From WSJ Best of The Web today:
The Washington Post reports from Minneapolis on an interesting primary election today:
Keith Ellison is a Democrat running for an open House seat in a heavily Democratic district. But what once looked like a cakewalk has turned into a bruising campaign in which many facts are disputed but a central one is not: If he wins, he will be the first Muslim elected to Congress. . . .
The most damaging accusations, says Christopher Gilbert, professor of political science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., concern Ellison's past associations with the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan.
Although four Democrats are seeking the nomination, Ellison became the candidate to beat in May, when the state's Democratic-Farmer-Labor organization endorsed him. Within days, Michael Brodkorb, author of a Republican blog called MinnesotaDemocratsExposed.com, dug up two articles that Ellison had written under the name of Keith Hakim for the University of Minnesota student newspaper when he was in law school there in 1989 and 1990.
The first article defended Farrakhan against accusations of anti-Semitism. The second called affirmative action a "sneaky" form of compensation for slavery, suggesting instead that white Americans pay reparations to blacks.
Ellison says he has never been a member of the Nation of Islam, and he wrote a letter to the Jewish Community Relations Council in which "he apologized for failing to 'adequately scrutinize the positions' of Farrakhan and other Nation of Islam leaders. 'They were and are anti-Semitic, and I should have come to that conclusion earlier than I did.' "
For the case against Ellison, see PowerLineBlog's multipart series.
Rob-
I live in the 5th District and I'm going out to vote after work - in the Democrat primary.
Ellison is ethically challenged and truth be told, I can't vote for a Muslim.
There's not a lot of ideological differences between the four top Dems running. Ellison is perhaps more of a firebrand than the other three.
Cross-over voting is completely legal in Minnesota - and I'm gonna do it. Besides, in the Dem primary, I can vote for other candidates (Governor, etc) who may be easier to beat in November.
I hate to say it, but Ellison's denial of association with Farrakhan scores him a point in my book. How few Democrats would ever shy away from unpalatable constituents. Most would simply counter-attack, such as by saying, "You're just a racist to think I should apologize for locally organizing the Million Man March!"
True, his apology is self-serving (which doesn't mean it is or is not insincere), but sometimes the way that a man may suppose he serves himself says much about his own values.