Wizard writes: > I think that the young turks, at this point, are more likely to come > from the Greens than from the DFL. It's a young party and is attracting > bright people. Farheen Hakeem is one such.
While I don't disagree the Greens are attracting bright people, I think this is way too harsh on the DFL. Look at the election just past: Ralph Remington, Elizabeth Glidden, Betsy Hodges, Tracey Nordstrom, Scott Vreeland (the oldest Young Turk I know) all won; Jason Stone came damn close. These folks are reformers, and I think none fly the DFL flag out of convenience. Despite their exciting 2001 debut and Farheen's arrival, I'd say the Greens still have a LOT of party building to do, and frankly, didn't do as much as they needed to these past four years. They couldn't field a candidate in the 10th ward - the 10TH! - and their candidate in the 8th ward basically disappeared. There were NO new Greens running for the Park Board - none! Their 9th Ward candidate was a DFL candidate for mayor (briefly, at the DFL convention). I enjoyed covering Aaron Neumann in the 3rd - he was a genuine and hardworking alternative - but he was flattened. Blame redistricting for the 5th Ward situation, but Natalie couldn't win in a ward that was still mostly hers - turnout was key, and the Greens (so far) have proven no better than the old-guard DFL at getting new bodies to the polls in districts where they have viable candidates. All props to Cam Gordon, who did it the old-fashioned way: laboring in the vineyard of city issues before he was a candidate, earning trust, working hard. My observation above is not meant to diss the Greens - as I said four years ago, I welcome their arrival and vote for their candidates. But the whole "wave of the future" can be undone by self-satisfaction (a DFL problem, too, of course). The future isn't promised to any political party. David Brauer Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
