Hats off to Bluestem Prairie

by Leigh Pomeroy

This Labor Day should not go by without acknowledging the terrific work being done by A Bluestem Prairie. BSP has made it a personal goal to cover the 1st District congressional race, and is accomplishing it with a determination that is hard to match.

Nary a mention goes by in the news — local, state, national, even international — of DFL challenger Tim Walz or GOP incumbent Gil Gutknecht that BSP doesn't link to it within hours. But BSP doesn't stop there, scouring the blogosphere for any mention of the two men and the race, which has gained increasing attention despite the district just months ago being considered a GOP safe seat.

If anything, the CD 1 race is a classic Don Quixote story, which is no doubt one reason why BSP is so attracted to it. Tim Walz is an unlikely politician on a quest, tilting at the Republican windmill in a district that gave Mr. Gutknecht 60% of the vote in the last two elections. Whether he will succeed or not is yet to be determined. But the fact that this little-guy-vs.-the-machine story, not unlike the American classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, is a good reason for anyone to follow it.

Mr. Gutknecht first gained his seat in the Gingrich Republican takeover of 1994 to succeed the conservative Democrat Tim Penny. Penny, despite being only 42, decided he'd had enough of Washington after 12 years and announced he was moving his family back to Waseca where they could grow up with good Minnesota values.

Gutknecht, a signer of Gingrich's Contract with America, pledged he'd vote to balance the budget, work to create a new, more accountable Washington, and, like Penny, serve only 6 terms.

Well, it's 12 years later and the federal deficit has grown to it largest size in history, Washington is as corrupt as it's ever been, and Mr. Gutknecht is running for his 7th term.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walz is the antithesis of the Washington politician. A high school teacher and 24-year Minnesota National Guardsman, he was not even politically active until he was nearly thrown out of a Bush rally in Mankato in August of 2004. Bush political operatives tried to deny him entry to the event because he was accompanying two honor students who, despite having tickets, were declared personae non grata because of their volunteer work for a local Democratic campaign. But Walz surprised the gatekeepers, and perhaps even himself, by refusing to leave, saying he had a right to see his Commander-in-Chief. Reluctantly, they let him stay. (A more extensive rendering of the story can be viewed here and here.)

Whether Tim Walz is a Don Quixote or a Jefferson Smith may be up to future historians or English majors to debate. But BSP certainly sees something that most of America has yet to discover. No doubt if Mr. Walz wins — or even comes close — BSP will be in the perfect place to write the definitive book about how an ordinary American citizen can have an effect on the rough-and-tumble political process.