Ford Bell and Amy Klobuchar debate twice today.

[Demrock6]

11am on Minnesota Public Radio " mpr.org " will host a debate/forum between the two DFL candidates. Make sure you listen to see who to support in the caucuses if your still undecided.

After that at 12:30 at the Mermaid in Mounds View there will be an actual debate: Mark Kennedy, Ford Bell, and Amy Klobuchar. I want to go to this but not sure with the work schedule.

No matter what tune to 91.5 FM at 11! We gotta hold this seat and every dfl voice counts.

Rasmussen 2/28/06. Last month’s poll numbers in parentheses.

Klobuchar 45 (43)
Kennedy 42 (42)

Bell 43 (36)
Kennedy 40 (41)

[katinmn]

1. Thanks for the heads up!

[Demrock6]

2. ok, who listened?

Thoughts?

My friend who is a Klobuchar fan finally got to hear Bell. We text messaged back and forth the show, and he is considering becoming a Bell supporter. I said it before and I will say it again: its gotta be Bell.

Amy was snotty to a caller "from the progressive caucus nonetheless" when he questioned her Iraq stance and to Ford about the endorsment. It is almost as if she feels she should be handed the nomination without having to go through this process.

Am I alone? Anybody else feel this way? I know I am biased in favor for Bell but was it as bad as it seemed to me?

On the other hand Bell handled all the issues gracefully. Never raised his voice or gave a negative tone. I like that he has a long history of hunting and fishing as well. Hunters and fisherman are often good environmentalists, and it is huge for the economy.

www.fordbell.com

[dflprincess]

3. I only caught about the last 20 minutes

The little I heard, I thought Amy sounded a little defensive and a little snotty - though for a little bit she sounded almost like someone I could support (if I didn't know who I was listening to). In the time I was listening, Amy seemed to be dominating the air time which sort of peeved me. Of course, I'm also prejudiced in Ford's favor.

[bmcdonough]

4. Who Listened.

I strongly disagree with the statement that "It is almost as if she feels she should be handed the nomination without having to go through this process." Amy has been and is working very hard to win the DFL endorsement. She certainly does not believe that it will be handed to her. If she did, she would not be traveling throughout the state, meeting DFL'ers and setting up a very strong field operation to get people out to the Caucuses.

What Amy was objecting to is that Bell stated that he would respect the endorsement "if the endorsement was significant." Well what does that mean - as Amy asked Bell. Would she need 60%, 65% 75% or would she have to receive the endorsement by a particular ballot? Bell isn't telling. It would appear that he will only honor the process if the result meets with HIS undisclosed criteria.

[mdsled]

5. question

Are you the B. McDonough who is listed as Amy's treasurer?

[jean]

13. Welcome to Du and who are you? No profile.

[dflprincess]

8. Yes, Amy has worked hard BUT since Patty Wetterling dropped out

she has acted as though she has the endorsement. I was at the Central Committee meeting and she completely ignored that Ford Bell was in the race. When I walked into the SCC meeting that day I was completely undecided about the Senate race. When I left, after hearing Bell speak and reading his literature, I had made up my mind.

As far as Bell and the endorsement go, there are a lot of things that could happen before the convention. I'm sure part of it is how many ballots and what kind of margin is involved when the convention votes on endorsement. But, what if the polls by then show Ford beating Kennedy by a wider margin than Amy? Maybe some of it depends on how delegate selection goes at the caucuses. I find it strange that Klobuchar supporter would be complaining about Bell not being clear on this when it their candidate is so adept at avoiding a clear position on anything.

[secretdj]

9. a mole

Hello Amy staffer

[CatholicEdHead]

10. No, not a mole

Let's keep the GD circular firing squad posting style out of this. Assuming he on Amy's Senate campaign staff, who cares? That would make him a Democrat. That would put him on OUR SIDE.

Both Amy and Ford are good people and had a good debate on-air. Now we take their presentations into the Caucuses on Tuesday and see how everything shakes out.

[jean]

12. Thanks for the clarity and welcome to DU!

[CatholicEdHead]

6. Interview Archive Audio is here

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/03/03/midday1/

I missed most of it and will have to catch up the debate.

[katinmn]

7. Thanks, Ed! I'll listent tonight.

[jean]

11. I believe Klobuchar would pull votes where I live, amidst hoards of

'Sportsmen for - - - (insert republican name of your choice)' and W bumperstickers.

Why can't Bell be 'clear as a bell' when asked for clarification on his statement?

[mdsled]

16. Which statement isn't he clear on?

And BTW, Ford will do pretty well among sportsmen, because he is one. Because of the election, this year will be the first year he hasn't hunted in the last 50.

[jean]

18. that he'd respect the endorsement " if the endorsement was significant

the back and forth between Bell and Klobuchar on this is mentioned here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=160&topic_id=17396&mesg_id=17406

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. I got a call from Klobuchar's campaign today

urging me to go to the caucus on the 7th and support her. I did contribute a little $ to her early on; I've spoken with Klobuchar and I like her pretty well, but lately I've been sort of leaning towards Bell. I guess I'll just go to the caucus, keep an open mind. What I really want is a senator who has the guts to speak out unequivocally against the bush administration, who isn't afraid to oppose the Republicans instead of compromise all the time because they're afraid of, I don't know, offfending somebody.

So that's going to be a big issue for me -- which of them has enough of a spine to represent the state effectively against the Republican machine.

Any thoughts...?

