Minneapolis Ward 10 DFL Convention Report

I spent a rainy Saturday as a delegate for the Minneapolis 10th Ward DFL Convention. The purpose of the convention was to endorse a candidate for the open Ward 10 City Council seat and to select committee members for the City Convention. The convention ended with no endorsement, but there were some interesting maneuvers and I got a glimpse inside the mayoral campaign.

Competing for the council endorsement were Scott Persons, Allan Bernard, Gay Noble, Harry Savage, and Ralph Remington. It takes 60% of the delegates to get the endorsement. Community activist Remington had the most support (up to 44% on the fifth and last ballot) but not enough to take home the prize. He was blocked from the endorsement by supporters of Persons and Bernard, who was dropped from consideration after the 4th ballot. Noble and Savage did not have enough supporters to make a big difference. (Savage, a twenty-something conservative democrat with a penchant for insulting the audience -- and his opponents, who he called "leftist" and "Stalinist" -- wins the award for worst campaign slogan of all time: "Run with the Savage. You may not like it, but you don't have a choice.") The Minneapolis Observer has posted their account here (Damn it! Scooped by the "Old" Media! I blame Blogger for being down all day.)

With no endorsement, even the candidates who pledged to drop out if they failed to get the DFL endorsement (Bernard, Noble, and Remington) will stay in the race, which will now go to a September primary. The top two candidates will go on to the general election. It will likely be more expensive because of the failure to endorse, and I will have to deal with more phone calls.

The four serious candidates are mostly pretty similar in their views. I liked Remington because he is very energetic, believes in smart development, and supports revising the Minneapolis charter to move to a "strong mayor" system (The Star Tribune has been advocating reforms in its Minneapolis: Who's In Charge? series). Development is going to be a big wedge issue in the 10th ward race, with the other front runner Scott Persons supporting more development in Uptown, and Ralph Remington advocating smaller-scale projects.

For all the gory details including vote counts, check out the convention minutes.

Mayoral Machinations

There was also some behind-the-scenes moves in the mayoral campaign, leading up to the May 14 Minneapolis DFL City Convention. I spoke with some Rybak volunteers and they believe that McLaughlin is going to try to stop the DFL endorsement at the convention. McLaughlin has promised not to run if not endorsed, so for him, preventing the DFL from endorsing Rybak is essential for his campaign (Rybak will run regardless.). The Rybak campaign is putting up candidates for the Rules Committee to keep the rules favorable to a a Rybak endorsement. This made the ordinarily boring, uncontested nomination of rules committee members a proxy vote that tested the mayoral campaigns' organizations. At the 10th Ward convention, the Rybak Rules Committee candidates swamped the McLaughlin candidates.

However, I believe the mayoral contest will come down to no endorsement. I don't think either candidate has the 60% necessary to endorse. McLaughlin is picking up a lot of support from the "traditional" DFL like labor and Stonewall. I think that will be enough to deny Rybak the endorsement, but not necessarily clinch it for McLaughlin.

This race is really heating up. Check out the Minneapolis Observer's account of the second mayoral debate last Thursday.