Fewer voters choose Dayton

Year	Office	Candidate	MN%	MNvotes
2006	Senator	Klobuchar	58.06	1278849
2008	President	Obama	54.06	1573354
2010	Attorney	Swanson	52.9	1075536
2004	President	Kerry	51.09	1445014
2010	Secretary	Ritchie	49.1	999382
2000	Senator	Dayton	48.83	1181553
2010	Auditor	Otto	48.39	981822
2000	President	Gore	47.91	1168266
2002	Senator	Mondale	47.34	1067246
2006	Governor	Hatch	45.73	1007460
2010	Governor	Dayton	43.63	919214
2008	Senator	Franken	41.99	1212431
2002	Governor	Moe	36.46	821268
1998	Governor	Humphrey	28.1	587528

As this table shows, Dayton’s numbers this year were lower than other DFL statewide candidates this year and in years past, and lower than what he himself got when he ran for Senate in 2000. Horner, who got 12%, compared to 5% for other IP candidates this year, can explain most of the difference. The IP has haunted the DFL in races for Governor ever since Jesse Ventura won in 1998. But Horner is arguably more conservative than Dean Barkley, Tim Penney, and Peter Hutchinson, IP candidates of years past. Why is the IP still pulling votes from the Democrat? It could be IP party loyalty, or voters being uninformed about how conservative Horner is. But it could also be high negatives for Dayton, and I think the Farheen Hakeem campaign had something to do with that. We know that she forced the recount.

That fewer voters are choosing the DFL offers us a ray of hope that we can one day defeat the corrupt corporate-party system dominated by the Republicans and Democrats. Since Republican voters seem to be less informed about what can be accomplished by reforming government, Democratic voters will likely need to abandon their party first. They may end up doing this for moral reasons. We know that Democratic Party policies have resulted in deaths in Iraq, Palestine, in coalmines, and on oilrigs. Republican Party policies are similar, but it may take longer for Republican voters to become informed and to incorporate altruistic values into their belief systems.