Aaron Blake thinks that Bill Maher’s audience made a mistake in targeting Rep. John Kline of Minnesota for defeat.
Comedian Bill Maher announced Friday night that he will personally target Republican Rep. John Kline (Minn.) for defeat in the November election — the culmination of his longstanding “Flip a District” contest in which the HBO host allowed his viewers to pick which Republican he would attempt to unseat.
If you look at it from the perspective of choosing a candidate who is ripe for defeat then John Kline was a poor choice. But, if you look at it from the perspective of choosing a candidate who is popular in his home district but really shouldn’t be, then Rep. John Kline was an outstanding choice. Kline faces state Rep. Mike Obermueller (DFL), who he defeated by eight points in 2012. Presumably Obermueller doesn’t oppose gay marriage, would support legislation to address climate change, and we know he hasn’t voted to repeal ObamaCare 54 times. John Kline has a reputation as a moderate but he votes with the teabaggers all the time. All the Democrats need is for his constituents to become aware of how radical his recent voting record really is and they toss him out in favor of Some Dude.
I’m not so sure that his constituents would care if he’s radical. His district is the district that T-Paw came out of, and in which his wife was a judge. Disclosure: his wife presided over my step-daughter’s court cases when she was a juvenile.
The district is probably the breeding ground for the shut down of the Minnesota State Government a couple of years ago.
the district voted for Obama, both in its current and prior form.
Exactly. So why did Obermuller run behind Obama’s numbers?
Sounds like Mark Kirk of Illinois.
This should be interesting to watch. And perhaps a lesson in how to identify members of Congress that can be made vulnerable with an effective opposition campaign.
It’s always tempting to consider that the flagrant crazies in Congress that win their districts by small margins election after election can easily be defeated with more money. The problem is that the voters in such districts are well aware of their Congressional Reps craziness and a majority is just fine with him/her.
However, Kline may not go down easily: The district includes Pine Bend Refinery, the largest oil refinery in Minnesota, owned by Koch Industries.
Hope someone has looked at a lot more information on this CD other than the House and POTUS races in 2012. That may provide as clue as to if this choice is smarter or dumber than it looks.
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/09/aaron-blake-is-wrong-bill-maher-didnt.html