Expert Election Insights


With the possible exception of the Minnesota Wild, politics is the best spectator sport in town this fall. Two weeks away from the elections, Saintpaulite sat down to interview the high-powered partners of the leading Washington public relations firm, Dori Finbar, Inc., to parse the midterm elections.

Saintpaulite: I know y’all have been following politics since Floyd Olson was in diapers but you have to be a little surprised by the changing political winds over the last few weeks.
Dori: In fact, we are lucky we couldn’t find anyone fool enough to bet against us two months ago. We would have lost the farm.
Finbar: There goes our reputation. [laughter] We predicted Klobuchar would win but by just a hair, Pawlenty (anyone with a name beginning in “paw” can’t be a bad guy, could they?) would be re-elected by a landslide, and we called the 6th for Bachmann by a healthy margin.
D: Not to mention that we liked Ember Reichgott Junge and Steve Kelley in the primaries. Oh well, clients are still willing to pay us too much for our “professional insight”.
F: This might just me but, at the end of the day, I still can’t imagine Hatch pulling it off. I’m not willing to bet on that, however.

Sp: So how do you explain the shift?
D: I would love to say that it had everything to do with a strong Democratic response to Iraq, the lobbying scandal, and Republicans spending money like drunken sailors but…
F: Instead of turning on Bob Woodward, earmarks, and Jack Abramoff, the key was Mark Foley. Although I think that was simply the last straw. Voters recognize that a critical mass of incompetence has finally been reached.
D: And I would say that in Minnesota Amy has coattails.

Sp: The biggest surprise?
D: We told Patty Wetterling that a Pro-Choice candidate could never win in the Sixth Congressional district even if they were running against a woman with more phobias than the DSM-IV. I am old enough to remember when they committed people who heard God telling them what to do. Now Republicans run them for office! Go figure.
F: After November 7th we are hoping that Bachmann goes back to where she belongs.
Sp: Which is where?
F: Arkansas in 1923. [chortle]

Sp: So you are currently predicting…?
D: That unless the Republican Party hires us today [our cell phones are turned on Carl] to run crisis management they will lose Congress, perhaps the U.S. Senate, the State House of Representatives, and -in spite of Finny's misgivings - the Governor’s office.
F: …lose the war in Iraq, lose the respect of the World, lose control of the deficit, etc. etc. etc.

Sp: All right, all right. How about if we check back with you after the elections and see if you have any of your legendary canine credibility left.