‘Twas a slow year for Farmfest, with many empty exhibit spaces thanks to the rural recession and manager Farm Bureau’s continual rent increases. Gettin’ so the last thing of importance at Farmfest is the political forums, and with no races next year Farmfest may disappear… You could rent space at a lot of county fairs for what Farmfest wants!
Here’s my lightly edited notes:
No media scrum for Swanson (yet)
Murphy says family grew tobacco in WI… That was way back!
GOPers and Murphy do the plaid shirt thing, Swanson does courtroom casual, Walz in comfy t-shirt.
Pawlenty disagrees with trade war, then fades into tax cuts.
TPaw disagrees with basic OSHA safety standards- vests, warning light on tractors. Heck, I wear a reflective vest and turn on the lights when I mow for the town, why should farmers get any less protection?
Walz gets it- pivots to health care
Murphy talks property tax relief
Swanson getting 0 applause outa LSP group.
Johnson is late convert to alt fuels.
TPaw and Johnson advocate regulatory capture.
Property tax reform- Murphy wants new MN miracle, Walz talks revenue sharing, Pawlenty wants ch179 tax write-offs then tries to label DFLers at Mpls advocates. Typical GOP- complains about big cities getting LGA, but demands a tax loophole for big ag!
Swanson steals “one MN” line, supports more LGA, Crowd warming up to Swanson
Health care- Murphy wants to open up MNCare, Swanson wants to go after drug cos. Audit HMOs. TPaw & Johnson Offer usual “competition” meme. Walz wants MNCare expansion & prevention.
Secondary ed: Swanson wants more funding, grants for value added ag. Johnson doesn’t trust U of M. Murphy and Walz advocate AG research. TPaw wants MN only research focus, ignores Borlaag’s international legacy… If we develop better crops, let’s share ’em!
Metro vs. Rural infrastructure: Swanson goes 1 MN, TPaw & Johnson roads, Walz wants transit & roads, Murphy favors 1MN.
Bipartisanship- Murphy gets a dig in on TPaw, Walz brings up farm bill work, TPaw tries comparing Walz and Pelosi voting record, SWANSON mentions 3M and other cases, Johnson says he’ll end backroom bills?
Econ dev: TPaw wants to bring back corrupt enterprise zones, Swanson wants trade & education, Johnson welfare baits, Murphy pushes voc ed in high school, Walz pushed entrepreneurs and immigrants
Closing: Walz- common goals, TPaw- deregulation & cut taxes, Minneapolis baits, Swanson pushes generic “Better MN”, Johnson- running against government, says there’s a “war on ag”, Murphy repeats 1MN.
During the forum rumor spreads that the MSM from the cities has evidence of Swanson’s making AG office staffers campaign for her, so at the end of the forum the expected media scrum materializes. Swansons one “blocker” may be a big guy, but she needs a whole football team to block for her now. After a slow motion pursuit by the media she finally escapes, ain’t been seen since.
Sassy Democrat 