I very rarely ask potential visitors to this blog to read on.  This is one of the rare exception to this self-imposed rule. Take the time, whether you agree or not. Directly related recent posts: Judicial Candidates; Watching Citizen Obama.  ELECTION INFORMATION: Minnesota related; and National information.  My position on 2024 election, here.  

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Saturday I was at an informal conversation of a dozen people, ranging in age from myself, to a Freshman in high school, including two local legislators.  We spent about 1 1/2 hours together, and I jotted down the topics that came up – by my count, there were 11.  I didn’t know most of the group.  We were all Democrats.  The conversation reminded me of how complex the issues and citizens are, and how important it is that our leaders and ourselves recognize the importance of being a community.  A community moving towards win-win for all is better than a community where for one to win, someone else has to lose. In this middle day of October, 2024, we are a divided country.  My opinion: particularly this year, the Democratic Party has the best sense of community, an easy choice this year.  I invite you to read on.  If you haven’t seen them, PBS Frontline has had two recent one hour programs worth watching.  Harris/Trump; Vance/Walz.  Equal time is given to each.  I’ve watched them both.

Three weeks from today is Election Day.  Personally, I voted yesterday.  I would have voted earlier, but had some unresolved questions about a couple of non-Presidential issues on my ballot.  Since this post crosses lots of boundaries – states, etc – I’ll comment solely on U.S. President.  As every year, in 2024 I’ve been actively involved in the political process.  On Election Day, I’m an alternate election judge – available on call if needed.  Elections are the life-blood of a free society.  I pay attention.

My very strong preference in 2024 for President/Vice President are Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.  This is not a close call.  I’m lucky to have one photo I took of them together, in Minneapolis in late October, 2022,  VP Harris was in town to support the reelection of Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the other person in the picture.

Tim Walz and Kamala Harris in support of Lt Gov candidate Peggy Flanagan, Minneapolis October 16, 2022.

Kamala Harris is possibly the most qualified candidate for President we’ve ever had, with career long record of public service.

Tim Walz is my Governor.  I’ve met him in person only once, in 2006, when he was making his first run for Congress.  Eight times he has stood for election in Minnesota, and eight times he has won, the last two for Governor of my state – a state that works.

I almost pity the opposition research folks who have to try to cast Tim Walz in a negative light.  Sure, they try, but not successfully.  He’d be a very worthy successor if needed.  I tend to think of him similarly to Harry Truman, who had to assume the Presidency 3 months into his term as Vice-President in 1945, near the end of WWII and later had to manage the Korean Conflict.  Truman was a rural kid too, and when the chips were down, he performed.  In my Oct 1 blog about Tim Walz I said this about our state: Minnesota is a state that works, and a lot of that is due to community minded leadership of Governor Walz and a strong and effective Democratic Party (DFL).  The word “community” is my key word.  By no means, does this mean that all is perfect here.  No place is perfect.  But Minnesotans work well together, and there is a very strong sense of community.  We experience this in person every day.

The Presidency is not a place for rigidity.  Look no further than Hurricanes Helene and Milton to see the reality facing any person who gets the job.

Like many, I watched Joe Biden’s disappointing performance in the June 27 debate.   I’m 2 1/2 years older than Biden, so I have a bit of perspective about age.  It became clear that this single bad night might be fatal to Biden’s candidacy, On July 8, I wrote to the five people I thought would most likely be in the communication loop to make successor decisions if needed (one of the five was Gov. Walz).   I said this:  “I remain a strong supporter of Biden/Harris.  If the decision is made to change course, I think it is time for the Democrats to consider actively a “Team of Rivals” approach which was apparently Abraham Lincoln’s strategy to deal with division.”

On July 21, President Biden left the race, and asked his vice-president Kamala Harris to run.  Later she picked Gov. Walz as her running mate.  The rest is history.  Did I have anything to do with this and later decisions?  I doubt it, but I also believe that every single one of us when given the opportunity should be willing to step onto the court. with, at least, our own opinion.

I have also taken the position that the old Republican Party no longer exists, even though there might be a “Republican” label on the ballot.  MAGA is not Republican.  I maintain that anyone at any level on any ballot who played the election denial card at any time after the 2020 election does not deserve a single vote in 2024.  Along with President, who we select as our Congress, state legislature and state constitutional officers have huge implications.

