The Weekly Wrap 2-15
♣ There were elections this week. Bonus elections! The results:
In 14A Republican Tama Theis defeated DFLer Joanne Dorsher 55%-43%, with Independence party candidate Todd McKee getting 3%.
In 19A DFLer Clark Johnson defeated Republican Allen Quist 54%-36%, with Independence party candidate Tim Gieseke getting 10%.
Both seats were holds for their respective parties.
♣ A few related items concerning Marriage equality were in the Minnesota political media this week. First off, this happened on Thursday.
Speaking of which, Briana Bierschbach looked at the efforts being undertaken by Minnesotans United for All Families to get a bill through the Minnesota legislature this year.
For anyone who thinks there will be some Republicans who vote for Marriage equality, this should give you pause:
But of the four Republicans who voted against the constitutional amendment when it came up in the House, only GOP Rep. Tim Kelly has returned to the Capitol this year. He does not support legalizing gay marriage legislatively.
“My stance has always been that I believe that government shouldn’t have a role in that part of our personal lives, and for me to turn around now and say now that it does, I would feel very hypocritical,” he said, noting that he does support pulling discriminatory language relating to domestic partner benefits out of statute.
“It’s the wrong strategy and it’s the wrong approach, so I think it’s going to have a very tough time,” Kelly continued. “I’ve told the groups they are interpreting the message wrong if they think this [amendment rejection] is a mandate. It becomes such a divisive issue from the start, as we found out.”
In the last related piece, James Nord reports that Republican leaders say they will not punish members of who vote for Marriage equality. Of course, it’s not the leadership of the party that strikes fear in the heart of Republican legislators, no, it’s Republican caucus goers/primary voters.
♣ Buried in this article about Ranked-choice voting, is a nugget concerning Minneapolis Mayoral candidate Cam Winton:
According to Rockenstein, to succeed in such an effort, Winton would need to attract what’s left of the moderate Republicans in Minneapolis and then a large percentage of the true independents, plus a chunk of Democrat voters who would find his platform appealing enough to give him a second or third placement on their ballots.
Winton said that’s the direction he’s heading, and he claims his support cuts across partisan lines.
He notes that his treasurer is well-known and respected DFLer Ashwin Madia, an attorney and Iraq war veteran who ran against Congressman Erik Paulsen in 2010.
♣ Elections have consequences is a thing that is said.
♣ Because an encore was totally what the audience wanted.
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