I just got this email from Mark Dayton:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

Dear XXX,

December is "A Dollar for Dayton" month! I'm asking you to please contribute One Dollar to my campaign.

Why a dollar? Because it's something everyone can do, even during these hard economic times. And because dollars, like votes, add up!

Every dollar helps our campaign to spread our message throughout Minnesota. Your dollar officially registers you as a Member of "Team Dayton" (if you're not already). There you will find other ways to get involved in our campaign and make a difference for Minnesota.

Please contribute your dollar NOW! (And ask five of your friends to do the same). THANK YOU for your support. I promise that, together, we will build A Better Minnesota!

So why is Mark Dayton, who is richer than God, out grovelling for dollars? I was underwhelmed with him when he was a senator -- don't think he's my first choice for governor, either. Of course, he'd be a huge improvement from beady-eyed Timmy the Tool...

[glinda]

1. I always thought all election money should be just $1. That way you can see what

the votes might look like. I like Mark. He understands budgets. He seems to listen also. I would vote for him.

[dflprincess]

2. Mark has always done fundraising

it gives people a stake in the campaign.

[mascarax]

3. Mark's gonna need a helluva lot more than $1/person/month

in order to win! Assuming his share of the large pool of current DFL candidates.

Maybe it's in honor of the $1.00 annual salary he took as 4 years as state auditor?

And getting people involved, engaged and committed to him before caucus.

He spent a ton of his own money to be a Senator (~$12 million). In both cases (auditor & Senator), I think his point was that he wasn't beholden to special interests (plus obviously he had a ton of $$). He's never impressed me as someone comfortable asking for money (assume knows people view him as very rich, which he certainly is to me). He would've fought a tough reelection battle, but I thought the main reason he didn't run again was because he knew he'd need to raise and spend million$ just to compete, and a win was iffy. He wasn't "safe" like dflprincess' friend, Amy (ha! just seeing if you're reading). Probably wouldn't have been high on the DSCC priority list. And while he personally had millions, as far as I know, he wasn't Carl Pohlad/Glen Taylor Rich. Still very, very rich.

Agree he needs to get people engaged without asking for a ton of money because we all know he has a lot. But self-funding this whole campaign is how many millions? I just tried to find any online reference to the Pawlenty-Hatch race and can't find a total, but combined they spent over $1 million the last week on ad buys. And while they both poured a lot into that, so that's not a weekly average...looks like last year's WA Governor's race was $25+ million.

So I'm commenting on this strategy and not him as a candidate. I haven't gotten that involved yet. Think he'd be hard pressed to win, with lots of negatives the Repubs can throw at him.

However.

He voted damn near exclusively with the Democratic Party platform as a Senator. Which is a helluva lot more than some of the current Senatorial crop (throughout the country...and I don't mean Al either!). So maybe he didn't do much, but at least he voted with the Party! Not a horrible Blue Dog. And he idolized Wellstone.

Sorry for my rambling...am not trying to argue. Didn't even start as an intention to defend Dayton. But we've got much worse now!

[dflprincess]

4. I am reading and felt a stroke coming on until I read your aside

:rofl:

I like Mark and I agree with you that he has never been comfortable asking for money and that this is a way to get people involved with his campaign.

Let's remember, Mark was one of senators who voted against the IWR. I think he went to Washington believing he really could be a force for progressive change and just got frustrated by the corporate stooges that never let anything good happen. Like John Marty, Mark also believes that Minnesota should be able to develop it's own single payer plan as solution to the health care mess. Though, as of now, that will not be allowed under the current insurance scam working it's way through Congress.

I haven't made up my mind about the governor's race either. We could do a lot worse than Mark (Entenza comes to mind), but there are several good candidates I need to take a closer look at.

[Frosty1]

5. Mark is a great guy!

I wouldn't hesitate to vote for him. He is a Liberal Dem through and through. Do you have a link so I can to donate to him?

[dflprincess]

6. Here's a link to his website

http://www.markdayton.org/

[Frosty1]

7. Thanks

:hi:

[glinda]

8. Thanks I am going to donate too

[becxx]

9. Dayton has a shortage of written positions on issues

After watching Obama sell us out on the financial crisis and now on health care reform, and morph from a seemingly sincere man into just another slick politician, I really don't trust politicians. I am sorry I gave Obama contributions. The same mistake I will not be repeating.

I am not so sure how trustworthy Dayton is either. When health care reform does not happen at the federal level, what is Dayton's proposal for Minnesota? How is he going to create jobs. Is he willing to cut fluff spending on things like the arts? How much is he willing to cut in different budget areas.

I'm looking for some detailed proposals not more "hope" and "change".

I have not decided who I will support in the governor's race. I have ruled some out: Kelley, Rukavena, Kelleher, Gaertner. I am waiting for substantive position statements from the other candidates.

[dflprincess]

10. Dayton, like John Marty, would like to see Minnesota develop its own single payer system

The problem is, Federal law will not permit this.

Pelosi, at the urging of the White House, stripped the Kucinich Amendment from the House bill that would have allowed states to find real solutions on their own. She said that allowing that would have "broken" Obama's "promise" that people could keep their private insurance if they want to. And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property near Phoenix to sell you.

[mascarax]

11. Will you expand on the 4 you've ruled out? I'm curious...

I haven't gotten invested yet. But I'm interested in others' opinions and the reasons you've ruled out Kelley, Rukavena, Kelleher, Gaertner.