Project 2025 has oft been referenced in past weeks.  It is not a theoretical threat from the MAGA fringe.  At the very least, check it out.  There are many internet references: take your pick.  I have described it as a nuclear weapon, armed to destroy democracy if implemented.

I have labeled my party, the Democratic Party, as the party of WE; the MAGA bunch, the party of ME.  At this time in history there is a great qualitative difference.  The WE side tends toward inclusive, community, tolerant, looking forward; the ME side tends to individual orientation, power and control, fear and loathing, looking backward….  Partly it plays out in the tendency I see in my party, to squabble about this and that – a healthy democracy accepts argument; while the MAGA bunch seems more the “shut up and do what you’re told” contingent.  In the WE side ‘freedom’ is for all of us; on the ME, it is for the winner.  There are still many moderate Republicans, but they have basically been banished from their party and I hope they take back the label in the future.  Liz Cheney and others represent this significant faction.  I think they know this is necessary.

I have often used this illustration I did in the late 1980s.  I have hi-lited three places on the illustration:  far left, the far right and myself.  The extremes tend to get the “news”, and are essentially mirror images of each other.  Political Scrum 2024

The demonizing of Immigrants of all sorts troubles me deeply, not only because all of my ancestry are immigrants to this country from somewhere else..  I see no problem whatever in reasonable controls, and I think there is consensus over many years that immigration reform is desirable.  In fact, this was nearly achieved this year, but  never saw the light of day for a vote.

The deadliest problem we have to deal with as we go forward is the torrent of dishonesty we have had to endure especially in the last eight years.  Very recently one of my long-time friends sent a post she had seen on Facebook which catches the wave better than any other essay I have seen.  Here it is in pdf format: Terra Vance Walz Dishonesty Oct 2024,  The author is a West Virginian,  Terra Vance, which is her Facebook name.

The commentary is long but well worth your reading time.  At Facebook, it has hundreds of comments.  I share it as a pdf since many folks are not on Facebook.  The focus of Ms Vance’s commentary is Tim Walz, who she admits she doesn’t know.  Do check it out.

What will happen November 5?  All anyone  can control is their own vote: including whether or not they vote, or how.  I have no more or no less power than you, or anyone else among the approximately 250,000,000 who are eligible to vote Nov. 5.  Join me.

COMMENTS (also at end of post):

from Fred: This was a particularly appropriate piece and very well done. Your quotation is excellent. “I have labeled my party, the Democratic Party, as the party of WE; the MAGA bunch, the party of ME.  At this time in history there is a great qualitative difference.”

ELECTION INFORMATION: Minnesota related; and National information.  My position on 2024 election, here.

The specifics of this post apply to Minnesota, but you may find this useful wherever you live.  Executive summary: I will vote for all incumbents on the judicial portion of the Nov. 5 ballot.  If you wish, more below.

On my election ballot for Nov. 5, are 23 Judicial elections.  This is not unusual and consistent with Minnesota Law.

(There are about 300 Judges in Minnesota, divided among 10 Judicial Districts.  All positions are non-partisan and have terms; most run unopposed.  Opposition is allowed.  Distinguished career Supreme Court Judge Alan Page was elected under the system.)

Occasionally there are clearly unqualified candidates.  They are exposed in the old fashioned way: networks of information: the word gets around.

The Minnesota House of Representatives has a very interesting guide to the Minnesota Judiciary, here.  Start with page five of this guide.  Page 10 talks about term and election of judges.

Personally, I haven’t voted yet, and a short while ago came an informative newspaper column (Here is the D. J. Tice column in  the Minnesota Star Tribune.) which in turn caused me to refer to the website of the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) which has a process for at least informally assessing Judicial candidates on the ballot.

Here is the MSBA website, for your election information: the Minnesota State Bar Association poll is a very useful link assessing  the candidates in contested judicial elections.

Mostly, the 23  on my ballot are unopposed and thus do not have to campaign.  In essence, their performance record is their campaign.  In two Supreme Court and one Appellate Court seat, there are two candidates.  And one Judge in my Judicial District (#10) has a competitor.  In each case, the Bar Association poll of members gives the nod to the incumbents.

So, in my case, I will vote for all of the incumbents listed, even if I’ve never heard of most of them, based on faith in the system of justice in this state.

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Some personal comments on the judicial system follow.  I write as an ordinary non-lawyer citizen whose work career involved a lot of work with, against and around lawyers.

