From St. Paul: The Rise of the Midwest Republican Apparatchik
(this post was largely written on Tuesday, August 24th)
Minnesota liberalism is a very strange thing. Here in St. Paul, most natives pride ourselves on a 70% DFL (in Minnesota we don't have the Democratic Party, but the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) voting rate and classic midwestern social acceptance. Yet, for three successive elections now, St. Paulites have elected a man as mayor who started out as a Democrat and eventually became a Republican. The first two of those elections the man was Norm Coleman, the philandering (a VERY open secret here-everyone and their mom used to see Norm at Blockbuster pinching a woman's, who's not his wife, ass), business pandering Bush lacky whose two biggest claims to fame are his resurrection of hockey in Minnesota and the viciousness in which he exploited Paul Wellstone's death. Now, St. Paul seems to have added to this tradition as current mayor, Democrat Randy Kelly has endorsed Bush. Some might see this as evidence of Minnesota's continuing tilt rightward (though really, when one combines Gore and Nader's vote totals in 2000, this state still votes overwhelmingly liberal). I would beg to differ though. When one looks at both the Coleman and Kelly situations, there is a marked similarity, not in a rise of Republicanism, but in the rise of the Republican apparatchik. Both Coleman, and it looks like Kelly as well, switched to the GOP not out of any ideological desire (as far as I can tell neither has ever believed in anything but themselves and money) but because the GOP, especially its incarnation as the party of Bush, has done an excellent job at singling out prospective candidates and grooming them. For both Coleman and Kelly, the fact was that they had neither the labor nor social service (in MN, the strong feminist, gay rights, and middle-class left-Democrats are based around an incredibly well organized network of social service and non-profit agencies) connections to rise in DFL politics. What they did have though, was a reputation as pro-business and sufficiently unconcerned with such "social" issues as abortion, racial profiling etc. that they could easily fit in with the Republican Party.
For the last 40 years or so, Minnesota Republicanism has been based either on a relatively small radical right cabal centered in southern Minnesota or a Rockefeller Republican tradition exemplified by former governor Arnie Carlson. As should be obvious, these wings never got along too well, and over the course of the 80s and 90s (Minnesota's the only state never to have voted for Reagan) many of those former Rockefeller Republicans began to leave the party on account of its fiscal irresponsibility and rightward tilt on social issues. As late as 98, the Party seemed in disarray, unable to rally around the very uninteresting Coleman for Governor and unable to find a candidate other than the perenially recycled Rudy Boschwitz to take on Wellstone two years before. Fast forward though, to 2002. Coleman, who had little money in 98 and couldn't do a thing about Jessie Ventura's ability to cut into his base, ran the most expensive campaign in Minnesota history in order to unseat Wellstone (something that wouldn't have happened if Paul lived until election day). Now all this money came from Bush's vast network of donors-a little strange isn't it, when Texas oilmen are the biggest contributors to a Minnesota senate campaign. What did GWB get out fo the deal, besides the removal of that man his father once called a "fucking pipsqueek"- even more important, he got a politician who owed his existence and success to none other than GWB. This, is the essence of the current Republican strategy across the industrial and often quite liberal midwest. In Corleone fashion, build a base of politicians who owe their existence to one man, or more generally, a small group, and who can be molded into any image and vote completely according to the demands of their Godfather. Rove, etc. understands that as long as the McCain's of the world exist, it will never completely be there party. Instead of fighting with them, why not build a base in good looking, middle aged white men who will do anything you want. They won't offend moderate women (as long as you can keep their mistress's out of the newspaper) and their loyalty will run deep. While some have compared Bush to Hitler (wrongly; as the joke goes, Hitler got the popular vote twice) such a brand of cronyism is much more reminiscent of the kind invented by our other favorite twentieth century mass murderer-Josef Stalin. Don't believe me? I'll give you ten to one that in 2006, the race for Minnesota senate is DFLer Mark Dayton against GOPer Randy Kelly, funded largely by the same men who funded Bush and Coleman.
