{"id":9304,"date":"2017-05-23T14:37:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/?p=9304"},"modified":"2018-02-07T09:19:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T15:19:26","slug":"rebecca-otto-far-strongest-progressive-candidate-minnesota-governor-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/23\/rebecca-otto-far-strongest-progressive-candidate-minnesota-governor-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Otto: by far the strongest and most progressive candidate for Minnesota Governor in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s why: All the available data strongly indicates that Otto will beat all the other contenders across state in the upcoming Governor’s race. <\/em><\/p>\n

Democrats have two major problems to face in 2018 and beyond. First, how do we win elections? Second, how do we remain true to our progressive and liberal roots? <\/p>\n

For Democrats, 2018 is a must-win election, and Minnesotans have a lot at stake. Will the state remain the shining star of the North, or will it go the way of Wisconsin, and sink into a Republican dark age of union busting, environment polluting, professor bashing, service slashing, and economic activity destruction?<\/p>\n

Of all the candidates running or suspected of running for Governor in 2018, Rebecca Otto<\/a> is the only one who can most clearly win and at the same time preserve and advance core, human based, Democratic ideals, in my opinion. <\/p>\n

The following text was added on December 17th<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the arguments I make here is that party “insiders” should avoid jumping out of the gate to “endorse” candidates early on in a process like this. I put “insider” i quotes because it has no definition. I put “endorse” in quotes because it has a precise definition (one regulated by the Federal Election Commission in some cases) but is used widely to mean “like,” “give the thumbs up to,” “Publicly Support” and that sort of thing. At the time I wrote this piece I did not specify what I meant by party people supporting a given candidate, Tim Walz, too early, but it has recently come to my attention that my arguments is being seen as invalid because in fact there were no such endorsements.<\/p>\n

And that is true. Technically, there were none.<\/p>\n

Except, that there were. To give an overall gestalt of what I mean, consider this item form MinnPost<\/a> from last April, written during the time of the flurry of excitement that Time Walz was running for governor.<\/p>\n

One step at a time<\/strong>
\nFor now, many DFL insiders consider Walz the de facto frontrunner in the governor\u2019s race. That may or may not change should he be joined by another candidate, such as 8th District Rep. Rick Nolan or Attorney General Lori Swanson.<\/p>\n

But Walz is moving to lock up support from influential Democrats around the state. Before Walz made his bid official, 7th District Rep. Collin Peterson reportedly announced his endorsement at a party dinner in his district. (Peterson confirmed on Tuesday he\u2019ll be backing Walz.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe congressman has a good amount of steam at this point,\u201d Broton said, \u201cat this point, you could probably classify him as being the front-runner. But Democrats are fickle people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On April 19th, the Pioneer Press reported and endorsement that wasn’t an endorsement by a man who is arguably Minnesota’s top democrat, since he is from Minnesota, represents a congressional district in Minnesota, and is Deputy Chair of the national party, Representative Keith Ellison.<\/p>\n

Rep. Keith Ellison expects Rep. Tim Walz will be Minnesota\u2019s next governor<\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison predicted Wednesday that his fellow Minnesota Democrat, Congressman Tim Walz, will be Minnesota\u2019s next governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not advocating; I\u2019m simply predicting,\u201d Ellison said of Walz during an appearance at the University of Minnesota\u2019s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The event was co-moderated by political science professor Larry Jacobs and Pioneer Press Capitol Bureau Chief Rachel Stassen-Berger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Knowledge is knowing that is technically not an endorsement. But a wise person refrains from putting tomato in the fruit salad.<\/p>\n

The Star Tribune reported, about the same time, the following:<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, officially in the governor\u2019s race, won the endorsement of former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Walz needs help in the Twin Cities, where he is less known, so this was a key endorsement if Rybak is active.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

RT Rybak was mayor of Minneapolis, and after leaving that position, became a director at large for the national party. I’m told this is not an official endorsement. Yet …<\/p>\n

Anyway, long after I wrote this post, partly in response to the above endorsements and similar, Congressman Walz, anointed, found himself between a rock and a hard place as more than one tragic mass shooting caused the big giant spot light that seeks out NRA supported candidates and shines all over him. Walz’s pro-gun (and anti-environmental) positions may indeed help him out state in a general election, but he is essentially done within the party, in my humble opinion.
\n
\nEnd of the added text. <\/em><\/p>\n