PERSONAL COMMENTS:

Like the vast majority of citizens, my direct contact with “The Law” as an individual has thankfully been rare and low-end, like parking tickets.  At the same time, I know lots of people and lots of circumstances, and while I do spend most of my time within my own town, the odds someone I know encountering the Law somewhere else in this country, is at least as high as encountering it here.  And when you encounter the Law, wherever you might be, you are hoping that your rights will be respected wherever you are.

While this post is about state jurisprudence, a short while ago, a reader of this blog – a Canadian – wrote as follows about U.S.jurisprudence: “I find it very strange that in the U.S., judges are either elected or appointed by senators. In my view, this politicization undermines the principle of the separation of powers. Recently, Mexico also decided to elect judges, which many argue signals a serious threat to democracy. I don’t see how a Democrat can receive a fair trial if a Republican prosecutor campaigns on promises to lock up the “enemy”—and the same holds true in reverse.”

My correspondent was commenting on the increasing threat of using the Law politically to punish political opponents.  This is no longer an abstract possibility.  It is an active threat.

Like all systems, anywhere, Minnesota’s is imperfect, and perfection is probably not attainable.  On the other hand, while the existing system seems to work pretty well, with a legal system that respects the rights of the accused and seems generally to have escaped much serious controversy over the years, there is room for improvement.

Like most everyone, I can identify ideas for reform, but that is unproductive here.  We can and should work for systemic change through the appropriate channels.

Any Law is open to interpretation, which means lawyers are needed to argue, and judges to rule, and appeal processes to review and if need be, revise. The system itself presumes imperfection.   The dynamic changes if the Law becomes a partisan cudgel; where the objective is to control the legislative process – what the Law is – and who interprets what the Law means – the Court.

An independent judiciary with the right to appeal is crucial.  Of course, there are inequities here as well.  The rich can afford more justice than the poor, one can say.  The color of one’s skin, or the language one speaks, also factor. .

I think most all of us can identify with some “there but for the grace of god go I” situation.  Personally, it is easy to come up with examples within my own sphere.  So can anyone else.

What Tice and my Canadian friend did, for me, was to cause me to pay a bit more attention to the reality in which we all live.

The U.S. Supreme Court is the most recent and most glaring example of boundary issues.  If you’ve read this sentence you know what I am suggesting is a present day reality.

What worries me even more than the partisan angle, is the religious one – where ‘religious belief’ intrudes on and overrides fact.  My own church leadership (Catholic) has its “nose in the tent”, challenging separation of church and state, falsely claiming its members right to religious freedom to control other persons beliefs is somehow being abridged (the ‘life’ and anti-women’s rights narrative).

A recent example (among many) is now happening in Oklahoma, where public schools were required by state directive to have a particular Bible (aka the so-called “Trump Bible”, King James, with Constitution, leather-like cover, etc.), as official part of the requirement.  As I write, the directive  has been softened, but still requiring the King James Version, which is the Protestant version.

How do Oklahoma Catholics react?   There are plenty of them in Oklahoma.  .

Keeping the partisan ‘camel’ out of the court ‘tent’ to the greatest extent possible is a good thing, in my opinion.  And it is citizens like ourselves who can assure this continues.

POSTNOTE: My Canadian friends take on the matter:  In Canada, the notion of “weaponizing the judiciary” is unheard of, as the judicial system is viewed as impartial and largely insulated from political influence. Unlike the U.S., where the Supreme Court has increasingly been drawn into partisan conflicts, Canada’s Supreme Court has maintained a reputation for independence. Judicial appointments in Canada follow a more transparent and non-partisan process, with justices chosen based on merit rather than ideological allegiance. In Canada, judicial integrity is fiercely protected, and while criticisms of rulings do occur, the judiciary is rarely, if ever, seen as a tool for advancing political agendas.

You might find this article insightful as it delves into these differences.

In some states, private Catholic schools are subsidized by the state. Some conservative Catholics want to turn the US into a theocracy, like some evangelists.

I like the Minnesota trifecta.

POSTNOTE 2:  I’ve always appreciated a 52 page booklet published by the American Bar Association in the late 1950s in connection of Law Day by President Eisenhower.  The booklet is presented in four separate links. Law Day Am Bar Assoc 1959; Law Day (2) Am Bar Assoc 1959; Law Day (3) Am Bar Assoc 1959; Law Day (4) Am Bar Assoc 1959

Wednesday, I made a brief post, essentially a map of the Middle East for your reference.  October 7 is the one year anniversary of the attacks into Israel from Gaza.

