Tom Emmer: Another Right Turn For Minnesota Republicans

Tom Emmer, a House representative from Delano, will be Minnesota's GOP standard-bearer in the race to replace Governor Tim Pawlenty this November.

Emmer got the endorsement at the Republicans' convention in Minneapolis after his main opponent Marty Seifert folded like a deck of cards and conceded.  The delegates were apparently swayed by Emmer's getting the backing of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Nothing like a God-fearing hockey mom giving her support to a former college hockey player, right?  Especially when it comes from one of the brightest bulbs in the Republican Party.

Emmer represents the modern GOP candidate in that he's very conservative and has enough appeal to the Tea Party movement.  He makes Pawlenty look like a moderate (egads!) by comparison with his pledge to cut state government by another 20 percent, and supporting Arizona's immigration law as a "wonderful first step".  Yet he says he wants to run as a mainstream candidate.  Good luck with that.

Annette Meeks, who is Emmer's running mate, is a think-tank conservative who believes the office of lieutenant governor should be abolished.  Which just happens to be the office she's running for.  And, no, she's not the first person who wants her own job eliminated.

So it's all set for August.  Emmer, who has no serious opposition in his primary, can just sit back and watch while Mark Dayton, Matt Entenza and Margaret Anderson Kelliher duke it out for the DFL nod.  The potential implosion could mean that Emmer has a pretty good shot at retaining the Republicans' hold on the governor's office.