaging to the candidate's prospects. (As regards Franken-Coleman, Murphy is neutral, Truscott is pro-JNP [see Truscott's correction, in comments /Ed] and I am somewhat sympathetic to Franken's candidacy.)

I also emailed Michael Brodkorb today, asking if he was personally offended by Porn-o-rama; he didn't respond. Another DFL activist and friend wrote saying the article does offend her; that it's not satire but perhaps sci-fi porn. (I confess innocence with regard to the SFP genre, and am likely a poor judge.) If anyone out there is personally offended by Porn-o-rama, by all means state your case.

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Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing

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Why do people pretend to hold viewpoints they don't in fact believe in? This is a complex and pervasive aspect of social life; myriad incentives lead us to misrepresent our priorities, commitments and analyses; utter hypocrisy is all too often the norm, not the exception. But when we see each other engaging in fairly obvious examples of preference falsification, we ought to talk about it.

We're Not All Offended

Al Franken with Press Secretary Jess McIntosh

at the April 12 CD3 DFL Convention

With the DFL state convention just around the corner, a few words on the endorsement for US Senate:

Democrats have a right to feel disappointment in Franken, who should have scoured his accounting and publication history two years ago, to get his accounting situation in order and make some effort to inoculate himself with regard to his outré-to-Laura Brod writings. Even after Ciresi dropped out, Franken didn't get to work on either of these tasks. Nor did he get to work on either when it became obvious Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer would not mount a full-court press for the endorsement. So we're left somewhat mystified by what Al Franken might have been thinking. My guess: He's uninterested in financial issues to such an extent that he avoids even seeking out far-sighted, rigorous accounting advice. On the publications, he likely sought solace in self-delusion, convincing himself they wouldn't get dug up. Having surveyed the political landscape in Minnesota, he should have learned faster of the very aggressive right-wing spin machine, which has probably read through every Franken-bylined publication and more by now.
Some have argued that Nelson-Pallmeyer is the new Wellstone. But remember, in 1990 Wellstone faced no serious intra-party opposition as he sought the endorsement for US Senate. He had run statewide before (for State Auditor, in 1982, losing to Arne Carlson) and had spent the subsequent half-decade crisscrossing the state forging friendships with veterans, Native Americans, labor and liberals, while maintaining his full-time teaching position at Carleton. Nelson-Pallmeyer isn't now in a remotely comparable position to the May 1990 Wellstone.

Delegates to the DFL state convention are among those Minnesotans most likely to view the recent charges against Franken as the product of a Ron Carey/Michael Brodkorb dirty tricks machine. Inertia plods towards a Franken nomination. The one person who might credibly have been able to articulate a tough-love argument against Franken's viability--Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer--refused to do so. And the most recent polling (with Franken trailing Coleman by just a few points) suggests that Franken may weather the storm.

Minnesota Monitor's Steve Perry says Ciresi is likely to jump into the primary, and Betty McCollum is mounting a bluenose attack on Franken, possibly on Ciresi's behalf. Ciresi is that rare charisma-free centimillionaire; one wonders how he can perceive a politician within himself. If Ciresi is on the record repeatedly promising not to challenge the delegates' decision in Rochester next week--as Franken states in his Esme Murphy interview, discussed below--then a Ciresi challenge is unlikely to succeed. Perhaps more DFL challengers might enter the race, but the moral disapprobation DFL stalwarts aim at primary challengers will unite activists around Franken. For all the discontent some have directed toward Franken, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which he's not the DFL candidate in November.

Men not infrequently tell dirty jokes; Playboy Magazine is among the tamest forums in which such discourse is published. It bears mentioning that Franken's eight-year-old Playboy piece is not in fact offensive at all; it is mildly funny. The candidate is right to defend his prior profession as a satirist and refuse to get into a line-by-line exegesis in cooperation with the hypocritical.

Franken was interviewed the other day by Esme Murphy. Murphy sets up the interview calling attention to Porn-o-rama (Franken's January 2000 Playboy piece): The Saturday Night Live comedian wrote about visiting a made-up sex institute where he took part in sexual acts with humans and machines. (That's Murphy's amazingly constipated, hyperliteralist introduction.) I mean, it's a work of fiction; Murphy is engaging in the leap of the illiterate to equate a fictional first-person narrator with its author. (We are unsurprised to learn that the woman who had such difficulty pronouncing Ashwin Madia also has difficulty with Mr. Franken's first name: She refers to him as All.) When Murphy addresses Franken face-to-face, she broaches the topic with both hands in the air, attempting to embody the outrage she perceives in her viewers. Murphy says the article is not an easy read and There are going to be people who are offended by it. So Murphy is engaging in Sixty Minutes-style grandstanding, pretending to be asking a question while actually sucking up to the gallery, pretending to be offended. TV.