All About Eva
I’m waiting for the first Saint Paul DFLer to chuckle and say “Hah! We pwn this town!”
I’m ready. I’ll respond (with a nod to School Board candidate Chris Conner), “Yep. You own 42% tax increases, sclerotic services, the biggest public school achievement gap in the country, graduation rates south of 50-50, 4,200 vacant houses, rising crime and 30% vacancies downtown.”
“Congratufrigginlations! The bad news is, you have to try to fix your own mess for the next four years.”
Some people see a 30+ point loss for Eva Ng last night. I see something different.
In 2001, the Saint Paul GOP had to grit its teeth, say “Randy Kelly is a DFLer, but he’s as close as we’re gonna get to something who believes what we do”; compared to Jay Benanav, the longtime Eastside DFLer was the second coming of Reagan. (Four years later, we had to do the same; the flood of anti-Bush derangement scuppered the campaign; Ng did better than Kelly did four years ago).
The Saint Paul City GOP could have probably fit on the dance floor at Fabulous Fern’s back then.
In 1997, we had a Republican – Norm Coleman. He won – but the Republican Party in Saint Paul had as much to do with that as the “Reform Party” had to do with Jesse Ventura winning the governor’s office the next year; the DFL kicked Coleman out, and the incumbent came to, and pretty much was, the GOP in Saint Paul.
And four years before that, in 1993? Norm Coleman was a DFLer. Compared to Bob Long, he wasn’t nuts – quite the conservative, in fact. But no GOP candidate got within a mile of the final election.
1989? 1985? 1981? 1977? GOP? What GOP?
We didn’t win. But we got an actual Republican on the ballot for the first time that I can remember (other than Coleman, who got on through the back door, and thank God for it). It’s the best this party’s done in the run for mayor.
And we didn’t capture any school board positions – but we got three guys on the ballot. It’s a start.
From small things big things one day come!
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Shot In The Dark.
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