DFL Rybak leads in poll
DFL Party
Crow Wing County Democrats heard from their two Senate District 12 candidates Tuesday and ranked Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak as their favorite in a non-binding straw poll for governor.
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Party officials said 175 people attended the DFL caucuses at the Brainerd High School cafeteria, considerably fewer than the estimated 1,000 who attended during the presidential election year of 2008. Crow Wing County Chair Marcia Ferris said she was pleased with the off-year turnout.
Jan Gruenhagen voted Tuesday night in her DFL precinct, Baxter Precinct 2 East, at the Crow Wing County DFL Caucus in the cafeteria at the Brainerd High School. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
The totals of the gubernatorial straw poll were: Rybak, 46; House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, 44; uncommitted, 26; Sen. John Marty, 22; Rep. Tom Rukavina, 11; Rep. Paul Thissen, 6; Sen. Tom Bakk, 4; Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, 3; former Sen. Steve Kelley, 3; Felix Montez, 2; former Rep. Matt Entenza, 1.
Rep. John Ward, DFL-Brainerd, said Rybak's family owned a cabin near Nisswa and that might have played a role in his good showing in Crow Wing County. Party officials believed the uncommitted vote might have included supporters of former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, who won't take part in the DFL endorsing convention but who will run in the Democratic primary.
Democratic volunteers Mary Jo Anderson (standing) and Liz Wheeler counted straw ballots for the governor's race. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Both Senate District 12 candidates, former Crow Wing County Commissioner Terry Sluss, 61, and Taylor Stevenson, 22, both of Baxter, have both have said they would abide by the decision of the March 6 endorsing convention. The caucus marked the first step for delegates to be selected for that meeting.
A Brainerd School District teacher, Sluss said the area's economy is in the tank and many of his students can't find jobs here. He called for adequate funding for educating from early childhood through college and criticized Gov. Tim Pawlenty for punishing districts that had been fiscally responsible and built up their reserves.
He also criticized the Republican governor's unallotments as a cynical disregard for the state's poorest and most needy citizens.
"Health care is a basic human right and not a privilege granted by the almighty insurance companies," Sluss said.
The 2006 DFL-endorsed candidate for the Senate District 12 seat said he wanted to reopen the central Minnesota regional treatment center with union jobs, benefits and living wages. He also advocated for incentive-based education programs and the opening of a veterans home in District 12.
He thanked DFLers for their hard work in helping him in the last election.
"I know what to do and I'll do what it takes," Sluss said.
Stevenson, a first-time candidate who's finishing up his studies at Dartmouth University, criticized the high unemployment rate, over-crowded classrooms and outdated textbooks in area schools and high property taxes.
"This time begs for fresh leadership," he said.
For those who said he was too young for the job, Stevenson's reply was that he was just young enough not be jaded.
"I will not fail," he said. "I will not let you down."
All of the Crow Wing County precincts met in Brainerd and Crow Wing County Chair Ferris said the distance from precincts as far away as Emily might have affected the turnout. She said she was confident that the many people who were attended caucuses in 2008 will be reconnected with the party.
"We know who they are," she said.
Ferris said she likes the caucus system because it connects Democrats who might not have known each other. She said state party officials had told her to expect about one quarter of the turnout of 2008 and Crow Wing County fell a little below that figure.
Don Samuelson, former state senator, said he would prefer that Minnesota had a primary because more people would participate and that sometimes the nominee would be more reflective of the voting public.
"The best candidates aren't always picked by the party," he said.
Brainerd's Ward 3 Precinct 2 in northeast Brainerd had four DFLers attending. They were Chris Kelly, secretary of the Crow Wing County DFL; Cheryl Gelbmann, a former Crow Wing County commissioner; Pat Scott and Mary Jo Anderson.
Two resolutions passed unanimously in their district. One called for equitable, sustainable, predictable and sufficient funding for public education. The other called for affordable and available health care for all with no one denied coverage because of a preexisting condition.
The results of the gubernatorial straw poll in Ward 3 Precinct 2 were Kelliher, 2; Thissen, 1; and Rukavina, 1.