Minnesota liberalism is a very strange thing. Here in St. Paul, most natives pride ourselves on a 70% DFL (in Minnesota we don't have the Democratic Party, but the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) voting rate and classic midwestern social acceptance. Yet, for three successive elections now, St. Paulites have elected a man as mayor who started out as a Democrat and eventually became a Republican. The first two of those elections the man was Norm Coleman, the philandering (a VERY open secret here-everyone and their mom used to see Norm at Blockbuster pinching a woman's, who's not his wife, ass), business pandering Bush lacky whose two biggest claims to fame are his resurrection of hockey in Minnesota and the viciousness in which he exploited Paul Wellstone's death. Now, St. Paul seems to have added to this tradition as current mayor, Democrat Randy Kelly has endorsed Bush. Some might see this as evidence of Minnesota's continuing tilt rightward (though really, when one combines Gore and Nader's vote totals in 2000, this state still votes overwhelmingly liberal). I would beg to differ though. When one looks at both the Coleman and Kelly situations, there is a marked similarity, not in a rise of Republicanism, but in the rise of the Republican apparatchik. Both Coleman, and it looks like Kelly as well, switched to the GOP not out of any ideological desire (as far as I can tell neither has ever believed in anything but themselves and money) but because the GOP, especially its incarnation as the party of Bush, has done an excellent job at singling out prospective candidates and grooming them. For both Coleman and Kelly, the fact was that they had neither the labor nor social service (in MN, the strong feminist, gay rights, and middle-class left-Democrats are based around an incredibly well organized network of social service and non-profit agencies) connections to rise in DFL politics. What they did have though, was a reputation as pro-business and sufficiently unconcerned with such "social" issues as abortion, racial profiling etc. that they could easily fit in with the Republican Party.
For the last 40 years or so, Minnesota Republicanism has been based either on a relatively small radical right cabal centered in southern Minnesota or a Rockefeller Republican tradition exemplified by former governor Arnie Carlson. As should be obvious, these wings never got along too well, and over the course of the 80s and 90s (Minnesota's the only state never to have voted for Reagan) many of those former Rockefeller Republicans began to leave the party on account of its fiscal irresponsibility and rightward tilt on social issues. As late as 98, the Party seemed in disarray, unable to rally around the very uninteresting Coleman for Governor and unable to find a candidate other than the perenially recycled Rudy Boschwitz to take on Wellstone two years before. Fast forward though, to 2002. Coleman, who had little money in 98 and couldn't do a thing about Jessie Ventura's ability to cut into his base, ran the most expensive campaign in Minnesota history in order to unseat Wellstone (something that wouldn't have happened if Paul lived until election day). Now all this money came from Bush's vast network of donors-a little strange isn't it, when Texas oilmen are the biggest contributors to a Minnesota senate campaign. What did GWB get out fo the deal, besides the removal of that man his father once called a "fucking pipsqueek"- even more important, he got a politician who owed his existence and success to none other than GWB. This, is the essence of the current Republican strategy across the industrial and often quite liberal midwest. In Corleone fashion, build a base of politicians who owe their existence to one man, or more generally, a small group, and who can be molded into any image and vote completely according to the demands of their Godfather. Rove, etc. understands that as long as the McCain's of the world exist, it will never completely be there party. Instead of fighting with them, why not build a base in good looking, middle aged white men who will do anything you want. They won't offend moderate women (as long as you can keep their mistress's out of the newspaper) and their loyalty will run deep. While some have compared Bush to Hitler (wrongly; as the joke goes, Hitler got the popular vote twice) such a brand of cronyism is much more reminiscent of the kind invented by our other favorite twentieth century mass murderer-Josef Stalin. Don't believe me? I'll give you ten to one that in 2006, the race for Minnesota senate is DFLer Mark Dayton against GOPer Randy Kelly, funded largely by the same men who funded Bush and Coleman.
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