I Don’t Hate America!

This past Saturday, Dr. Brian Davis (GOP candidate for Congress in the First) and I met each another for the first time.

Was Davis polite and cordial?

Arrogant and standoffish?

Diplomatic but firm?

Or was he none of the above and just went ahead with his plan to destroy me by unleashing his onslaught of evil, non-Mayo approved radiology, err, radiation oncology upon my being?

Stick around to the end of the post to find out!

That same day I made the four-mile trek to Prior Lake High School, my alma mater, in my hometown of Savage to check out the festivities of the DFL State Central Committee meeting and the debate between DFL US Senate candidates hoping to take on Norm Coleman next November.

The high school, open two years following the graduation of Jason and I (I had be nostaligic and check the athletic showcases; Jason looks so manly in his football uniform!), had yet to receive a visit from me. It is quite the impressive facility with just a few hundred people present, but I’m sure with overcrowded hallways and classrooms during a school day it is less so.

As I got there well before the debate I was able to secure a front-row seat nearby the TV cameras, Mike McIntee from the Uptake and a nice fellow who introduced himself as JP, a Republican tracker.

For a play-by-play rundown of the debate, check out my liveblog post.
Two hours certainly flies by when you have four candidates answering questions, and both factors also limit the amount of questions that can be asked. The debate was good in that it offered candidates a chance to give their views on a items which have yet to receive such focus such as NASA funding and the creation of a Department of Peace. Missed were lengthy discussions on climate change (so we don’t have to hear Al Franken recite Al Gore again) and transportation (bridge collapse, etc.).

Here are my impressions of how each candidate performed and basically my thoughts of each candidate so far:

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer: Passionate, thoughtful, and articulate. In my opinion he won the debate. Some friends of mine might be surprised I would think of a guy as far left as him perhaps the best candidate (considering I’m quite moderate), but I think he is a very qualified candidate for this position. So what if eliminating 70 percent of carbon emissions in the next ten years is close to impossible? So what if going to single-payer health care immediately is probably a proposition only from fantasy? So what if shutting down all military bases in Iraq soon probably isn’t attainable? The vision to at least try and get to those goals is what we need right now in this time of mediocrity (at best!) with Coleman.

Jim Cohen: He is a smart guy who has experience in several key areas but unfortunately doesn’t come across with any sort of “it” factor, especially when compared to the other three. Answering after Nelson-Pallmeyer may have hurt him during this debate in the following regard, but he comes across as regurgitating the same progressive viewpoints already delivered in a more passionate and thorough manner by Nelson-Pallmeyer. He spoke of needing new solutions for higher education, but had no solutions immediately available. He would be a fine candidate for the state legislature or even Congress, but just isn’t the guy right now to take on Coleman.

Al Franken: Uh oh, I better put on the protective armor before MDE pulls quotes from me. Just kidding, of course. Franken is someone who bugs me in the sense that he comes across as someone who always needs to be the “rockstar,” which is understandable considering his celebrity past but isn’t what all people want in a US Senator. Other things that bugged me about Franken during the debate: putting his hands on other candidates (just made him look controlling), tossing it to Ciresi a couple of times when it was his turn to answer (as if he was the moderator), all of the “I know so-and-so in a certain situation and I’m going to use two-and-a-half minutes telling that story and 30 seconds giving my position” stories, and his use of so many jokes. I know he’s a comedian and the use of jokes gets people to laugh and like him, but does nothing to prove to me personally that he is a the best candidate for this job. One joke that did work was was the Richard Pearle reference to point out why a cabinet level department of peace wouldn’t work, but continuing to make fun of things like George W. Bush’s public speaking ability doesn’t help him. Any College Democrat can do that; we need something more out of a US Senate candidate.

Mike Ciresi: Along with Franken, Ciresi appears quite moderate compared to Cohen and JNP and some people see these moderate stances as trying to win over Republicans; I’m not sure this is true for Ciresi. On health care, for example, Franken answered the question “What would you do to get to universal health care” by giving excuses why single-payer wouldn’t work. While not advocating for single-payer, Ciresi actually answered how universal would be paid for. I find it appealing that Ciresi, while having a tremendous resume as a trial lawyer, doesn’t feel the need to tell specific stories about his experience very often. After all, its a debate! Answer the questions and give us your positions.

Links to YouTube’s of the debate are here.

Now back to what I started the post with: Yes, as I was wrapping up shop and shutting down my computer, I was greeted by candidate for Congress in the First District, Dr. Brian Davis.

Yes, a debate in the Second district. With DFLers. Going for Senate, not the House.

Regardless of how ruthless we have been to him, he came across as a nice guy, even telling me that if it was indeed all of my own work, I did a good job with the Randy Demmer per-diem stuff.

Who else would have done the post if not me? That I don’t know. Davis gave me his business card and told me to contact him if we wanted to grant him an interview, which we may down the road.

As opposed to my four mile trek, Davis had an 81 mile trip one-way from Rochester to Savage. He must be very, very interested in the positions of the candidates for Senate from the DFL to make that trek with $3.00/gallon fuel, or maybe he was just making a pit stop before going to an old buddies house in some city like Shakopee for darts, pizza and beer?

Who knows. As long as he doesn’t tell me how to blog, I won’t tell him what to do with his Saturdays!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Mike Ciresi, US Senate, Al Franken, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Jim Cohen, 2008, Brian Davis, DJ D.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.