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GOP confident of gaining seats

Published 10:37am Monday, October 4, 2010

The Minnesota Republican party has had its feet on the ground all over the state in the last couple of months, and the Fergus Falls area has been no exception. About 65 party faithful were on hand at a Republican rally on Friday, and another 25 were at the Westridge Mall on Saturday for a rally hosted by the Republican Bulldogs.

While much of Saturday’s crowd was on hand to hear speeches by the candidates at the event, including 7th Congressional District candidate Lee Byberg, Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Tim Tingelstad, and state auditor candidate Pat Anderson, there was another speaker at the event who wasn’t running for political office: Michael Brodkorb, the deputy chair of the state GOP.

“My job is to work with the party chair and be supportive of our candidates across the state,” he said in an interview with The Daily Journal. “But my main focus right now is to get out the vote.”

That was certainly his focus at the rally, where he told an enthusiastic audience about what great candidates he believes the party has this year.

During the speech, Brodkorb exuded confidence about Republicans’ chances at gaining seats in the state Senate and House of Representatives, even though he acknowledged that that hasn’t happened since 2002. “It’s been a long time since we made legislative gains,” he admitted.

This year, however, he believes the stars are aligning in the GOP’s favor – enough so that he even sees the possibility of Republicans winning back both of Minnesota’s congressional houses.

“(There) is a strong anti-incumbent tide right now,” he said, adding that he believes people will react against the last two years of national Democratic control of the government. “They have not been very productive the last few years.”

On the flip side, Brodkorb also believes that Republicans are promoting positive ideas about personal and governmental responsibility when it comes to fiscal matters, ideas which he believes people can get behind.

“We’re seeing people all around the state … coming together to talk about (these) issues,” he said.

Locally, Brodkorb is also confident that incumbent state representatives Bud Nornes and Mark Murdock will be able to hold their seats, and he added that District 10 Senate candidate Gretchen Hoffman has a good chance of unseating incumbent Dan Skogen.

Brodkorb commented, “Dan Skogen in this area is going to have a really tough time explaining his record,” one that he said includes votes for tax increases and bad DFL policies.

On the gubernatorial race, Brodkorb said that it’s “a neck and neck race,” but he said the party is working hard to get candidate Tom Emmer elected.

“He’s the only candidate with a balanced budget plan,” he said, lumping Democrat and Independence party challengers Mark Dayton and Tom Horner together as “two liberals.” In fact, Brodkorb said that a split vote between the other two candidates could be a factor in putting Emmer into the governor’s seat.

“The problem with the Democrats is that they have multiple options,” he said.

While he was confident with his party’s chances, Brodkorb explained that he won’t be slowing down with just under a month left until Election Day.

“You can’t take anything for granted in this election,” he said.

Tags: Michael Brodkorb, Republican Bulldogs