Prime Time

Tomorrow is primary day here in Minnesota and, even if you there's not a compelling race in your area, you should still turn out and exercise your franchise. For Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, there are primary challengers to the endorsed candidates in the U.S. Senate, Governor, and Attorney General races (the DFL also has two candidates vying for Secretary of State). Some are more serious than others, but all are deserving of your attention.

For Republicans, this means resisting the urge to crossover and instead pulling the lever for Mark Kennedy, Jeff Johnson, and yes Tim Pawlenty. The Sue Jeffers bit was fun while it lasted, but it's now time to get serious, roll up our sleeves, and to get to work reelecting Governor Pawlenty. As Hugh Hewitt ably put it, it's "time for politics not purity." At the risk of sounding like a redundant political hack, let me pull a hoary cliché out of the rhetorical quiver and remind you to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Is Tim Pawlenty a perfect governor? Of course not. Is he a good governor? Absolutely. In fact, while I certainly don't agree with everything that he's done, he's easily the best governor that Minnesota has had during my lifetime.

If you live in Hennepin County, you'll also have a choice of six candidates for County Sheriff. My money's on Rich Stanek .

Of course, the race that will likely get the most attention tomorrow--as well as being the one most difficult to prognosticate--is the DFL free for all in the Fifth Congressional District (my district) to succeed Martin Olav Sabo, who's retiring after a mere twenty-eight years in office (term limits anyone?). While there are seven candidates in the mix (Keith Ellison, Mike Erlandson, Andrew Vincent Favorite, Gregg A. Iverson, Paul Ostrow, Ember Reichgott Junge, and Patrick J. Wiles), only three are considered serious contenders: the DFL endorsed Ellison, the Martin Sabo endorsed Erlandson, and the Up With People endorsed Reichgott Junge.

Two weeks ago, I thought that Junge had the momentum and would be sparked by the anti-Ellison backlash among some Democrats to victory. But her recent downbeat commercials, in which she makes Ingmar Bergman seem like a sunny optimist, and the Star Tribune editorial board's endorsement of Erlandson have given me cause to revise my opinion. I now like Mike to emerge from Tuesday's tumult.

This all assumes that Democratic voters are rational enough to decide that, given his questionable past, his current connections, and his propensity to be less than forthcoming about either area, Keith Ellison is not fit to represent them in Congress. Given that the City of Minneapolis makes up most of the Fifth District, that may not be such a well-founded assumption.