Norm Coleman wants you to vote for Sandman

amy in woodland Oct 31, 2014 14 Comments

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Just got a creepy mailing here in upper Woodland that accuses Ray Sandman of being a liberal and out of touch on issues such as Polymet, minimum wage increase, and war. It made us want to vote for Sandman! — until I looked up who paid for the ad — the 501c4 PAC led by former Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman. A vote for Sandman is, unfortunately, a vote for Mills.

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14 Comments

waferdog

about 8 years ago 

Thanks for your political opinion?

Barrett Chase

about 8 years ago 

I think what Amy is getting at here is that this is an ad for Sandman, disguised as an attack ad against Sandman. American Action Network would like democrats to vote for Sandman, because it will take votes away from Nolan and ensure victory for Mills. The ad was allegedly sent out to democrats.

Mayor Don Ness talked about this on his Facebook page yesterday. He wrote, 
"The cynical among us might think it's a sophisticated (and expensive) way to funnel national conservative money to highlight and promote Sandman's candidacy directly to Democrats.

I know and like Skip - he is a sincere and good person. He has approximately a 0% chance of being elected to Congress in 2014. Why would conservatives be running poorly constructed "attack ads" against him, that actually make him look good to many Democrats receiving the piece?"


Similarly, when no other third-party candidates were invited to participate in the recent political debates in Duluth, Sandman was there, apparently to be used as a wedge between democrats. "The Mills campaign would not have participated if not for including candidate Sandman," Chamber of Commerce president and CEO David Ross told Northland's NewsCenter.

waferdog

about 8 years ago 

Sounds like normal political campaigning to me.  You could easily point out the disingenuous nature of the ads that Nolan has been running against Mills, using his hair and wealth as the reasons we shouldn't support him.  

I've just never felt that PDD was a particularly political site and the snarky inclusion of the word  'unfortunately' compelled me to respond.

BadCat!

about 8 years ago 

I consider a vote for Mills to be pretty unfortunate.

edgeways

about 8 years ago 

Well, one political post amongst everything else hardly makes it a political blog. It is a blog primarily about Duluth, which occasionally means a political post. 

Really Mills' whole strategy for winning at this point is vote splitting, which I guess we can dismiss as politics as usual, but is a pretty good example of (no matter which party does it) one of the many things that is poisonous right now, and being blase and dismissive about it under the guise of "realism" is much more annoying then a post point out the scumminess of it. 

And, yes, for the record, as much as I think Mills' looks pretty silly with that haircut it isn't a terribly good reason to vote against/for him. The wealth issue however, I think can be a viable topic as it leads into a lot of opinions regarding taxation, income disparity and related topics. Yes, that applies to candidates from each party, it is worth unpacking what people do to get their wealth, how they use it and how they maintain it, especially if they want to hold public office as it is a good indicator of how they will vote of certain topics.

johnbeargrease

about 8 years ago 

I don't understood why ranked voting systems, like instant runoff voting aren't more common.

lojasmo

about 8 years ago 

Waferdog: Even if Nolan was attacking Mills hair or wealth (I just watched every one of his ads, and he did not do so) it wouldn't be disingenuous.

However, your claim that Nolan is attacking Mills hair and wealth is, in fact, disingenuous.

Bravo.

waferdog

about 8 years ago 

Lojasmo, I assume that you are referring to the fact that they are Super Pac run ads and not technically from Nolan's campaign?

Edgeways, I highly disagree that Mills whole strategy is vote splitting. If we are using Lojasmo's assumed view point then Mills has nothing to do with the original mailer shown in this post.

Also, I think the using the wealth issue is a little questionable considering the background of our governor.

Either way, the 8th district has been exactly the kind of political race that makes people dislike politics and both sides of the aisle have contributed.

pats

about 8 years ago 

I don't think Mill's wealth is the issue; it's his general lack of experience at anything.  Really, what has he done that qualifies him to serve in the US Congress?  The Governor, on the other hand, had taught in Inner City Schools and served in several positions; both elected and appointed, prior to going to the Senate.  They are both from wealth families, but that's where the similarity ends.  Politics aside; why is Mills a good choice?  What has he done that has equipped him to enter that den of vipers known as Washington DC and serve the district?

waferdog

about 8 years ago 

What qualifies anyone to serve in the US Congress?  What did Al Franken do before he became a Senator?  Comedian?  Not exactly what I would call a great lead in and yet I have been happy with his performance and will probably vote for him Tuesday. 

Dayton was by most accounts a very poor Senator so that experience is questionable.
 
It would seem to me that the experience question is not very useful in this regard.  Mills certainly has the credentials on the business side of things and is not simply a trust fund slacker (despite what the hair would make you think).

amy in woodland

about 8 years ago 

Our governor certainly had a privileged upbringing, but then he chose a career of public service outside of the protective bubble of the family business.

One might then point to both Franken and McFadden as wealthy and without alot of previous experience in public service, but both of them had built their own resumes based on talent and alot of hard work, rather than family connections.

waferdog

about 8 years ago 

That really just sounds like reasoning designed to fit what you want to believe.

You have no idea if Mills achieved his position despite or because of his family connections but he clearly has talent and by accounts is a hard worker (sometime people in his position work extra hard to show that they deserve it).

lojasmo

about 8 years ago 

Yes, Waferdog...PAC ads  are not "ads that Nolan has been running" by any stretch of the imagination.

lojasmo

about 8 years ago 

We can look to the state of the economy as a measure of the good Dayton has done for the state.  In that respect, he certainly deserved reelection.

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