The Wake

Independence Party candidate Roger Smithrud, who ran for Minnesota State House in district 58B, is best at summarizing his political party’s current trouble.

“I’m sad — I only got seven percent of the vote. I thought I’d get at least 20.”

His short frame, long grey hair and lit American Spirit give off a look of a working class American conspiracy theorist. He was standing outside the IP’s election night party at the Minnetonka West Sheraton, which mostly centered on the IP’s biggest hope of 2008, U.S. Senate candidate Dean Barkley.

The hotel’s dining room party — not unlike a small-scale wedding reception — was filled with a modest crowd of around 100 people; some dressed-up, some still wearing their Tires Plus work uniform. Former Governor Jesse Ventura, whose successful 1998 campaign remains the party’s heart and soul, sat at a table with his family and kept his profile low-key. Early in the night, prominent IP members were making their bets.

“Dean will make a strong showing,” said Independence Party Chair Craig Swaggert. “Whether he gets 20 percent or whether he wins, it shows that the other parties aren’t speaking to the average Minnesotan voter.”

But after a few quick minutes passed and votes started tallying, it was clear Barkley wouldn’t gain much more than his final showing, 15 percent — under the goal of at least 20.

Still, Barkley and his supporters showed no regret.

“I’d rather the numbers were switched and it was 51 percent,” said Dan Justensen, another IP chair, “but I’m damn happy he’s back here.”

“This isn’t the end, this is only the beginning,” Barkley said in his concession speech. “I can only hope the two parties start to get the message.”

But what message? It’s still altogether unclear.

The party grew out of Ross Perot’s Reform Party and eventually came to its own with Ventura’s surprise 1998 victory. He ran and governed as a moderate: libertarian in civil liberties — he vetoed a bill requiring public schools to cite the Pledge of Allegiance every day in class; liberal on social issues — he supported abortion rights and gay rights; and fiscally conservative — his first priority was to tak advantage of the state’s budget surplus and pass a tax cut.

Since Ventura’s tenure ended, the IP has kept decent support, but nothing comparable to 1998. They have kept in the tradition of a populist, individualist politics that remains attractive enough to garner a small but dedicated core of support. Barkley’s only TV ad, which came from the brain behind both Ventura’s and Paul Wellstone’s brilliant ads, shows that there are a few things likeable in these candidates.

Any IP diehard can point their finger at corrupt two party systems, money-owned politicians and cynical journalists as the root of their problems, but one thing’s still certain: If the IP believes its “spoiler party” label is unfair, Tuesday’s election results did nothing to change that.

David Dillon, who ran for U.S. House in District 3 and got 10 percent of the vote, is starting to be viewed as the state’s DFL spoiler of ’08. Some believe he crushed the hopes for Ashwin Madia, who ran as a moderate-conservative and lost to conservative Republican Erick Paulsen by eight percent.

Like Barkley, Dillon ran largely as a moderate but embraced some libertarian stances like reducing the military budget, ending the War in Iraq and balancing the budget. His policies are conservative but still acknowledge certain progressive stances. From his Web site (which is an impressive one for any candidate), he writes: “Speaking as a conservative I ask that we acknowledge the great liberal goal of universal coverage. This hardly means the acceptance of proposals for a socialist government health care system.”

Both Dillon and Barkley came off as more conservative than Peter Hutchinson, the IP’s 2006 gubernatorial candidate. Hutchinson’s campaign promised to greatly increase the state’s standards in health care, transportation and education. He gained six percent of the vote — most of it coming from the usually DFL-dominated metro area (apparently 90 percent of the MPR crowd, according to Justensen) — which was enough to spoil the chances for the unlikable former DFL Attorney General Mike Hatch, who’s been recently made notorious for starting a trend in his former office that denies staffers their own unions. Hatch lost the election to Governor Tim Pawlenty by one percent.

While the IP candidates sometimes differ in policies, Justensen laid out the party platform as mostly Federalist — limited federal government intervention and great respect for state rights. This way, Hutchinson’s promise on expanding the state’s social programs and Barkley’s promise on cutting the nation’s debt go hand in hand with the overall “state independence” message.

But the party certainly has work to do. Voter support is still high enough to give the IP major party status in the state, but not close to making a winner. From the mood of election night at the Sheraton, it seems like IP party members are committed to running a strong gubernatorial bid in 2010, when they’ll get much more public financing and (potential) prominence than Barkley got this year.
But for now the IP might be best off doing what Barkley did right after his concession speech — thinking things over a few drinks.

After finishing his concession speech, Barkley walked away from the podium in the now nearly-empty room and grabbed some of his friends.

“This thing’s pretty much over. I just got to figure out who I need to call and concede to. Let’s go to the bar. I’ll buy a round.”

Tags: Dean Barkley, Independence Party Minnesota, Jesse Ventura