Regular folks weigh in on senate and congressional campaigns

“sir... I personally agree with you and wouldn’t vote for Gil either... but this is my job.” — campaign caller for Minnesota Rep. Gil Gutknecht

The Mankato Free Press is filled with letters to the editor today, which is no doubt true for many newspapers throughout the nation. This is as engaged an electorate in a mid-term election as any since perhaps 1994.

Two letters particularly stand out for their intriguing points-of-view. The first is from Denise Billington-Just of Mankato:

My beloved and I were tuned in to the United States senator debate last week as our 6-year-old entertained herself around the edges of the performance. At one point during the debate, she said, “I vote for the girl.” I asked her why and she offered no comment.

During closing remarks, I attempted steering her into the debate to further tap into her 6-year-old perspective. She was engrossed in a coloring project, humming gently, and seemed to be quite removed from the process. As [Independence Party candidate] Robert Fitzgerald moved midway into his closing, our daughter confidently stated, “I like the girl better than the boys.” I inquired why and her statement, verbatim, was, “The boys care more about the money and the girl cares more about the people!” I couldn’t have said it better!

Perhaps politicians should add 6-year-old children to their entourage of campaign and ad strategists. Better yet, use their perspective in policy formation. My guess, we would all witness the rebirth of a truly compassionate, purposeful, equitable and efficient USA.

And this from Clinton Meyer, who lives in the nearby small farming community of Wells:

Last election, I voted for Gutknecht, this year I’m voting for Tim Walz.

I got a call from the Republican Party talking about how Walz is for higher taxes because he would repeal the Bush tax cuts, blah, blah, blah...

I interrupted after the “soft on terror” and “raise your taxes” portion and said, “ma’am... I am an independent voter and have voted for Gil in the past... but his comments about Walz’s position on taxes and terror are so far out of context, they are not true. I don’t believe them and won’t vote for Gil again.”

Gutknecht blindly supports Bush and Iraq is a civil war we cannot afford and cannot win.

She then said “sir... I personally agree with you and wouldn’t vote for Gil either... but this is my job.”