I'm not from Minnesota but

[Carson]

WTF is going on with the St. Paul mayor??

Anyone from this area care to explain this guy to me?


St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic
Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's
re-election.

"George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly
said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American
people need more than anything is continuity of government, even
with some imperfect policies."

Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is
going in the right direction. "There's no reason to believe a
change of course will produce better or quicker results," he said.

And the mayor said the United States will bring the troops home
from Iraq a lot sooner if "we don't try to bring in a whole new
leadership team to run the show. We must stay the course."

Governor Tim Pawlenty, who co-chairs the Bush-Cheney campaign in
Minnesota, praised Kelly. "His bold decision is courageous and a
welcome move toward working across party lines," Pawlenty said in
a statement.

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, the Bush-Cheney campaign's other
co-chair in Minnesota, called Kelly's announcement "bipartisanship
at its finest."

"Mayor Kelly recognizes that jobs are being created and that
tax cuts have stimulated that job growth. He has done the same for
St. Paul," said Coleman, Kelly's predecessor as mayor of
Minnesota's capital city.

(snip)

[ibegurpard]

1. Norm Coleman was also once a Democrat and mayor of St. Paul

Kind of makes you wonder how much infiltration there has been in the Minnesotat Democratic Party.

[trotsky]

2. We're all kinda wondering.

I mean, if what America needs most right now is continuity in government, why hold an election at all? Gosh, if it's so damn important to let * continue to fuck up everything he touches, let's not risk his possible defeat at the polls, shall we?

Announcing, Supreme Dictator-for-Life George W. Bush! Continuity in government above all else!

[markus]

3. Not a good leading indicator for "Reagan Democrats"

St. Paul has a lot of what we used to call "ethnic" Democrats. Think a VFW-member, Catholic auto worker at the St. Paul truck plant.

The Catholic Church has become a wing of the Republican Party. The VFWers are prepared to follow Bush into Iraq or Hell. Just try starting a conversation about Kerry with certain veterans. They have all been briefed (must be using the web link as cocktail napkins at the VFW to the SwiftBoatVeteransForTruth site).

[SaveElmer]

4. Kelly has always been like this

I don't live there anymore but keep up on it...and my family is still there...Kelly apparently has always flirted with going to the dark side...he is apparently not very popular and many suspect he is positioning himself to run as a Republican next year.

This affects nothing...mo one is gonna change their vote based on what Kelly does. There does seem to be something about St. Paul mayors that makes them do this. Norm "Empty Suit" Coleman was St. Paul mayor before switching parties.

[David__77]

6. Wouldn't that doom his reelection chances?

Coleman wasn't elected as a GOPer, was he? I think he changed after his second election--am I right? Would St. Paul really elect a Republican? I hope the DFL can get some more discipline among party regulars and stop people like Coleman and this other guy from abusing the party name.

[RobertSeattle]

5. The continuiting argument is so lame

There are something like 5 million people in the federal government (military + civilian) - we are a strong enough people to have 2000 of them change jobs during this psuedo war.

[Viking12]

7. Kelly is a classic DINO

As a former St. Paul resident I can safely say he wasn't very popular - he didn't even have the DFL endorsement in his bid for mayor. His support for shrub means nothing.

[truthspeaker]

8. Common practice in St. Paul: Repubs pretending to be Dems