There are a few certainties in politics and one known fact is this: a candidate runs a campaign.  They set the tone and they call the shots. Candidates with weaker personalities may certainly allow themselves to be managed, but that's also a conscious choice.  How a campaign is run tells you exactly how somebody will lead.

I've described before why I'm supporting Tom Emmer in his race to be Minnesota's next Governor.  Now I'd like to tell you why I'm not supporting Marty Seifert.  

A letter was received yesterday by certain Emmer delegates. Folks who are considered "leaning Emmer" probably because the Seifert campaign doesn't know them well enough.  These are the people that they still hope to win over, and know they must win over, in order to win the endorsement.  Perhaps not on the first ballot, but maybe on the second, or the third.  Even with bad odds, they're willing to roll the dice and throw the crap at the wall in hopes that some of the crap will stick.  They don't send these letters to any "rock solids" and they don't send them to any in the Seifert camp because they don't want to deal with any blowback.  It's all strategically targeted.  Negative Campaigning 101.

This four-page letter was signed by a Seifert delegate and uses a terrible personal tragedy to attack Tom Emmer.  This delegate's husband and son were severely injured by a drunk driver last year and because of this she feels that Tom Emmer (who had a DUI at age 19 and a related offense at age 29,) would not be a good Governor.  

But, when a letter reads "Paid for by Seifert for Governor" it's clear that this is not about a personal tragedy it's about politics.  And it's politics at its very worst.  It's the continual loop of a really bad song that leaves your head aching.  That's been the tune of the Seifert campaign from almost day one, because that's who Marty Seifert is.   A candidate is the campaign. 

The problem with this time-worn strategy is two-fold.  One is the serious threat we face of a Minnesota that looks like Washington today with far-left liberals in charge of  all three branches of our government.  WIth a gaggle of DFL candidates, there isn't a "moderate" in the bunch.  They're falling all over themselves to promise higher tax rates to choke the life out of the state.  This means we have a serious choice in the clear GOP field.  We must find the person in our party who can defeat the DFL based on our ideas...not dirty tricks and name-calling.  You see, Republicans are not interested in being dragged down right now, we're interested in being lifted up.  The second problem is that Emmer's campaign has been more about delegates finding their way to him verses selling the delegates with multiple personal calls and such.  (In the landmine of egos that is the GOP and DFL endorsement process, this is truly unconventional thought.)  So when you attack like this, you're attacking the intelligence of the very delegates whose support you seek.

Minnesota is at a crossroads and we need principled leadership that always takes the high-road and that emanates positive, active leadership, not negative, passive aggressiveness.    

Tom Emmer has talked personally to delegates about the mistakes he's made in the past and he even taped a video where he says "God gave me a wake up call" and explained that when that call came he made a decision: "I will change my direction."  With close family members who have had issues with drinking and who also had issues with the law that resulted from it, I know about the terrible choice to drink too much and what it means.  When one's actions cease to affect only them, but threaten to do harm to others, some wake up and have a "come to Jesus" as they say.  I admire somebody who recognized a problem, clearly changed direction and doesn't look back.  Such a pivot in life takes exceptional strength of character.

I'm told I'm an "influencer" in my little neck of the woods here in Eden Prairie.  I ran the Emmer delegate slate here because I felt so strongly that Tom Emmer was the person who could win in November.  At the last minute, I pulled my name off the ballot because we had so many great local people supporting Tom and at the end of the day it wasn't all that important to me where I was sitting in Minneapolis on April 30th.  You don't need a whip on the floor when votes don't need to be whipped up.  When you have a stellar candidate running, there's really no arm-twisting to be done.  That's been the easy tune of Tom's campaign, because that's who Tom Emmer is....and it's a great tune to dance to....