March Newsletter
The Resistance
by Alden Brown
I attended the opening of a Mike Bloomberg office in Rochester on February 15. The campaign workers said they were paid through November, regardless of who the candidate is.
Bloomberg has the key goal correct. Dump Trump.
Amy Klobuchar was on fire after New Hampshire. She stepped off the debate stage and right into the thick of it. In a few short weeks, she was out. Her message of compassion and Minnesota nice will resonate well beyond this election, though.
Pete Buttigieg let Rush Limbaugh’s crowd know a little about love and loyalty and honor. Mayor Pete can stand up to bullies just fine. Even those dodging fire behind bone spurs. He is out, but not forgotten.
Bernie kicked his heart attack’s ass, then went on to Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. That is frightening. Which is the problem for Bernie right now. He strikes about equal fear in moderate Democrats as he does Republicans.
Vice President Joe Biden took over the moderate lane in South Carolina. He made clear his expectations to return this country to civility and common sense.
And, following each in a campaign that started the day he took office, was the would-be dictator with lies, hate, and insults.
It can be distracting working to rebuild a government that can no longer respond to a pandemic because this president values crooks and buffoons over scientists.
The thing is we are in a time where too many people do not understand that facts are not opinions and opinions are not facts. Viruses understand this.
A neighbor who I love and respect met me on my way out to the Bloomberg event. I told her where I was going. This led to a pleasant enough conversation until that point where it became clear she supported President Trump and I thought he was a threat to Democracy.
She told me to look at my 401k. I am old enough to know the balance of my retirement account.
I told her my 401k had no value if my children and my grandchildren have no future.
The stock market has nothing to do with the attacks of this president on the truth, the constitution, the rule of law, and democracy. The guy has never signed on to anything but himself. Ever.
She made no attempt to defend him. She did try to say climate change isn’t real.
You know you’ve got a tough argument when you choose melting polar ice caps over defending your candidate.
We’ve got one side who has sold out to a liar. Our president blackmails an ally whose soldiers are fighting and dying to keep a democracy alive on the borders with Putin’s Russia. For dirt on a Democratic opponent’s son.
I can see how Nazis and White Supremacists love this guy.
I fail to see the attraction that would make people I love and respect overlook the things he says and does. I get that people don’t follow the legal fine points or that they may watch news from a different vantage point.
At some point, though, most people understand that Rule of Law – the idea that you can’t simply steal mine because you are King and I am not – has to exist for a Democracy to live.
This president says Rule of Law doesn’t apply to him or – by way of pardon – to his thugs.
I disagree.
Our entire field of candidates disagrees.
We will resist. We will vote Democrat.
Our candidates – all of them – will swear an oath to a Constitution they have read. An oath they will not trample with tweets.
Not one has bragged he could shoot someone and get away with it.
SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL CONVENTION
The Senate District DFL convention will be at 1 PM Sunday, March 15 at the Mayo High School cafeteria. The 312 delegates to the convention were elected at the February 25 precinct caucuses from among the 450 people who attended. The convention is open to the public.
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, candidate for Congress Dan Feehan, and Representative Tina Liebling (DFL-26A) plan to speak to the convention. Other candidates and elected officials may speak, too.
The Nominations Committee will screen people who want Senate District 26 DFL officer or director positions or delegate/alternate State/1st CD Central Committee positions from 10-12 on Sunday morning and an additional time before that to be announced. It will present a slate of nominees to the convention. Please consider seeking one of these positions.
If you are interested in running for the SD 26 Officer positions, directors, or State Central Committee, please complete this form (https://forms.gle/ccoBtFvvzkwSS6ee8) . The nominations committee will have interviews on Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15.
Food will be available for purchase at the high school.
At the convention we will:
Endorse a candidate for the Senate District 26 seat (Aleta Borrud vs. Tyrel Clark so far)
Endorse a candidate for each of the House District 26A and 26B seats
Elect Senate District 26 DFL officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Outreach and Inclusion Officer, and Communications Officer)
Elect 11 Senate District 26 DFL Directors
Elect 17 delegates and 17 alternates to the DFL 1st Congressional District Convention (May 16 in Albert Lea) and to the State Convention (May 30-31 in Rochester)
Elect 3 delegates and 5 alternates to the DFL State and 1st Congressional District Central Committees
Vote on platform resolutions passed at our precinct caucuses.
Vote on proposed changes to the Senate District 26 DFL Constitution and Bylaws
IT’S BEEN A WILD PRIMARY SEASON SO FAR
Iowa went first, but it didn’t tell us much. Results took forever to come in and while more people caucused for Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg got more delegates to the Democratic convention.
New Hampshire was eight days later. This time Sanders won, but not by much. Buttigieg was 1% behind and Amy Klobuchar surprised many by finishing third, just 6% behind Sanders.
A week and a half later Nevada had its caucuses. Sanders won big this time with 47% of caucusgoers for him. Joe Biden finished second with 20%. Buttigieg slipped to third and Klobuchar to sixth.
