As election time draws near, I am brought back to the memories of my first election and how the experience differed from the upcoming election day. This time around was quite different than two years ago.
This election cycle, for me, started back in February on caucus night. I had never been to a caucus before the February caucus and I was a little nervous. My dad promised to go, but when he found out we weren’t really voting in an election, he quickly changed his tune. After that I called Jessica, but she was busy and said next time she would, but she needed a little bit of notice.
So I found myself driving up to City Hall all by my lonesome. Once I arrived, I knew I had nothing to worry about. My lifelong neighbor Barb, who lives across the street from my house, was there to greet me. There were a few others there, my former history teacher, one of the cooks from the Red Leaf and a few faces I didn’t recognize.
After about a half hour of conversation we got to business and I found myself volunteering to go to the Waseca County Convention to represent New Richland. I was assured I would have a great time by Mr. Churchill and Barb. They were right.
About a month later I found myself up early on a Saturday morning to attend the Waseca County Convention. Prior to that morning I had talked to my college history professor about what to expect. He informed that there were in fact two more conventions after the county convention. Well, fast forward through the convention, and I was giving a speech on why I should get to go to the State and District conventions to represent the Waseca County DFL. After my speech and seven other speeches, three of us were voted on to go on as delegates and three others as alternate delegates.
In between the county convention and the other two conventions, I spend roughly six hours on the phone with the eventual endorsed candidate, Dan Feehan, talking about issues I felt were important. I had a couple conversations with Representative Tim Walz on the phone as well as meeting every candidate for roughly every possible position on the DFL side. I’m not sure how much time I put in, but none of it felt like work.
With the conclusion of the district convention there was only one more to go, the state convention. I’ve written about this in the past so I will spare you the details a second time. All I will say is it was a great experience, and I even got pictured in a TV segment on PBS. Well the back of my shirt was part of the segment.
In this process I learned a lot, met a lot of wonderful people and after going through all of these events, I don’t understand the partisan divide anymore. I understand why politicians argue, but I cannot figure out why so many people get so heated about another person siding with their particular party without ever hearing what they believe.
I was having a conversation with my neighbor the other day and he was telling me about how he wants to see Minnesota turn red. He couldn’t believe that I support any Democrats. He said they’re just liars. I didn’t argue with him. All I did was tell him about the wonderful people I met and the great experiences I had. I told him about Dan’s record and how he fought in Iraq after watching the Twin Towers burning. I told him how he came back and worked in the Pentagon before going to teach in underfunded schools. And I told him how he decided he wanted to continue serving his country by coming back and running in the 1st District.
With all that being said I should give credit to other candidates running for office in our area. For the first time in my life, a politican knocked on our door and asked us what we thought was important. That politician was Jeremy Munson. Even though we disagreed, he made a very strong case for what he believed and came across to be very genuine. Along with Munson, Julie Rosen has always been very cordial and continues to show support for our local community. I have been impressed with her accomplishments in the Minnesota Senate and hope she continues to hear what we have to say.
Thought for the day: please go vote on election day, as my former history teacher used to say, “You can’t complain about the outcome if you didn’t vote for anything.”