Also, Wednesday, the DOJ brief on the events surrounding January 6, 2021, was released to the public.  Heather Cox Richardson gives a very cogent summary, with link to the entire DOJ brief here.

The Port Strikes (apparently tentatively settled today) added to the news.  Etc.

Then there’s Hurricane Helene, and its tragic aftermaths.

In my old days, we were essentially insulated from information about tragedies elsewhere.  It was every town, every farm, for themselves, dependent on neighbors or local resources  if they were available.  The means of, and access to, communication and assistance were far less sophisticated than today, and unless the disaster happened in your own general vicinity the likelihood was you wouldn’t even learn of the crisis elsewhere till much later.  Additionally, you would likely not know anyone in the area of the disaster.  Crucial agencies like FEMA & NOAA didn’t exist.

Not so anymore.

In the instant case, September 26 at 5:30 p.m. I sent a brief e-mail to my friend, Michael, who lives in a large gulf-coast high-rise condo in the St. Petersburg FL area.  I had visited him there one time, 11 years ago.

Helene was stoking up in the Gulf, but not yet wreaking havoc, and as we all know, the route and severity of hurricanes are never sure, except they seem to be getting worse and more frequent.  My message was succinct: “I don’t see your town listed yet, but you’re sure in the close neighborhood.  All best wishes to everyone.  It looks like a bad one.”

Soon after my e-mail came a brief reply: Michael had already left town, anticipating possible problems.

Then came the hurricane, and another brief e-mail from me: “By now it’s passed, I guess”.  Early on Sep. 28 another short e-mail from Michael: “All the cars at my condo were destroyed.  Glad mine is at airport“.

All of a sudden, the Hurricane became very personal to me.  A place I knew was directly affected.  I knew his condo and the local environment from that single visit 11 years ago.

To my knowledge, there has been no news whatsoever here about damage in his city.  His condos problem was probably due to the storm surge accompanying the hurricane, since the complex literally abuts the Gulf and the garage would be on the ground floor.

Meanwhile, as I write on October 3, the focus has shifted to the area of Asheville, North Carolina, where the bulk of the deaths and still-hundreds of missing persons, have become the focus, all due to the hurricane.  Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina and Tennessee and Kentucky seem to have been most affected. Asheville is hundreds of miles inland from the Gulf….

Helene was an unanticipated but nonetheless predictable national catastrophe.  All that was unknown was the exact time, place and circumstance of its effects.

Of course, all of this happened in the middle of election season.

It is times like this when it becomes clear that the borders of our community of citizens extend far beyond our town, our state, even our nation.

We like to pretend that “leave me alone” works.

It never does.  You just never know.

POSTNOTE: My sister sent me a tear sheet from the Sep 17, 2024, Wall Street Journal (p A15) with two Opinions “Harris is The Safer Economic Choice”; and “Lessons for Kamala Harris From the Women Who Won” (Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Giorgia Meloni).  The essence of the latter argument seems that a woman executive doesn’t mean it will make much difference.  (PDFs of the columns are here: WSJ Sep 17 2024 p. A15)

I responded: Ironically, today, Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney are appearing together in Ripon Wisconsin, considered the birthplace of the Republican Party in 1854..  It will doubtless be news.

Personally, I’ve worked with women teacher union presidents, executive directors, staff colleagues and managers,  and other female leaders for over 50 years.  They are individually and collectively no different than their male counterparts.  

The only substantive difference – and it is a major one – is that women didn’t even have the right to vote until little over 100 years ago.  As you know, you look at group photos of political leaders and until very recent years they were all men.

Currently, in my state, the Lieutenant Governor, both U.S. Senators, my Congresswoman, and both my state legislators are women; two of five of my county commissioners and four of five members of my city council are women..  Four of seven Minnesota Supreme Court Justices, including the chief justice  are women.  We don’t seem to have collapsed!

ELECTION INFORMATION: Minnesota related; and National information.  My position on 2024 election, here.

Today, Tuesday, October 1, is the Vice-Presidential debate.    It is also the 100th birthday of Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States.

I am a Tim Walz and Jimmy Carter supporter.   I’ve also lived in Minnesota for 60 years, and my entire life has been in/or closely associated with public education.  A column in Sundays Minnesota Star Tribune is where I’d like to start: Minnesota Star Tribune Walz Sep 29 2024.