The smart move for the DFL in 2018 is to turn to a candidate that has won several times statewide and has strong name recognition, positive feeling among the voters engendered by her commitment to widely held values, and a strong base of support. State Auditor Rebecca Otto is the only candidate with that resum\u00e9. Otto has racked up several historic victories, including the largest upset of an incumbent in 112 years, and is positioned to do it again in 2018. Her statewide electoral prowess far outstrips her nearest competitor, Tim Walz, who is largely unknown outside of his first district, and is untested statewide. Beyond that, Otto stands for strong for Democratic values, while Walz has shown himself to be a DINO-style Democrat. Walz enjoys a very high rating from the NRA, for example, and in February of 2013 was one of only six Democrats in Congress<\/a> to vote to expand gun sales to the severely mentally ill<\/a>, over the objections of senior generals including David Petraeus, Michael Hayden and Stanley McChrystal. <\/p>\n

On the environment and climate change, Walz again voted with Republicans on anti-environmental bills progressives strongly opposed. He voted with Republicans<\/a> in favor of building the Keystone XL pipeline. He introduced a bill, siding with Eric Paulsen<\/a>, to expand offshore oil drilling. Walz refused to provide voters<\/a> with positions on several other key issues covered by the 2016 Vote Smart Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests. Historically, candidates have failed to complete the test in part due to \u201cfear of negative attack ads,\u201d according to that group. In contrast, Rebecca Otto opposes unrestricted gun sales and supports common-sense, reasonable measures to prevent mass shootings by mentally ill individuals. Otto is also the acknowledged statewide leader on environmental issues, and cast multiple courageous votes against multinational corporate interests, in an effort to protect the environment even while being harshly attacked by industry advocates. Indeed, she and her husband live in a solar home they built with their own hands.<\/p>\n

So why are some party elites pushing Walz over the far more progressive, experienced, and courageous, and environmental Rebecca Otto? Because they think we need a DINO to win, and appear to have lost touch with the party rank and file, just as they did in 2016. Walz is a talented but glad-handing politician, and older DFLers, the kind that promoted Hillary Clinton despite the rank and file\u2019s strong preference for Bernie Sanders, find an old white traditional male politician to be a safer, steadier choice when the stakes of losing run high. But that is EXACTLY the kind of thinking that loses elections, because it disenfranchises party activists, it is reactionary instead of visionary, and it selects candidates from on high who are less able to capture the imagination of voters as something new and different. Considering that Democrats have never won the Governor\u2019s seat two administrations in a row, that lack of contrast and imagination is a major concern in contemplating a Walz candidacy. <\/p>\n

In their fear, the party elders who have endorsed Walz are willing to overlook Walz\u2019s anti-progressive, anti-environmental voting history, thinking a DINO is what voters want. But they\u2019re wrong. Hillary Clinton was anointed by the same party elites, and she underperformed Barack Obama in Minnesota by 180,000 votes. Hillary Clinton had many good qualities, but last cycle, Minnesotans showed they were ready to embrace bold, progressive leadership, the kind of leadership that they believe, based on track record, won\u2019t sell them out on key issues when the going gets tough. They want a candidate who runs outside strict party affiliation, who thinks independently, and who takes stands for ordinary people instead of the wealthy elite or big corporations even if it means the corporations will mount attacks. They want the kind of principled, fearless leadership shown by Bernie Sanders and Rebecca Otto, not the calculating, fearful, history of Tim Walz.<\/p>\n

But what about Trump? Didn\u2019t Greater Minnesota go heavily for Trump? Didn\u2019t the Minnesota Senate go Republican and the House go even more Republican? Considering all this, don\u2019t we need a more conservative and calculating Democrat from Greater Minnesota to bridge the so-called \u201curban-rural divide\u201d? That\u2019s what some party elites argued when pushing Tim Walz. But Rebecca Otto is the only candidate who resides at the intersections of urban, suburban, exurban, and rural, on a small farm outside the Twin Cities. This means everyone can claim her as theirs. <\/p>\n

