The Wake

Candidate: Tim Pawlenty
Running For: Governor
Party: Republican
Top Priorities: Economic growth, education and public safety
Experience: Minnesota Governor, 2002-present
Hometown: South Saint Paul, Minn.
Family: wife Mary and two daughters Anna and Mara
Favorite Sport: Hockey
Quote to Note: Earlier this year Pawlenty declared, “the era of small government over” in an interview with the Star Tribune. “Government has to be more proactive, more aggressive,” he went on. Pawlenty later claimed he was quoting New York Times columnist David Brooks and said that he meant he actually just wants to make government more effective. Right.

Candidate: Mike Hatch
Running For: Governor
Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Top Priorities: Providing the middle class better access to healthcare and education
Experience: Minnesota Attorney General, 1998-present, Minnesota DFL party chair, 1980-1983
Hometown: Duluth, Minn.
Family: wife Patti and three daughters Katharine, Elizabeth and Anne
Pets: Bella and Laddy, both golden retrievers, Buffy, a cocker spaniel, and Nico, a formerly homeless cat.
Quote to Note: From a speech at a Hindu Temple last spring: “Minnesota is becoming an increasingly diverse state and with change comes choices. We can embrace diversity and the added richness that diversity brings to our communities, or we can use resentment and fear to react in a destructive manner.” The choice is yours…

Candidate: Peter Hutchinson
Running For: Governor
Party: Independence
Top Priorities: Affordable healthcare, easier access to higher education, reliable transportation options and addressing the environment and energy concerns through a reduction in foreign dependence on oil
Experience: former Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent
Hometown: Faribault, Minn.
Family: wife Karla and two daughters Emily and Julia
Avoids: “The 5 G’s.” Meaning, he doesn’t use guns, gays, gynecology, gaming and gladiators, by which he means sports stadiums, in politics because he considers them “wedge issues.”
Quote to Note: On the way his approach to public safety differs from Pawlenty’s: “I think calling people names and taking them out in public is not the way you get this stuff done.” Hutchinson promotes collaborations between state and local governments as the best way to fight crime. Also says, “I’d be two or three orders of magnitude less divisive” than Pawlenty or Hatch.

Candidate: Amy Klobuchar
Running For: U.S. Senate
Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Top Priorities: Reforming healthcare, supporting education and holding Washington accountable for its actions.
Experience: Hennepin County Attorney, 1998-present
Hometown: Plymouth, Minn.
Family: husband John, daughter Abigail
Claim to Fame: The valedictorian of her high school class, she’s the daughter of former Star Tribune sportswriter and columnist Jim Klobuchar.
Quote to Note: Following the blogger-“finds”-Kennedy-ad-and-sends-it-to-the-Klobuchar-camp debacle, Klobuchar said “what happened here was wrong. … Some people may believe that this happens on campaigns all the time, but it is not acceptable on our campaign.”

Candidate: Mark Kennedy
Running For: U.S. Senate
Party: Republican
Top Priorities: Winning the War on Terror, reducing traffic congestion and ensuring the federal government plays a limited role in education.
Experience: U.S. House of Representatives, 2000-2002 (Second District) and 2002-present (redrawn Sixth District)
Hometown: Benson, Minn
Family: wife Debbie and four children
Brought us: The “because they’re true” commercial in which an elderly woman approaches Kennedy innocently reading the newspaper on a park bench and chastises him for “picking on Amy Klobuchar.” She asks him why he “said all those things” and he responds “because they’re true.” It might be the cheesiest political ad ever aired.
Quote to Note: The former Boy Scout’s website says: “Because we live in America,
Mark married the girl of his dreams (a farmer’s daughter he met in 4-H)” and
they lived happily ever after…

Candidate: Robert Fitzgerald
Running For: U.S. Senate
Party: Independence
Top Priorities: Reducing the national debt, balancing the federal budget, energy independence
Experience: none, pretty much. Just Kidding, people. He’s the former Executive Director of Access Television, obviously.
Hometown: Rothsay, Minn.
Family: wife Carolyn
Interestingly enough: Fitzgerald stars in several non-pornographic videos on YouTube
Quote to Note: On the Iraq war he says “it’s time to get out of Iraq now.
Congress has abdicated its responsibility of oversight while cost overruns and emergency funding have masked the true cost.”

Candidate: Keith Ellison
Running For: U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth District (which, if you reside in Minneapolis, you live in)
Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Top Priorities: Instituting a system of universal healthcare, immediate withdrawal from Iraq, the elimination of poverty (all very modest goals.)
Experience: Minnesota House of Representatives, 2002-present
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan. Ellison moved to Minnesota in 1987.
Family: wife Kim and four children Amirah, Jeremiah, Elijah and Isaiah
Would be: Minnesota’s first black Congressperson and the United States’ first Muslim Congressperson
Quote to Note: “At sunset today (September 22) those of the Jewish faith around the world will commence the observance of Rosh Hashanah, a sacred holiday which marks the beginning of a New Year, 5767, by solemnly taking stock of the year past, acknowledging their mistakes and planning changes to make the new year a better, more fulfilling and joyous one. I can think of no more appropriate frame of mind for any of us to embrace in this final month of the secular political year.” He’s right; it is the perfect frame of mind!

Candidate: Alan Fine
Running For: U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth District
Party: Republican
Top Priorities: Support economic growth, promote family values and reform healthcare
Experience: Senior lecturer in Carlson
Hometown: Minneapolis
Family: son Louis
Wrote: “Empower Your Self: A Framework for Personal Success”
Pets: Attention-whoring Shetland sheepdog puppy named Blaze
Quote to Note: “This district is a bastion of diversity,” Fine told the Southwest Journal. And he says “have a Fine day!”

Candidate: Tammy Lee
Running For: U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth District
Party: Independence
Top Priorities: Balancing the federal budget, public education, healthcare access
Experience: Hubert H. “Skip” Humphrey’s communications director, corporate affairs vice president of The Mark Travel Corp.
Hometown: Alexandria, Minn.
Family: daughter Lissa
Aired: Commercials in which she shreds paper. It’s really exciting stuff.
Quote to Note: In a debate earlier this year, Lee said “we’re going to see a lot more bad stuff and mudslinging come out during this campaign. I respect the fact that Keith said he’s running his own campaign and it’s going to be about the issues. I think Alan and the Republican Party are running his campaign. They’re going to have a very different style and approach and I’m running my own campaign. I will contrast my positions with the other candidates in this race.” Wow, talk about a campaign strategy!