Behind the DFL scenes: Inside Thissen’s war room

by Betsy Sundquist, Politics in Minnesota

April 23,2010

Carrie Lucking warns a visitor before she leads the way through the doors that the smell is not pleasant

In fact, the word she uses is “rancid.”

Paul Thissen’s “war room” – which doubles as a hockey locker room when the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center isn’t bursting at the seams with DFLers – is still filled with sweaty hockey uniforms and other gear, most of it concealed behind black curtains set up by convention center staff.

Although the smell isn’t as easily eradicated as the hockey players who normally frequent the room, the volunteers and staff members filling the space this weekend have learned pretty quickly to ignore the distraction and buckle down to the task at hand: getting four-term state Rep. Thissen endorsed by the DFL as its chosen candidate to run for governor. (Arguably, political staffers and volunteers are one of the only groups of people more accustomed to working under occasionally rancid conditions than journalists.)

Thissen is generally considered the candidate poised to benefit if the two front-runners – Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher – deadlock in tomorrow’s endorsement battle or if either of them falters during the process.

“Here’s the scary, scary boys’ bathroom,” says Lucking, the Thissen campaign’s communications director, ushering a visitor past the campaign’s data bank, where six members of Thissen’s technical team are performing real-time data updates during the convention. “But look – there’s a sauna!”

The tech team members receive messages from the convention floor on changes in delegate identifications and are able to instantly enter them into a database. Lucking says Thissen’s isn’t the only gubernatorial campaign with a backstage data bank, but she believes it’s the one making the best use of technology this weekend.

This is also where Thissen’s “persuasion team” has set up shop. The campaign receives requests and questions from delegates on the floor on small cards marked “Thissen Persuasion.” One side of the card is filled out with information about the delegate (or alternate delegate), including his or her congressional district (and where he or she can be located on the floor), the subject of the issue and a description; the issue is also designated “tier 1” or “tier 2.” If it’s a tier 1 issue, either Thissen or his wife Karen handles it; all tier 2 requests are assigned to whatever member of the persuasion team specializes in the applicable issue.

The other side of the card has spaces for the “persuader” to make notes and record the outcome of the contact.

According to Lucking, the campaign had completed 300 “persuasions” by midday Friday.

Many of Thissen’s volunteers are family members of staffers. Terrie Vitali, whose daughter, Gia Vitali, is managing Thissen’s campaign, was stationed outside the entrance to the war room Friday afternoon, making sure anyone who entered was authorized to do so (and was wearing one of the obligatory green bracelets that identified them as a member of the inner circle).

Thissen has more than 100 people working on his behalf behind the scenes, and another 100 on the convention floor, Lucking says. “It’s amazing how when people meet Paul, they want to help,” she says. “There’s a lot of momentum here.”

How will that momentum translate into delegate support? Tune in tomorrow.