Caucus night: Hanging with Mr. Emmer

They had to sweep Tom Emmer out of South View Middle School in Edina on Tuesday night.

But it was somehow fitting: It was Emmer’s last stop on an ambitious three-hour sweep of GOP precinct caucuses that took the gubernatorial candidate from Eden Prairie to Eagan to Bloomington to Edina, during which he shook countless hands, listened to heartfelt concerns and never allowed his energy to flag.

“We’re making up ground fast,” Emmer declared, settling himself back into the SUV after striding out of South View, trailed by his wife, Jacquie, who kept up an impressively brisk pace on the icy pavement despite her black-patent heels. “I’ve got a feeling those people are going to figure it out.”

If determination alone could win an election, Emmer - who turns 49 next month - would be moving into the governor’s mansion next week.

Emmer, currently serving his third term in the Minnesota state House, and Jacquie barreled into South View about 9:15 Tuesday night, an hour after Emmer was scheduled to speak at the caucus: If there were Republicans left inside the school, Tom Emmer was going to find them, and he was going to speak his piece.

He found them. Almost 45 minutes later,  the Emmers were the last ones out the door - except for the janitors, one of whom stood patiently in the school entryway waiting for the last stragglers to finish talking with the candidate and posing for cell-phone photos with him.

Emmer wasn’t the only gubernatorial candidate who visited precinct caucuses on Tuesday to angle for votes, but he might have been the one with the most ambitious schedule.

He blew into Eden Prairie High School at 6:30 p.m. and waded into a group of Republicans, including Jacquie, who had traveled from the Emmers’ home in Delano to meet her husband, and who looks far too young and rested to be the mother of seven children ranging in age from 8 to 20.

Emmer also met up with fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate David Hann, who, as a state senator from Eden Prairie, was on his home turf.

“Mr. Emmer, you’re blessing us!” a caucus attendee exclaimed, stopping to shake his hand.

“I told David I was going to follow him wherever he goes,” Emmer joked.

Emmer spoke to the Eden Prairie crowd - which, more than one speaker pointed out, numbered far fewer than those who showed up for precinct caucuses two years ago - for about five minutes, talking about conservative values and fixing Minnesota’s broken economy.

“I’m a Minnesota kid with Minnesota values,” Emmer told the group. “This is a time for opportunity. This is the best opportunity we’ll have to make changes, and this is the party that can bring real hope and real change.” (Nobody in this strictly partisan crowd pointed out Emmer’s continued Obama-like references to “change.”)

With Jacquie in tow, Emmer headed back out into the cold and into the SUV, where Jacquie offered around a bag of peanut M&Ms. Her husband told a Mark Dayton joke (which he admitted stealing from Leslie Davis), confessed to passing notes with Minneapolis Mayor (and DFL gubernatorial candidate) R.T. Rybak last week at a debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters Minnesota, and chided his driver, Paul FitzSimmons, when he conscientiously hit the brakes for a yellow light.

“Aw, you could have made it,” Emmer scolded good-naturedly. “What a wussy.”

The next stop was Metcalf Junior High School in Eagan, which was reached after an ill-advised bout with the vehicle’s GPS that led to a ramble around parts of the city where there were no caucusing Republicans to be found.

About a half-hour after Emmer was scheduled to speak, FitzSimmons finally pulled into the crowded parking lot at Metcalf, which, in true bipartisan fashion, was hosting caucuses for both Republicans and DFLers. The Emmers leaped out and hurried into the building, where a much larger group of Republicans, more than double the size of the Eden Prairie crowd, listened to essentially the same snappy speech and responded with notably more enthusiastic applause.

An ebullient Emmer was stopped on his way out by two radio reporters, who spoke to the candidate at length. Jacquie told him later that “some guy from the Patriot radio,” AM 1280, gave her a card and said her husband had “a lot of fans there.”

“It’s just the message,” Emmer said modestly.

The next caucus on the agenda was at Jefferson High School in Bloomington. After yet another GPS mixup, FitzSimmons pulled the SUV into the school’s parking lot, and Emmer marched in, determined to find some Republicans still interested in listening to his message.

He found a roomful of caucusgoers debating the party’s platform - among them state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren - and was given a few minutes to speak.

When Emmer concluded his speech, he waded into the group, determined to shake every hand; Jacquie, who was standing in the doorway watching, was approached by an older gentleman.

“I want to thank you for coming around,” he said. “I think it’s very nice that you support your husband.”

“Thank you,” replied a beaming Jacquie. “It’s very important to us.”

Later, on the way to South View in Edina, Emmer decreed that there would be no more use of the GPS for the duration of the evening, then reflected on his campaign, and on his drive to continue, despite his acknowledged second-banana showing to state Rep. Marty Seifert, who won the GOP’s straw poll on Tuesday.

“It’s been an amazing experience so far,” he said. “As long as we perform well tonight, we’ll keep going, and even if we don’t, I’ll still be here. I’m not going anywhere.”

You can’t help believing him.

4 Responses to “Caucus night: Hanging with Mr. Emmer”

1. John Anderson Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at 10:11 pm

   Great strategy on Team Emmer’s part: hide the terrible cash on hand numbers until too late so no one knows when they go into vote. Certainly, if people knew that their local state representative has more cash on hand than a state-wide candidate for Governor, they’d consider that gubernatorial candidacy a joke.

2. Bron Scherer Says:
   February 5th, 2010 at 5:10 am

   Well, John. You might want to do a little more in depth research on the Campaign Finance Board web site. I believe it’s important to point out that approximately $45,000 in Seifert 2009 “contributions” came from either his House seat campaign fund or a personal loan ($20,000) to the campaign. Further, judging by the Drudge, Fox News web site banners and radio advertising by Seifert on caucus day, I suspect a lot of that “cash balance” is gone. Marty and Tom are both good people, but Emmer has the momentum, the passion and communication skills to win in November against whomever the DFL candidate might be. Fund raising for Emmer from this point on will not be a problem.

3. Allegiance Says:
   February 5th, 2010 at 11:48 pm

   Gee John, I’d never thought of voting that way. From now on, I will vote for the guy with more cash on hand, rather than the best guy for the job. That’ll fix things for sure!

4. Colleen Morse Says:
   February 25th, 2010 at 6:00 am

   Why Republicans and Independents want to tell what they call “Mark Dayton” jokes is behind me. It’s very disrespectful to use put downs for a for a former senator. Dayton was a good senator and did a lot of good things for Minnesota. He continues to do good things. The only reason the Republicans bash him so much is because they have a great fear that he’s going to win the election. He’s got a good chance of doing so, too. He’s been called a formidable opponent not only because of his ability to finance his own campaign, but also because he has almost 100% name recognition all across Minnesota. He also has a very wide and far reaching network of supporters. You would do well to remember his 35 years of public service experience and how hard he has worked his entire life for the benefit of Minnesotans.