The GOP’s in the house at the DFL convention

by Betsy Sundquist, Politics in Minnesota

April 24,2010

Two heavy hitters from the Minnesota Republican Party showed up this afternoon in Duluth for the state DFL convention: deputy chair Michael Brodkorb and communications director Mark Drake.

“I plan to sit politely in the stands,” Brodkorb said, hanging out with Drake in the arena’s exhibit hall, surrounded on all sides by DFLers. “I understand that this is a political convention and that I’m in the DFL’s house. I plan to be very polite and courteous.”

Brodkorb is in Duluth to observe the process and provide his party’s official response after DFLers endorse a gubernatorial candidate sometime later today (or tomorrow morning). He said he’s been to every state DFL convention since 1996.

“The glamorous life of politics: sitting in the top row of the DECC with Mark Drake, drinking warm water and eating Girl Scout cookies,” Brodkorb tweeted a few minutes ago.

Brodkorb predicted that Margaret Anderson Kelliher will land on top after the first ballot, and after that it will be a two-way race between Kelliher and R.T. Rybak, with Paul Thissen in third place.

He and Drake listened to candidate speeches on the drive north this morning, and Brodkorb called Tom Rukavina’s arena-shaking speech the “most entertaining and authentic” of all the candidate speeches. “He is refreshingly honest,” Brodkorb conceded, echoing Rukavina’s campaign slogan.

Minnesota Republicans will endorse a gubernatorial candidate next weekend in Minneapolis, and the GOP field isn’t anywhere near as cluttered as the DFL’s, even after this weekend’s endorsement battle finally ends (no fewer than six DFL gubernatorial candidates will appear on the August primary ballot).

“I think the Democrats will lose the governor’s office again, regardless of who’s endorsed,” Brodkorb said. “After next weekend, we will be united, and they won’t have a candidate until late August.”