Midsummer Politics: Gaffes and Sour Grapes

As the August 10 primaries approach, bizarre things are happening in Minnesota politics.  But then again, bizarre things always happen around election time.

First of all, there's Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for governor.  We don't know what kind of tipper he is.  But the next time he dines out, he should know better than to criticize the help.  Last week, Emmer said he was in favor of a "tip credit", in which hospitality workers earning tips are paid below the minimum wage.  He also made the claim that the owner of a St. Paul restaurant told him his servers made more than $100,000 a year.  That owner has since denied ever saying that.

Fast forward to Wednesday, when Emmer hosted a public meeting at a Roseville restaurant populated mainly by servers who would love to be making $100,000 a year (heck, any kind of decent wage).  Let's just say it didn't go well.  They got to hear Emmer hem and haw about his positions, and then blaming the media for blowing the whole thing out of proportion.  It got worse when a man protesting Emmer's support of Arizona's new immigration laws rushed the stage and dumped $20 worth of pennies in front of him.  Meeting over.

We don't know what kind of tipper Emmer is when he goes out to eat.  But the next time he does, he should know better than to criticize the service he's getting.

Next, there's the man Emmer is trying to replace.  Governor Tim Pawlenty recently claimed on (where else but) Fox News Channel that Al Franken owes his Senate seat to felons who voted for him in the disputed election.  Pawlenty cited a report by Minnesota Majority, a conservative group, in which they say they found that more than a thousand felons had voted illegally.

You could write this off as another bad case of Republican sour grapes, timed to mark the anniversary of Democrat Franken's being declared by the courts as the winner over incumbent Norm Coleman.  Too much time and money has been spent checking and re-checking every single vote to worry about the voting habits of convicted criminals.  So a new recount is not considered likely.

Besides, we understand Franken's doing rather well as Minnesota's junior senator so far, serving on committees and sponsoring some important legislation.  And he's been playing it straight, not resorting to the wisecracks that marked his days as a satirist and radio talk show host.  What more could you want from a U.S. Senator, no matter how he or she got elected?

Finally, there's Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who's running for Pawlenty's job as a Democrat.  After weeks of ads from millionaire opponents Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza, Kelliher finally hit the airwaves with one of her own.  Given her low profile and a mouthful of a name, one wonders if it's already too late for her to make any kind of headway with voters, even with the endorsement of her party. 

After all this, let's see if anyone shows up at the polls on a warm August day.