Is the Tea Party changing its tune on Mike McFadden? (let's take the Minnesota seat!)

minnpost.com ^ | 7/22/14 | Cyndy Brucato

[cotton1706]

The Minnesota Tea Party Alliance is warming to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden. Or at the very least, its leaders are no longer actively opposing him, as they did during the GOP endorsement process.

Some history: After McFadden appeared at a Tea Party event in May, Jake Dusenberg, executive director of the Tea Party Alliance, took to Facebook to warn his followers: “Folks, Mike McFadden is bad news. He has dodged the tea party and conservative base. He's flip-flopped on multiple issues. And he is the establishment's choice for the Senate.”

But in a recent email fundraising message, Tea Party Alliance president Jack Rogers opened the door (a crack) with regard to supporting McFadden. The email asks for contributions to defeat incumbent Democrat Al Franken, labeling him, “a radical 60s-style liberal.”

Does that mean that Rogers, who supported Chris Dahlberg for the GOP endorsement and was openly dismissive of McFadden during the state Republican convention in May, has changed his mind?

[TurboZamboni]

Like it or not, this is a populist state and men who have experienced success in the business world don’t find that the skills and experience necessarily translate to political success.

Wheelock Whitney and Brian Sullivan are two names that come to mind. We could throw in John Grunseth as well, but that implosion may have been related to other “unpleasantness.”

It will also be interesting to see the narratives that Johnson, Zellers, and Seifert craft for themselves.

There are certainly some obvious pieces of each narrative. Johnson is endorsed and can unify the base. Seifert is the only rural candidate. Zellers is electable and pragmatic, yet conservative choice.

But will a candidate assume the mantle of social conservative, for example?

It will be interesting to see what the candidates say about gay marriage, as the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) is still fighting the last war, asking candidates to commit to working to repeal the recent law, which just won’t happen, especially with the DFL in control of the Senate until at least 2016.

Like those Japanese fighters who hid in caves until the 1950s, the MFC hasn’t gotten word that the gay marriage fight is over.

They initiated the fight and the other side ended it. End of story.

Will any of the candidates work to claim the “liberty” mantle?

Johnson would appear to be in the best position to claim that mantle, especially as an early supporter of medical cannabis.

Will the candidates work to claim the “corporate” mantle, which appeals to the large donors but can alienate some, even in the GOP base?