Post in Minnesota U.S. Senate Race

Jun 19 16:45 UTC

> Well, I guess us Franken-philes must hope that ... authors of
> voluminous writings on e-democracy forums like Jason Goray
> will come around.

I do regret my apparent inability to write concisely.  I'm not
entirely certain, however, if the fault is fully mine or if it lies
partially in the hit-and-run nature of what discourse has become.
Believe it or not, however, I do edit and try and trim these things
down.

Perhaps its been lost in the volume but I'm trying to give the
Franken-philes an opportunity to refute the negative impression of
Franken that I've been given.  Of course, I'm giving his opponents the
opportunity to support the impression as well.

Here was the opener.  It might be seen as a slow pitch and its kind of
meaningless without the followup question but its part of the meat of
what I wish to know:

> If Obama gets elected and his campaign promises have been honest in
> his intent of moving towards a Washington that functions with premise
> of respect for one's opponents and reasoned debate, will Al Franken
> contribute to that wave of change or will he be an obstacle to be
> overcome?

Here's the more important supporting question:

> Does the impression that has been made portraying Franken as the sort
> of person who will attack, belittle and insult rather than listen,
> reason and debate have any merit or is it pure propaganda?  Can you
> offer support for either point of view?

And here's more about why I'm asking:

> At this point, I really want to get a sense of the man's character.
> Not the one he plays but the one he has.  When he goes into a
> political conflict with the upper hand, how will he conduct himself?
> When he goes into it with facing a greater number of opposition, how
> will he conduct himself?

And, to remind the Franken-philes that Franken very well may not get
my vote just because I don't want to vote for Coleman, we have this
post by William McGaughey.

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 10:33 AM, William McGaughey <2wmcg@earthlink.net>
wrote:
> Let me add to this discussion the fact that there will soon be a candidate
for
> U.S. Senate for Minnesota's third largest party, the Independence Party.

I'm glad to hear it and unless I'm convinced that Franken is worth
voting for, my vote may well end up with the IP or Green candidate
although I try to give all of the registered candidates at least a
cursory look.

I saw a number of good points in your post especially regarding the
trade deficit, military spending, and alternative sources of energy.
I don't necessarily agree with every point, and I'm especially not
sold on PRT, but I'm glad to see the nature of the questions being
raised and the general direction of some of the solutions.

What's a smart jitney?

(I could google it, but others might be curious as well...)

- phaedrus, minneapolis, Hoping for a future with IRV for statewide elections.