Primary Elections

August 14 is primary election day in Minnesota. In Minnesota we have an edorsing process. During endorsement, a candidate is chosen from a number of candidates to run on a given party's ticket for a particular office. If one of those candidates chooses to not honor the party's endorsement, that candidate can then “force a primary” if this happens then the party's candidate is chosen from the names presented on a primary ballot during a election that is a few months prior to the general election. The candidate that chooses to challenge an endorsed candidate will often campaign saying things like “we don't want a few political elite choosing our candidate”. How are these “political elite” chosen then? In March of an election year, we as Minnesotans, go to our local precinct caucus where we talk about issues and ideas that are important to us. The causes is attended by your neighbors, this is the smallest population division for political purposes, these are the people you see every day. During the caucus, we choose some individuals to represent us at the County convention, where the ideas we spoke about at caucus are collected and prepared to be presented to the State Party. The County convention then chooses people to represent us at the Congressional District and State Conventions. The “political elite” are those neighbors we choose to talk to the candidates, do research, consider our concerns and represent our views when selecting a candidate for our party's endorsement. Too often the non-endorsed candidate has connections to out-of-state financial tools and feels that they can outspend the endorsed candidate and simply buy an election. I find it very intriguing when this happens and when that same candidate then talks about political insiders. This year both major parties (DFL, MNGOP) have primaries in both the First Congressional District as well as the Governors race. This year both parties have the ability to determine if the individual voter believes in our grass-roots endorsing process, or if our elections are up for sale. I strongly encourage everyone to vote this August in one of the two parties primary elections and reaffirm our commitment to the endorsing process. Your Choice Minnesota!

Thanks

Chuck Bradford