The debate will speak for itself.  I want to reflect on my Governor, and Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz; and on Jimmy Carter, one of my favorite Presidents…and a bit of history, too.

TIM WALZ:  The Vice-Presidency, in all of American history thus far, has been a very consequential position, quite possibly never more so than this year .

I was surprised when Kamala Harris announced Gov. Walz as her running mate a couple of months ago.  I thought she would go with one of the other presumed candidates from a so-called “battleground” state.  My feeling had nothing to do with Mr. Walz’s qualities or potential, which I have always seen as excellent.  He brought to his selection a dozen years in the U.S. Congress representing a “Red” District, and is in his second term as Governor of my state, which tends to liberal, but whose rural areas usually vote conservative (60% of Minnesotans 5.7 million people live in the Twin Cities metropolitan area).

I met Walz in person a single time, at a fund-raiser, during his first campaign in 2006.  Eight times since then he has won election to Congress or Governor.

Minnesota is a state that works, and a lot of that is due to community minded leadership of Governor Walz and a strong and effective Democratic Party (DFL).  The word “community” is my key word.  By no means, does this mean that all is perfect here.  No place is perfect.  But Minnesotans work well together, and there is a very strong sense of community.  We experience this in person every day.

Recently Dane Smith wrote a commentary published in the Minnesota Star Tribune about our state.  You can read it here: Minnesota Star Tribune Dane Smith Sep 2024.  It is a summary of an entire series written by him in 2023, accessible in its entirety here.  Smith, a native of Texas, describes Minnesota well, I feel.

We have tended to elect leaders who bring out the best in us, and Governor Walz is the latest.  I’m proud of him, and I would say most of us share this view – you don’t get elected 8 times without recognized positive qualities.

Recent Vice-Presidents:  President Joe Biden (President 2021- ) served as Vice-President (2009-2017).  Here are some other vice-presidents in my lifetime: Harry Truman (President 1945-53) became Vice-President just months before Franklin Roosevelt died in April, 1945; Richard Nixon (President 1969-74) was Vice-President 1953-61; Lyndon Johnson (President 1963-69) was V.P 1961-63; Hubert Humphrey (V.P. 1965-69); Nelson Rockefeller (V.P 1974-77); Walter Mondale (V.P. 1977-81); George H.W. Bush (President 1989-93) also served as Vice-President (1981-89).

All of these came to office with extensive public service backgrounds.

President Carter elevated the stature of the Vice-Presidency when he was elected President in 1977.  In his personal memoir of his life, “A Full Life” (link below), he devotes two full pages to this important decision (pp. 111-113).  Later, his Vice-President, Walter Mondale, made his own run for President in 1984, and selected Geraldine Ferraro as the first female nominee for Vice-President.

ca 1990, East St. Louis IL.

Gerald Ford (1974-77, then House of Representatives Minority Leader), replaced Spiro Agnew when he resigned as vice-president, and then replaced Richard Nixon when he resigned the presidency.   Other V.P.’s post-Harry Truman: Dan Quayle (1989-93), Al Gore (1993-2001), Dick Cheney (2001-09).

Former vice-presidents have had very substantial records of public service before their election.  Tim Walz’s opponent, J.D. Vance, has less than two years of public service experience as U.S. Senator from Ohio.  Dig a tiny bit deeper and Vance is a very scary guy, especially when coupled with his ideology and his patrons.

Mike Pence? (V.P. 2017-21) has. of course, a particular kind of experience to relate.  He wasn’t asked and/or wouldn’t accept a reprise of  the four years as Vice-President, and is not on the ballot again.

Particularly beginning with Walter Mondale, the vice-presidency has more often been given an important and substantive role, for good reason.  The vice-presidency is important, particularly in this ever more complex world we share.

In her very interesting book “An Unfinished Love Story“, Doris Kearns Goodwin recalls a memorable speech by President Lyndon Johnson to the Nation March 15, 1965.  It was a Civil Rights speech for the ages.  Doris recalled a conversation with her to-be husband, Dick Goodwin, who was one of Johnson’s primary speech writers: “I told Dick that I had read an account that when Johnson was later asked who had written the speech, he pulled out a photo of his twenty-year-old self surrounded by a cluster of Mexican American kids , his former students at Cotulla, Texas.  “They did,” (p. 234)

LBJ had a hard-nose reputation as a government leader, but he genuinely had a soft heart for those less advantaged, and it showed in the landmark legislation passed under his leadership in the 1960s.

