To clarify about Entenza and the endorsement

I need to clarify something about how I’ve been reporting the status of the race for the DFL gubernatorial endorsement. I have been reminded that candidate Matt Entenza would honor the endorsement if everyone else does. Former Sen. Mark Dayton has announced that he will bypass the endorsement and enter directly into the primary, thus leading to the assumption everyone has been making that Dayton and Entenza are going to the primary. However, there is a key difference in that Entenza plans to aggressively seek the endorsement and it was not my intention to indicate that he didn’t have the same chance as all the other candidates in that boat in my latest post about John Marty.

And, as an item of interest, I am in talks with the campaigns of Susan Gaertner and Steve Kelley about setting up interviews with those candidates. After that I think I’ll have burned through the collection of announced candidates and will be left with the “oh, ya, pretty sure” candidates. There are 56 of them. Just kidding. Not really. I think I started this endeavor to ensure that I had met and conversed with the gubernatorial nominee before they were the nominee. I now concede the possibility that the sheer number of candidates might prevent me from remembering anything about the eventual winner. Fortunately there will be a written record.

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    Matt is playing a bs game on the endorsement. Dayton was the first to announce he will run for governor back in 2007 and was clear that he would run in the primary.

    Matt knew this. So his statement is crap. Matt and Mark both- out of the gate, decided that the would not honor or abide by the endorsement.

    Out of the gate.

    The difference is Mark was upfront about his intentions, and Matt was dishonest.

    This is what to expect from both of the candidates as time goes on:
    Mark- telling people what he thinks, not what they want to hear all of the time (ie- I’ll spend my own money and I’ll run in the primary).
    Matt-telling people what’s politically neutral (ie, raising money but, still ready to write the big check and abiding by the endorsement if everyone else does).

    We are fighting for health care among our own Democrats in Washington and Matt thinks his family 15 million dollar payday from UnitedHealth over the last eight years when the majority of Americans saw their premiums rise 83% and denials triple. Its criminal.

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  4. Chris...if that's my real name says

    There seems to be an affliction of anonymity in your comments section recently.

    On a different note, I was wondering, do you take notes during the interviews and reconstruct the quotes from them, or do you record these discussions in some other fashion?

  5. Yes, I have also noticed this!

    I take traditional shorthand notes during the face to face interviews and I usually type the shorthand when they’re over the phone. I suppose I could/should record them given the potential controversy of he/she said, but my basic mindset has been to do each of them the same way I did the first one.

    Once I have the notes the first part of the post is much like the old “meet the candidate” stories I used to do for the paper. The second half is essentially a column in which I say what I thought about the candidate’s message, approach and chances.

  6. Anonymous says

    Anonymous comments are probably due to freedom to speaks one mind or share information without the campaign hacks tearing apart the poster and maligning her/him among the DFL delegates and committee members, simply because their paymaster is not their choice.

    I wrote the above about Entenza (who has already proven that he will use his resources to investigate anyone who may stand in his way- while smiling and lying in your face).

    Being anonymous, until I’m not, allows my words to stand on their own, without much of a ‘kill the messenger’ response.

    Again:

    1. Entenza lied about a six figure background check and investigation on the professional and personal life of the Attorney General in 2006. He did this because he was poising himself for Governor. It almost tore the party apart and was shameful. Thank goodness it was a DFL watershed year.

    2. The vast resources come from what amounts to blood money. Entenzas wife brought him millions as an executive with the HMO she worked for. HMO’s make money by denying health services. They don’t become billion dollar corporations by paying for services. In her last four years, she was the head of the senior division. How many seniors are DEAD because of services denied or drug costs not covered?
    I don’t care what he pledges to do when he’s governor. The values he condoned when few were paying attention is what counts.

    3. The money mentioned above, allows Entenza to have the luxury of choosing between the endorsement or running on. So, instead of taking an honest stand, we know he wants its bad and has for eight years, he gives the politically nuanced answer. So, he places his value of the endorsement and service of party volunteers in the hands of his opponents? If they run in the primary, so will I? What is that?

    Although he is not of the same pedigree and history of the other candidates we put in place to be our standard bearer for that office, he will certainly yield the same type of results. FAIL

    Dayton is upfront about who he is and what he’ll do. He is kind of goofy but, is a winner. People like him and know him after electing him statewide twice and him serving in three different positions as Commissioner over our state agencies. You have to watch him and address how to beat him.

    Margret has lost a huge step after this last session and needs to regroup. She has a network that will bring money and experts but, I’m not sure how she melds with the delegates and everyday DFLers.

    Thissen is going strong and gets more impressive everyday. Great campaign, great presence and impressive fundraising. Needs to get his name out there. Looks too much like David Lillehaug in his photos- he’s got to do something about that.

    Thanks Aaron

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