Mike Erlandson apparently went to the Fortress of Solitude after the DFL 5th Congressional District convention to contemplate whether the endorsement process was fair — fairness being his pre-convention criterion for continuing to pursue the nomination in a primary challenge.
The suspense is over.
The former DFL Party chair, whose job once was sorting out intra-party struggles like this, has announced that he has "The Values to Get it Right. The Experience to Get it Done." Presumably, his values and experience will work better in Washington than they did during his initial, unsuccessful run for the nomination.
The fairness question seems to have gone away, which is wise, since he couldn't make that case. His new angle seems to be that, once given the nomination, he would "roll up his sleeves" and help the other DFL candidates win their races!
The choice on September 12th for DFL Primary voters will be an important one, as that individual will be favored to win the November election. The Representative from this district also has the responsibility of helping lead our statewide Democrats to victory. If I am given the honor on September 12 to be the Fifth District DFL candidate this November, I will roll up my sleeves on September 13 to get the job done for the rest of our ticket and our U.S. House candidates in the first, second, third, and sixth districts.
Does this sound contorted to you? It sounds to me like he wants his old job back, or maybe I'm confused about what a party chair does with his time.
I am told, and believe, that Erlandson is a decent guy who would be an effective representative. His heart and his positions are aligned with mine. He may well be more able to "get it done" than party-endorsee Keith Ellison, because he knows his way around the self-interested, incestuous, myopic, backstabbing world Washington has become.
But what does this really say about "the values to get it right"? I don't think you can go from party chair to opposing your party's nominee to riding out on your white horse to lead the rest of the party's candidates to victory without answering how that's consistent with your values. It's not consistent with mine.