But more importantly, the \u201curban-rural divide\u201d appears to be a Republican myth that Democrats should not buy into. The evidence shows that Donald Trump received almost the identical number of votes in Minnesota as Mitt Romney did in 2012, so the notion that Donald Trump surged in Minnesota is false. Rather, Hillary Clinton underperformed Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 Minnesota numbers by nearly 180,000 votes. The congressional districts that went the most heavily for Donald Trump in the general election (7, 6, 8, and 1) also largely went the most heavily for Bernie Sanders in the primary. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Clinton\u2019s underperformance meant that 180,000 Democrats stayed home not just from her race, but from all races. That meant there were fewer Democrats out voting while Republicans were out in their usual numbers, so despite the DFL spending record dollars, Democrats lost every close race. Some portion of this has to be laid at the feet of party elites who, for all her advantages, interfered in the process by backing Clinton too early and loudly, lining the machine up behind her as \u201cthe front runner\u201d and disenfranchising Sanders voters who, the above numbers show, stayed home. Some of these same elites are making the same costly mistake in 2018 by backing Walz.<\/p>\n

The results of the 2016 election can more accurately be interpreted as an anti-establishment vote and not reflective of an urban-rural divide \u2014 and that is a reading which favors Rebecca Otto as the DFL candidate for governor. <\/p>\n

Unlike Walz, Otto has always run largely without the support of the party kingmakers and big money players, focusing her energies on rank-and-file grassroots activists, in the style of Bernie Sanders and Paul Welstone. In so doing, she has always outperformed the DFL candidate for Governor, racking up historic victories in election after election. This approach also led her to an historic victory in the 2014 primary, when a self-financed candidate outspent her 4 to 1, and she beat him 81%–19%.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Otto does very well on the Iron Range, and understanding why that is so leads to a full appreciation of her standing with Minnesota voters. Otto voted to protect the BWCA and Lake Superior watersheds from copper-nickel mining until we get better financial assurances from multinational mining companies. Many assumed this would hurt her on the Range and cost her the election as governor, but the facts show just the opposite. Indeed, the \u201cdone on the range\u201d argument is from the Republican, not Democratic, playbook. <\/p>\n

Otto vastly outperformed<\/em> both Governor Mark Dayton and Congressman Rick Nolan in every county on the Iron Range and across the entire 8th Congressional District in 2014, improving her margins<\/em> after her vote. To see if Otto\u2019s brave and thoughtful stand on nonferrous mining cost her any votes, we can compare her margin of victory in the 2010 and 2014 races in the Iron Range counties. (Note: The margin of victory is recognized as the best way to compare across counties, etc., because of differences in ballots across different precincts or elections. These data are from the Secretary of State\u2019s office.) <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Otto grew her margin in every Iron Range county in 2014 by an impressive average gain of 9.51 points, for a 72% bigger margin across the Iron Range as a whole. Remember, this happened after<\/em> the controversy on the range, in which Rebecca Otto took what many thought would be the less popular stand, knowing it was the right thing to do. This happened after Otto explained her position and helped people see, through an examination of long term goals and shared values, that her position was the right one for the people of the state in general and the Iron Range in particular. This is a reality that her Republican (and other) detractors on the range do not like to hear about and tend to react rather poorly to, in my experience. <\/p>\n

The most important thing DFLers need to realize is that Rebecca Otto was the only Democrat to actually vote for Democratic values<\/em> on this issue, while others were afraid to. Otto can rightly borrow Paul Wellstone\u2019s phrase, “I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party,” when others cannot. If Democrats don\u2019t stop compromising on their key values they will continue to lose like they did in 2016 because there will be no reason for DFLers to vote for them. I believe voters are well aware of this, this and appreciate Rebecca Otto for it.<\/p>\n

Was it a fluke? Maybe Otto just had an easier race in 2014. Let\u2019s look at Governor Dayton\u2019s Iron Range performance and see if there is any difference. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here again, Otto\u2019s 2014 margin of victory on the Iron Range was 1.54 points higher than Gov. Mark Dayton\u2019s and 4.41% higher than Dayton\u2019s across the 8th CD as a whole. While Otto performed better in every county in 2014 than in 2010, Dayton lost points in 5 of 7 Iron Range counties and across the 8th CD as a whole.<\/p>\n

When comparing Otto\u2019s margin to Nolan\u2019s margin, Otto\u2019s outperformance becomes even more striking. Here, Otto completely trounced Nolan\u2019s performance in his own congressional district, to a truly stunning degree.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Otto outperformed Nolan by 12.15 points on the very Iron Range that was supposed to cost her re-election. And Otto\u2019s margins were even better on the Iron Range than they were in the 8th CD as a whole, where she outperformed the Congressman\u2019s margin by a stunning 10 points. Otto\u2019s strong popularity is why Nolan asked her to headline or speak at events. Often, she was the only statewide elected official or party officer there for him at these events.<\/p>\n