Tim Walz is the kind of leader in the most positive mold of those who came before.  When the chips are down, as they are in every administration, he will be equal to the task.

Few of the people listed above came from privilege and entitlement.  All of them experienced what Harry Truman called “The Buck Stops Here” weight of responsibility that comes with governing.  Knowing what I know of Tim Walz, he will be a very worthy member of the vice-presidential club.  If/When the crisis comes, such as Hurricane Helene, you want a steady experienced hand at the wheel.  Tim Walz is ready.

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JIMMY CARTER: Mr. Carter is the first President to reach 100.  In my opinion, he will go down in history as one of the most consequential of Presidents.  I’ve been an unabashed supporter of President Carter and his work since I first learned of him in the mid-1970s.

Enroute to Florida in 1977 I stopped in Plains, Georgia, to at least see the tiny town from which he came.  Plains was then and remains small town America.

Plains GA June, 1977

I recently read Jimmy Carter’s personal memoir, “A Full Life, Reflections at Ninety“.  It is a very readable 238 pages, and as anyone who knows Carter knows, the four years of his presidency are only a tiny part of his life experience and immense contributions to the community that is our planet.

Of course, Carter gets around to things like growing up, and peanut farming, and life as a Naval officer on a nuclear submarine, and the role of the Carter Center et al.  Rosalynn was his partner in all ways during their very long marriage.

Together, Jimmy and Rosalynn gave a huge boost to Habitat for Humanity.

He devotes 61 pages, in his own homespun and very clear way, to “Issues mostly resolved” and “Problems still pending” by the end of his term as President of the U.S.

At page 111, he deals with the issue of Truth in politics when he ran for higher office, in part: “Having served as a legislator and governor, I knew how difficult it was to keep this promise [to tell my audiences the truth]…I decided to make the commitment….”

Even in my own much more limited personal experience representing people, I know that it is impossible, truly inadvisable, to always be completely honest.  At the same time, there are discernible boundaries between acceptable truth and unacceptable lies in a civil society, lines which are constantly and excessively crossed in contemporary political discourse.

It was my privilege to see Jimmy Carter in person in Minneapolis in 2015, in his 90th year.  It was a very special privilege.  I wrote briefly about his participation then, here.  Unfortunately, a link to the video of his talk is no longer available.  The entire conference had an emphasis on human rights.

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POSTNOTES:

There have been two other unrelated posts this past week.  If you wish: here (Moms Demand Action) and here (Conspicuous Consumption – musing about the latest Tesla).

Regarding tonight: my most serious concerns, truly, are the implications of J.D. Vance and Project 2025.  I will write about these a little later.  These are the ‘nuclear bombs’ in our midst – aimed at our republic and our democracy.

from Robert Reich overnight: here

from Heather Cox Richardson, also overnight: here

10:15 p.m. Oct. 1, 2024: I watched the entire debate.  It was well worth the time.  Joyce Vance sent her observations about the same time I wrote my sentence.  You can read her comments here.  (Joyce is no relation to  J.D., to my knowledge).  Note from Larry: Walz did fine tonight.

Personal opinion: the purpose of the debates was more for political usefulness than substantive contributions.  In this age of sophisticated media, the importance is the sound bite or video bit that can be useful in political ads and the like.  We will see the results in the next weeks.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

from Laura: Thanks very much, Dick. Of course I’ve already voted and I’m certainly working for Harris and  Walz!

from Gary: Dick, thanks for sharing.

from Brian: Thanks so much for the update/info on Walz.   Good to know.  And from your area!

from Carole: Thank you. DC is awash with planned watch parties all across the city.

POSTNOTE Oct 8, 2024:  The Minnesota Star Tribune On October 6 had a full-page commentary entitled “Is Minnesota in trouble?”.  The column appeared to be a counterpoint to the Dane Smith column referred to above.  Because of its length and small and difficult to read font size, I enlarged and cut and pasted the contents into this five-page reprint of the entire column. MN Star Tribune Mn in trouble? 10 6 24.  I present it solely as a different perspective on a state which, in my opinion, clearly works pretty well.

As I say near the beginning of this post a week ago: “Minnesota is a state that works, and a lot of that is due to community minded leadership of Governor Walz and a strong and effective Democratic Party (DFL).  The word “community” is my key word.  By no means, does this mean that all is perfect here.  No place is perfect.  But Minnesotans work well together, and there is a very strong sense of community.  We experience this in person every day.”