Minnesota has had more than its fair share of moonbats and RINO flakes. Unquestionably, Grams was the best voting Senator in the past 7 decades from MN. Coleman probably placed second. Boschwitz was about 3rd. Durenberger was a DIABLO and a crook (he left the GOP and endorsed or voted for Kerry & Zero).
Before those two were Joseph Ball & Ed Thye, both Stassenites. Ball went total flake and endorsed FDR in 1944 (and promptly lost to Hubert Humphrey in 1948, so much for RINO bipartisanship being rewarded). Thye was marginally better, but tried to play both sides when Joe McCarthy was ascendant (”for” him when he was popular, “against” him when he was vilified). He lost to the “other” McCarthy, Gene, in 1958, as part of the mass GOP casualties of that horrible election.
Ironically, Gene McCarthy would go on to endorse Reagan for President, albeit 9 years after he voluntarily retired from the Senate in 1971 (whether he’d have done it had he remained in the Senate is another story). I have a higher opinion of Gene McCarthy than I do of Durenberger. Even Humphrey, as liberal as he was, wasn’t evil like the two cretins sitting in the MN seats today.
I didn’t know that about Ball (the he endorsed FDR) or that Gene McC endorsed Reagan.
Was the base being POed at Ball part of the reason he lost by such a big margin? Truman also whooped Dewey in the state. Was the farm recession the main reason?
Ironically Reagan stumped for HHH against Ball back in his democrat days. Meanwhile Dewey of course loyally campaigned on Ball’s behalf. Too funny, all of it.