The evidence is absolutely clear and abundant that Rebecca Otto\u2019s courageous stand on nonferrous mining earned her votes on the Iron Range. Suggestions to the contrary are not backed up by the facts.<\/p>\n

What about Otto\u2019s appeal in urban and suburban areas? The candidate with the best chance of winning the Governor\u2019s race can appeal to voters in both Greater Minnesota, and in urban and suburban areas. So, let\u2019s look at Otto\u2019s performance in the state\u2019s most liberal, urban, and populous area, Congressional District 5, home of Minneapolis. We\u2019ll use its high-profile Congressman Keith Ellison as our benchmark.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Otto and Keith Ellison both began their terms in 2003 as State Representatives. In 2006 when Otto was elected State Auditor, Ellison won the DFL endorsement for a rare open seat in Congress, making him the shoe-in in the general election because of the CD5 DFL index.<\/p>\n

The following compares Rebecca Otto\u2019s CD5 performance to the Ellison benchmark in each house district in the congressional district:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It turns out that Rebecca Otto is also an exceptionally strong performer in urban\/suburban areas, outperforming Congressman Ellison\u2019s margins in 14 of 20 house districts, and across the 5th CD as a whole. Note that Ellison\u2019s performance in his own district is stellar, so Otto\u2019s comparable but better performance is stellar-plus. <\/p>\n

Rebecca\u2019s urban and suburban support is not limited to CD5. In CD4, Rebecca outperformed the benchmark Congresswoman McCollum\u2019s margin in 13 of 21 House districts in, and across the congressional district as a whole.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Because of her strong performance and experience in urban, suburban, exurban and rural areas, Rebecca Otto outperformed the margins of every gubernatorial candidate she has been on the ballot with \u2014 Tim Pawlenty, Mike Hatch, and Mark Dayton \u2014 in 2006, 2010, and 2014.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Otto also unseated an incumbent, and she did it by the largest margin in 112 years, in a race for a seat that had been occupied by Republicans for 134 of its 149 years. This was an enormous and historic upset \u2014 on a level that Walz can only dream of.<\/p>\n

Otto then made history a second time when she won a tough re-election against the same opponent while being heavily targeted by the Republican Party, and without help from the DFL Party, becoming the only Democrat to be re-elected to the Auditor\u2019s post in Minnesota history. Otto is now in her third term, and made it a third time with her absolutely crushing defeat of Matt Entenza in the 2014 DFL primary.<\/p>\n

There is only one candidate with both the electoral experience and the track record of standing up for what\u2019s right without fear or favor, and it is Rebecca Otto. Rebecca is authentic, warm, humble, yet tough, willing to fight for what is right, and these aspects of her character are already widely known. She is widely recognized by State Auditors around the country, winning every major award and serving as president of the national organization of State Auditors. She has Republican support as well as Democratic. In fact, it was former Governor and State Auditor Arne Carlson who first asked her to run for State Auditor. She has strong executive experience at the state level, and she knows how to manage the legislature. On all these measures, Governor Otto would be one of the most qualified new governors on her first day in the State House.<\/p>\n

This is a year in which voters are looking for a truly progressive candidate, and it is right that they do so. Voters want a candidate who actually contrasts with Republicans instead of voting like one of them, a candidate who has powerful statewide executive and electoral experience and yet has demonstrated that she won\u2019t sell out progressive values. Rebecca Otto is exactly that candidate. <\/p>\n

In a year when so much is at stake, it is time to give voters a strong contrasting choice instead of a Democrat In Name Only practicing familiar old-style politics. It is a year when Minnesota is finally ready to elect a populist female governor, and we have such a candidate with the state executive and electoral experience to make that a reality. With only stunning and historic victories behind her, Gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Otto is in ready to make history yet again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s why: All the available data strongly indicates that Otto will beat all the other contenders across state in the upcoming Governor’s race. Democrats have two major problems to face in 2018 and beyond. First, how do we win elections? Second, how do we remain true to our progressive and liberal roots? For Democrats, 2018 … Continue reading Rebecca Otto: by far the strongest and most progressive candidate for Minnesota Governor in 2018<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5021,5026],"tags":[5134,977],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/State-Auditor-Rebecca-otto001seqn.jpg?fit=2400%2C1526&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5fhV1-2q4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9304"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28893,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9304\/revisions\/28893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}