Pundits spent the next week debating whether Sanders’s nomination was inevitable and how any other candidate could stop him, but then the South Carolina primary changed the conversation. Joe Biden won his first presidential primary ever, even though this was his third run for President, and he had a smashing victory. With great support from African-Americans, the majority of Democratic primary voters in the state, he got 48.4% while Sanders only got 20%. Buttigieg was fourth with less than 10% Klobuchar was again sixth.
This started a series of withdrawals. Tom Steyer got out on the night of the South Carolina primary. Pete Buttigieg suspended his campaign the next day. Amy Klobuchar stopped less than a day later. By Monday night, Buttigieg and Klobuchar had endorsed Biden.
We voted on Super Tuesday and Biden had a great day. He unexpectedly won Minnesota, Maine, and Massachusetts along with seven Southern states where he was thought to have better chances. Sanders won in Vermont, Utah, Colorado, and California. In Minnesota Biden got 38.6% to Sanders’s 30% and Warren’s 15.4%. He did even better in our Senate District, getting 42.7% to Sanders’s 27% and Warren’s 14.3%. Bloomberg dropped out on Wednesday and endorsed Biden. As this was being written, Warren was considering withdrawing.
There are still a lot of delegates to be elected and four months until the Democratic convention, but Biden’s campaign is definitely alive and he may be the leader as of now.
MARCH DFL EVENTS
Monday, March 9 7-8:30 PM Senate District 26 DFL Central Committee meeting, DFL office, 1500 1st Ave. NE, Rochester
Tuesday, March 10 1:30-3 PM DFL Senior Caucus meeting, DFL office, 1500 1st Ave. NE, Rochester
Sunday, March 15 1:00-5:00 PM (approximate) Senate District 26 convention, Mayo High School, 1420 11th Avenue SE, Rochester
DONATE TO SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL
We need your help to maintain a DFL presence in Rochester between now and the 2020 election. While one-time donations are welcome, we especially need monthly donations. We don’t get money from the national Democratic Party. The state DFL only contributes $500 a month, less than 1/3 of our rent. We rely on our local supporters to keep going and to get the DFL message out. There are tremendous opportunities for the DFL, locally and statewide, this year and in 2020, including replacing Carla Nelson with a DFL Senator and Jim Hagedorn with a DFL member of Congress. We need more money at the local level to take advantage of them. We need the money and you want an active DFL. If you give, there will be an office for DFL events and meetings, DFL participation in events and parades that require entry fees, technology that makes the DFL work better, and outreach into underrepresented communities. You can make a refundable donation in 2020 even if you made a contribution (to us, to another party unit, or to a candidate) and got a refund in 2019. Donate to Senate District 26 DFL and you can get up to $50/person or $100 per married couple back from the state of Minnesota if you are eligible to vote in Minnesota. Do it now. Make your donation via ActBlue (https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/senate-district-26-dfl-party-1?refcode=sd2). If you would rather write a check, please make it payable to DFL SD26 and send it to:
P.O. Box 9044
Rochester, MN 55904-9044
Send us a donation and we’ll send you a receipt. Send the receipt and a form
(https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/media/59866) needed to claim the reimbursement to Minnesota Revenue Political Contribution Refund St. Paul, MN 55146-1800. Make a donation, file a claim, and you’ll get a check back soon.
If you send a check, please include whether you are retired, self-employed or employed. If employed, include the name of your employer and your job title. The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board requires us to collect that information. If you use Act Blue, the appropriate information is collected.
CENSUS 2020 IS COMING SOON
The 2020 census will be happening in the first part of the year. It’s important that everyone completes the census, since undercounts cost governments funding and decrease political representation of undercounted areas. Olmsted County, and especially Rochester, are at high risk for undercounts, since we are in the most diverse county in southern Minnesota and the poor, immigrants, and people of color are the most likely to be missed by the census. The Trump administration’s attempt to put a citizenship question on the census form, though unsuccessful, may reduce the willingness of families that have undocumented people or legal immigrants to complete census forms. There will be efforts to encourage everyone to complete the census forms by mail or talk to enumerators when they go house-to-house in April.
The Census has to hire lots of people, so this may be an opportunity for short-term work, either part-time or full-time. Go to https://www.census.gov/about/regions/chicago/jobs/minnesota.html if interested.
SD26mn.dfl@gmail.com AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
This is a monthly newsletter. However, events often happen on short notice, so we may not be able to include them in the newsletter. Check our website and Facebook pages for the latest news on what is happening.
Official communications come from SD DFL (though the full address is above). Watch for them.
We tweet from @sd26dfl and have a website at www.senatedistrict26dfl.com
We have a closed Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/144866495637545/
We share an open Facebook page with Olmsted-25 DFL and Senate District 25 at
https://www.facebook.com/sd26sd25olm25/?fref=ts
Our Instagram account is at dflsenatedistrict26.
