She Won Big – And How!

State Rep. Maria Ruud, D-42A, won her third election on Tuesday. On her first, she scored a huge upset by knocking off the Republican incumbent by a mere 239 votes. In 2006, Maria defended her seat, and her victory margin jumped to 1,732 – 10 points. This year, she won by 3,650 – 16 points. Not only did she win big, Maria swept every precinct. Yes, that’s correct – Maria tossed a shutout by winning 17 of 17 precints.

So, how does she do it, in a district once thought of as rock-solid-red? Let’s look!

Click on the thumbnail, and note all those Republican lawn signs: Paulsen, Coleman, McCain/Palin, and Aho. And also note the one non-Republican lawn sign, in between the Coleman and McCain signs, circled in red…

…that’s Maria Ruud’s sign!

Maria is easily one of the most accessible elected officials I’ve ever met. She works hard at being involved in the community. She listens to all sides of issues. Maria is more than willing to work with Republicans when required. And in a district located in southern Minnetonka and northern Eden Prairie, home to many Republicans, she often does – as all those signs on that lawn attest to. “Finding Common Ground” is more than a campaign motto for Maria – it’s how she works to solve problems. Maria Ruud has proven progressive politics and policy – practiced with respect, grace, and dignity – is a winning combination.

(originally published at MnProgressiveProject.com)

Erik The Whiner

Those that have received an e-mail from me may have noted I end each message with:

It’s A Great Day To Be A Veteran

It’s just before the privacy disclosure; it’s also at the bottom of my comments to others on threads at MnBlue, too.

And it came from an old saying back when I served on active duty; a saying that we repeated proudly when the duty was cold, or wet; when we were miserable, tired, hungry and hadn’t slept for God knows how long; when we were low on supplies, outmanned or outflanked, or any and all of the above – “It’s a great day to be a soldier.” It served as a motivation tool – that when the going got tough, the tough got going.

I thought of this after Erik’s “Veterans for Paulsen” rally, yesterday. In a room full of veterans, Paulsen addressed the crowd and whined:

“They’re lying about me; they’re smearing me!”

Cry me a river, Erik.

Paulsen started his campaign denying who he is – a far right extremist. Even the right-leaning Star Tribune didn’t buy that one:

“Paulsen was a fiscal and social conservative in the Legislature, voting for measures that this newspaper opposed. Why he’s casting himself as a moderate in this race is unclear. His conservative credentials are solid; he should have run on them.”(Star Tribune Editorial)

Paulsen started his campaign distorting his record:

“Paulsen launches this bid after years of working in bipartisan fashion, across the aisle, to get results in the business world and in the Minnesota legislature.”(PaulsenForCongress)

Yeah, “right.”

If anyone knows someone that thinks Erik Paulsen rose within Republican ranks to the role of Majority Leader in the State Legislatute during this decade by “…working in bipartisan fashion, across the aisle…” send ’em my way – I got some swampland “waterfront property” I’d like to sell ’em.

All this, and more, yet Paulsen has the nerve to run a TV ad, whining “My opponent is LYING about me!”??!?

Seems like Paulsen’s been doing some lying himself, about himself.

Not just content to distorting who he is and what his record is, Paulsen reached a new low with a recent ad: according to an October 29th Twin Cities Public Television (“TPT”) press release, Paulsen’s campaign was using TPT copywrited video footage in a different campaign ad. TPT reports they twice asked the Paulsen campaign to essentially cease and desist; the campaign didn’t – which necessitated the press release. From that release:

As a non-partisan public television station, tpt has never consented to use of our copyrighted materials by any political candidate or party. In previous campaigns, we have requested that candidates – Democrats, Independents and Republicans – cease use of similar material, and all have complied.

Twin Cities Public Television has sent two formal requests to the Paulsen campaign to remove all tpt footage from their ad; as of today, that request has not been honored.

We are therefore issuing this statement, taking appropriate legal action, and would like to alert all stations broadcasting the ad that it represents a clear copyright violation. We furthermore request that broadcasters cease airing the spot until our proprietary footage has been removed.

City Pages notes:

We would show you the ad, but TPT’s tenacity has paid off. After notifying YouTube of the copyright violation, the website pulled down the ad. “Since the Paulsen site was using an embedded version from YouTube, the ad was effectively removed from their site as well,” says TPT spokesman Stephen Usery.

And I’m not going to bother to detail the disgusting spectacle of Republican Party Chair Ron Carey’s nor Republican Geoff Michell’s thinly vieled bigotry concerning Paulsen’s opponent, the honorably discharged Marine, Ashwin Media. Suffice it to say Paulsen didn’t have the spine, nor guts, to do the despicable himself; he hid behind others doing his dirty work.

It’s no secret I’m not a fan of Erik Paulsen, but that’s only because I’ve followed his political career since he first doorknocked me in 1994. For fourteen years I’ve watched Paulsen and followed his record, so I’m not surprised at the shenanigans he’s pulled this during this election cycle.

But I was surprised to see and hear him whine in front of veterans. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Erik Paulsen, on the other hand, whines.

(cross posted at MnBlue.Com)

(originally posted at MnProgressiveProject.com)