Since they have already had 8 debates, with many others scheduled, they know everything the other one has to say and the challenge now becomes having the best response back to what you know will be the answer by the other guy.

Mark Dayton, level the playing field by taxing more fairly.  Tom Horner, adding sales tax to clothing and other items and services as a means of raising revenue.  Tom Emmer,  still no plan, simply retoric of reforming government but not being able to explain how he intends to carry out this “reform.”

There was a yes or no question, would you sign an anti bullying legislation?   Dayton and Horner both said yes, Emmer said “Parents not government should be the front line of defense for their children.”

City pages has  this story on Emmer’s son being charged with underage drinking this summer.  Could Emmer’s stance against tougher drunk driving laws being reflective of a certain acceptance of over indulgence of alcohol, perhaps??  I do think basically it’s unfair to judge a person by another family member’s behavior, however, when they spout the family values rap, and their born again jargon, and use their family in advertisements for the campaign, I think pointing out the hypocrisy is fair.  Oh yes, and that little matter of Tom Emmer’s DUIs……hmmmmmm.

I was working with Jay Weiner at Minnpost who filed this story on the debate.  You can hear the entire debate at MPR.

Dayton said he believes the primary is more democratic and open to more people rather than the few who participate in the convention process.  He feels the endorsement should simply be a recommendation by the party, but not  a requirement that the rest of the people have to abide by the decision.

I have to agree that the more people who get involved with selecting our leaders, the better.  The time and financial commitment to becoming a delegate to state is not something most people are willing or able to do.    An open primary where everyone has the opportunity to cast a vote for their choice does seem most fair in my opinion.   Even at that, it is predicted that only 15-20% of the population will be voting in this primary for this very important election.

Too bad we don’t have instant run off voting.  Jay Weiner reported in Minnpost today that Mark Ritchie is making preparations in case there needs to be a recount.  I’m glad he’s going to be prepared.  The large majority of people I’ve talked to who are planning to vote are still undecided, but being very thoughtful about their choice.  That is the good news.  The bad news,  many people I talked with say they have not paid attention and most likely would not be voting in the primary.

More on my Gov blog here.

Now he is doing the Michele Bachmann spin saying he never said what he said.  He did say repeatedly that he wants to bring back the tip credit for the restaurant owners which would reduce the amount they have to pay per hour for the servers.  Now he is saying he wants the first 20,000 in tips to be tax free.  But he did not address the fact that he still supports the tip credit where by the servers could be paid less than minimum wage because of their income from tips.

Here’s a link to 10 minutes of what he had to say at the Eagle Street Grill.

I must say that I was surprised that the audience was not screened and controlled with just Emmerites.  It was packed with some very angry people.   It does seem unlikely that this won him any votes, but this one is sly like a fox, not to be underestimated.