Last Saturday the Independence Party of Minnesota met in its state convention in Brooklyn Park. The IP, a major party in Minnesota offering candidates automatic ballot access, voted to end the experiment of cross endorsement and also reaffirmed one of its core principles of not allowing its candidates to accept special interest / Political Action Committee (PAC) money.
The delegates voted overwhelmingly (80% to 20%) to end the practice of cross endorsement—whereby they could endorse a candidate from another party. The most high-profile example of this was in 2008, where the IP endorsed a Democrat in the 6th congressional race. Meanwhile, Bob Anderson ran on the IP ballot and won the party nomination being unopposed in the IP primary. Anderson went on to score an impressive 10% in the general election despite being outspend a million to one (that’s only a slight exaggeration).
Delegates also voted to strengthen a major core principle—that the party and its endorsed candidates at all levels cannot accept special interest / PAC money. Previously, candidates were allowed to accept PAC money in federal races because public financing is not available. This continues to be a major point of differentiation with the Republican and DFL parties and their candidates--all of whom never have met a check they didn’t like.
Speaking of Bob Anderson, he was in attendance at the IP convention and said he was pleased with the outcomes of both decisions. He is still thinking about running again for congress in the 6th district, but gave no timetable for a decision. “I’m still thinking things through and observing the developments of the other candidates while they move further to both the left and right—opening things up even further for a right-leaning centrist like me,” Anderson said with almost a wink in his eye.
He said the IP decisions of the day did move the needle closer toward a “run” decision.
And cheers to Bob for helping to make the Independence Party’s experiment with cross endorsement a negative one.
http://www.independenceminnesota.org/
http://bobandersonforcongress.com/
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