BLUE EARTH - If Internet campaigning, like President Obama used in his 2008 campaign, is the way to go, then Republican Jim Hagedorn, who is seeking his party's endorsement to take on incumbent Democrat Congressman Tim Walz in Minnesota's First Congressional District race in November, must have a leg up on his competition with his aggressive E-Newsletter campaigning.
In a number of E-Newsletters since announcing his candidacy, Hagedorn not only has attacked Walz on a number of issues but he has offered up comparisons of how his political philosophy and approach differs from that of his competitors for the GOP nomination.
For example, in his most recent E-Newsletter which appeared on line Thursday evening, notes early on that "The overriding focus of this campaign must be Tim Walz and his liberal record. Come November, if voters do not enter the voting booth a little angry and eager to kick Tim Walz out of office for his lock-step allegiance to the left wing and the Obama/Pelosi/Reid machine, then we will likely lose," he noted.
"For the duration of this campaign, the spotlight must remain focused on Tim Walz and his liberal misrepresentation of southern Minnesota."
Having said that, Hagedorn continues: "In the remainder of this newsletter, I will directly, but respectfully contrast my ability to take the fight to Tim Walz with that of my Republican competitor Randy Demmer."
Of course, Hagedorn, the son of a former Minnesota congressman, definitely has a head-start on his Republican competition having worked in and around Congress for two decades. And, of course, having the Hagedorn name doesn't hurt him, either, because his father, Tom Hagedorn, was a highly respected congressman.
In comparing or contrasting himself with Demmer of Hayfield, a four-term state representative who now is an assistant minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hagedorn says "Demmer is a likeable, decent GOP official who has represented a Republican-leaning district encompasses Dodge County and portions of Olmstead County since 2002."
However, "in spite of Rep. Demmer's good nature, in my respectful opinion, he is not best suited for this race. To be frank, this will be a contentious, high-stakes race filled with political combat, and the general perception of Rep. Demmer is that his command of the national issues and campaign demeanor is insufficiently strong to effectively engage and defeat Tim Walz," Hagedorn said.
"As you may recall, Rep. Demmer sought Republican endorsement in 2008 to take on Tim Walz, but was defeated by eventual nominee Dr. Brian Davis on the first ballot. Rather than ramping up his message development and fundraising efforts, Mr. Demmer and his campaign went dormant after losing the endorsement, an unusual approach if Mr. Demmer was committed to running again in 2010," he noted.
"However, after viewing the success of Republicans in the November elections, Mr. Demmer re-entered the race in December of 2009, several months after I had committed to the race and after Mr. [Allen] Quist announced his candidacy."
And, if you didn't happen to see what Hagedorn said about Quist, all you have to do is, in the second paragraph of his newsletter, to "click here" in the last sentence of that paragraph "to access that information."
Ron Larsen can be reached at rlarsen@nujournal.com.