Editorial: Demmer, and what could have been

Talk about it

We now have an official U.S. Congress race. It’s going to be Republican Randy Demmer versus two-term incumbent Tim Walz.

Let the political gamesmanship begin. It may not be pretty, but given the rhetoric of some of the Republicans vying with Demmer for their party’s endorsement (which was given at Saturday’s district convention), it likely won’t be as ugly as it may have been otherwise.

Allen Quist, a former state representative and a twice-unsuccessful candidate for governor, worked to rally supporters at the convention by asserting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama “are deliberately dismantling every major positive feature of the United States of America.” Unfortunately, that sentiment — whether you agree with the politics of Pelosi, Obama and/or Walz — is based more upon igniting fear and stoking the fires of the conservative faithful than reality.

Worse came the literal battle cry from another GOP candidate, National Guard veteran Jim Engstrand. Perhaps encouraged by Sarah Palin’s recent “Don’t retreat. Reload” remarks, Engstrand vowed to “destroy” Walz — “not just beat him, destroy him.”

Demmer, for his part, cast himself as the Republican candidate who can win in November while also asserting his strongly conservative nature. We only hope Demmer doesn’t start adopting a tone similar to that of his one-time party foes as Election Day gets closer.

Tags: 1st congressional district, randy demmer, tim walz, allen quist, jim engstrand, opinion, editorials, minnesota, political, congress, demmer, walz, quist, engstrand