[mdsled]

15. Then Ford's your guy, IMHO

He's been unequivocal on the war, and even though Amy is now trying to pretend that their positions are "very similar," she's blown with the wind. On health care, Ford's been clear from the beginning that he wants universal single-payer.

Amy Klobuchar is a concept. Ford Bell is a leader.

[dflprincess]

17. I agree with that assessment

He wasn't afraid to stand up to the party establishment when they tried to annoint Klobuchar after Wettering dropped out and I haven't heard him change any positions in an attempt to draw more delegates. If anything, I think Klobuchar is trying to sound more like Bell because I think she's losing support as more people become familiar with him. I know several people who have changed their minds about who they'll be caucusing for.

[secretdj]

20. Klobuchar blows...

with the wind, that is. The longer Bell has stayed and gained support, the more Klobuchar has adopted his rhetoric, though not his ideas. We've all seen this a million times. And every time a candidate like that moves on to the general, they then adopt a political stance more like their Republican opponent, reinforcing the conception that the Democrats don't stand for anything. I'm going for Bell at the caucus and we all have to commit to go to state. If he's not our choice then the progressive movement in Minnesota is in trouble, if not already DOA.

[Minnesota Raindog]

19. Why is Klobuchar only concerned about childrens' health?

I'm really tired of politicians who think universal health care for kids is as far as they need to go down the health-care reform path. That's as far as Klobuchar will go.

How about the rest of us? Kids at least usually have parents to care for them. And if their parents can't afford health care, why are unhealthy parents any less a concern than unhealthy kids? Sorry, but it's NOT just "all about the children."

Bell calls for universal health care for all. That made up my mind.

[jean]

21. just guessing ... didn't Gov Dean use this approach in Vermont with great

success? Maybe she's modeling Chairman Dean.

[DaveinMD]

22. actually Dean insured just about everyone

the Children's Health Insurance Program was Clinton's.

[jean]

23. I'm thinking of this

I have no clue if Klobuchar intends to model Dean, but mention of her talking about insuring kids made me think of Dean's programs in Vermont, which we heard so much about during his campaign.


For the Health of Our Nation, Insure All American Children
By HOWARD DEAN
May 23,2003

In the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it's simply wrong for sick children to go without seeing a doctor because their parents can't afford it. It's wrong for a woman to find out she has late-stage breast cancer, because she couldn't afford a mammogram. It's wrong for seniors to have to choose between prescriptions they need and putting food on the table. The time has come to make healthcare for all Americans a reality.

It doesn't have to be this way in America. In Vermont, where I served as governor for the last 11 years, nearly 92% of adults now have coverage. Most importantly, 99% of all Vermont children are eligible for health insurance and 96% have it.

But that's not it. We coupled our success in insuring kids with a new early childhood initiative that we call "Success by Six." As a result, nine out of 10 parents with a newborn baby — regardless of income — get a home visit from a community outreach worker who's there to help them with parenting skills and to put those parents in touch with the services they may need or want. Thanks to Success by Six, we've cut our state's child abuse rate nearly in half, and child sexual abuse of kids under 6 is down by 70%.

If Vermont — a small, rural state that ranks 26th in income in the United States — can achieve this, surely the country that ranks No. 1 in the history of the world can do so as well.

...

http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.05.23/oped1.html

[DaveinMD]

25. yeah

I see what you are saying, but Vermont's program aimed to insure every adult and most were insured. Regardless, Ford Bell's plan would insure everyone and for less money than our current system.

[cynthia]

24. the war issue is the big one for me

I noticed that Amy has added a line in her lit about "reducing troop levels in 2006", but I am sorry!
That doesn't cut it. We need a senator who will go to DC and vote with those who call for all troops home asap and no permanent bases in Iraq, throw out Halliburton and all the other American contractors who are soaking up all the oil profits while the Iraqi people are unemployed and underemployed.

I'll be at the caucuses and hope to move on to the endorsing convention. I have been undecided until recently (I was a Patty supporter at first), but Bell is looking like the only principled candidate.

We have to have candidates with convictions - not like Kerry and Hillary who pander to the right. Amy seems like she would fall into that camp.

[dflprincess]

26. Email I received from the Bell campain today

I strongly reject Amy Klobuchar’s recent claim that our positions on the war in Iraq are “very similar.”

It is completely misleading to voters for Ms. Klobuchar to say that she and I agree on the war. We simply do not.

This war is too serious for word games. Thousands of brave Americans have died and thousands more are maimed. Our troops have accomplished all we can reasonably ask of them, and I don’t accept that any more of them should be killed or wounded while we wait for politicians to make the right choices.

I have said again and again that our troops should be out by the end of the year. However, she has refused again and again to call for a date certain for withdrawal.

Minnesotans have a clear choice on the war.

Amy said in a debate on MPR Friday and again in a blast e-mail that “Ford and I have similar positions on the war,” but in the same debate she said that “I believe we can’t set an exact date.” She also rejected a timetable in an interview on the Democratic blog myDD.com, and in a recent interview on MPR she called setting a withdrawal date “not responsible.”

If Democrats like Amy Klobuchar continue to agree with the Bush Administration’s refusal to set a date for withdrawal, we will never have an end to the war, and we will lose in November.

I would welcome a call by my DFL opponent for withdrawing our troops, but she has not done so. Until I hear such a clear call from Amy, our positions on the war remain very different.

[Demrock6]

27. Audio for debate with all three

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/minnesota/polinaut/archive/2006/03/the_three_amigo.php