Race to unseat Obey creates rift among District 7 Republicans
By Robert Mentzer • Wausau Daily Herald • July 19, 2009
Some of my favorite parts:
In Sean Duffy and Dan Mielke,
Like no kidding! Normally we have these gentlemanly ‘beauty pageants’ where there are no significant policy or personal differences. You often have a choice between a State Senator –vs- a Mayor or something like that. Here we have real contrast in age (Duffy-38, Mielke-55), experience (Mielke-Farmer, Duffy-District Attorney), electability (Duffy-elected unopposed 4 times, Mielke-perennial candidate) and 'style' (Mielke-blue collar/farmer, Duffy-white collar & rural 'good ole boy' jock).
“ . . . Dan is a Republican and he is a candidate. So is Sean Duffy."
And Dan provides great contrast to his brother opponent Dave Obey . . .
"If (Mielke) wants to run in this process, he needs to run a clean campaign," Monson said. "He's attacking me, attacking (people in) county parties. Dan Mielke is out there personally attacking people in different ways. Is that the kind of candidate we want?"
Consider this some free advise (if you are reading Dan) as someone who has gone through campaign school with the MNGOP, the RPW, the RNC & GOPAC – you don’t win elections by tearing apart county party organizations and interfering with their internal affairs. A candidate’s job, his or her J-O-B is to win people over not tick them off everywhere you go, especially party activists who do all the volunteer work.
TTFN,
Jim
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2 comments:
And the job of the county parties is to support the candidates impartially and not fix races.
Well, yes and no - it depends. In States like Minnesota where they have a caucus system, what you say is true. In other states where you have a primary system like in Wisconsin, county parties and local leaders can endorse any candidates they want if they so choose.
It is also the job of county chairs to do what is called 'Candidate Search'. We are to look for the best candidate[s] possible for any given office. That means looking at the qualities each possible candidate brings to the table.
Those (in no particular order) qualities include:
1) Adherence to the Party Platform.
2) Willingness to work with local parties and adhere to Party Discipline.
3) Electability.
4) Ability to speak coherently, say why they are running quickly, understandably and forcefully.
5) Ability to appeal to those outside their own party - independents and members of opposite party.
6) Support of family.
The above are just the basics, winning candidate qualities are:
1) Charisma - the candidate is attractive to almost anyone regardless of background.
2) Over 35 years of age, anyone younger is generally not taken seriously.
3) Has been elected and reelected by 60% or more to a lower office. Perennial candidates who have never won a prior election don't fare well. A good example is Harold Stassen.
Harold Stassen, one-time Governor of Minnesota ran for the Republican nomination for President on nine occasions between 1948 and 1992. A responsible party leader (such as a county chairman) is exercising responsible leadership by not giving equal time to every person who wishes to run, especially someone with a track record of failure.
4) Ability to raise money. Like it or not money talks. You need money to run a campaign to buy signs, bumper stickers, pins, radio ads, TV ads, etc. Also - VERY IMPORTANT, a candidate who is ashamed or embarrassed to ask for money does not have enough courage/confidence to stand up for his/her constituents once elected.
5) Demographically similar to constituents. In a Scandinavian community, you want to run a man or woman with a name like 'Luther Nelsen' or 'Sandy Jorgensen'. Ditto on religion, if most people in the area are Catholic, run a Catholic, if most are Baptist, run a Baptist, etc.
6) All things being equal, run a woman over a man because a female candidate will get a few more votes than a man just because there are women who will vote for another woman 'just because' she is a woman. The numbers prove it.
7) A winning candidate has a success story. Being able to point back to a large accomplishment makes many voters think that the person running 'has something on the ball'.
In a race where all things are essentially equal it is best to be as impartial as possible until a primary or endorsing convention.
HOWEVER, if you have 2 candidates that are clearly unequal, the lesser candidate should be discouraged from running as early as possible.
The job of county parties (and Congressional District Parties & State Parties for that matter) is to find the best candidates possible for office.
The 7th Congressional District Republicans of Wisconsin - for whatever reason, were not able to do that and probably got too accustomed to 'lowering their sights' and courting 'sacrificial lamb' type candidates just so they could say they had someone on the ballot.
If the 7th had been more competitive and was more of a 'swing district' that went back and forth between both parties regularly, someone like Dan Mielke would have never gotten on the ballot at this level.
- Jim
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