CRZ is Christopher Robin Zimmerman

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13.10.13 17:35

MAYORAL CANDIDATE #27: CAM WINTON (INDEPENDENT RESPONSIBLE INCLUSIVE)

Randolph Cameron Winton - the very name suggests a predestination from birth to a lifetime of attorney-ing (optionally followed by a lifetime of politicking). Sure enough, a quick Google search reveals an attorney record listing an address in Canby (a town I've never heard of but which Google Maps tells me is a three hour drive from Minneapolis). Fear not - his filing lists a residence in Fulton, on the very edge of the city limits. Canby is probably where all the wind is - Winton joined up with a wind turbine maintenance company for which he later helped facilitate a sale to Duke Energy Corp. What have YOU done with YOUR life? And he's only 34 - I believe he's the second youngest candidate in the race (Mr. Hanna, 28, would take the title of youngest...unless I've missed another youngster amongst the remaining folks I haven't profiled yet. Stay tuned to this channel!) but it probably helps that he looks older. And yet he wants to give up a Duke Energy Senior Council gig to become mayor? It seems like the opposite of career advancement...unless, of course, mayor isn't the last political office you intend to seek...

By the way, that's why the "Y" in all his signs is a windmill - I mean, wind turbine.

He has a STAGGERING and strangely round-numbered 3,500 Likes on Facebook; more than enough to make me raise an eyebrow and wonder how many of them were - how shall I put this? - "not organically collected." It has been reported that his Facebook advertising budget is somwhere in the five figure range - and that as of over a month ago. He probably HASN'T bought any Twitter followers...I'm beating him by over 200 on that metric. I continue to maintain a zero dollar budget for both Likes and followers, as well as practically everything else.

Going by the photos page on his campaign website, it looks like he stopped wearing glasses RIGHT around the time he started running. That bugged me just enough to mention it here, but I also carry this delusion that I wear the coolest pair of specs on the planet.

So many robocalls and emails - as you know, I was dumb enough to give the GOP my real address when I attended caucuses and conventions for Ron Paul in '08 and '12. This has resulted in my email address being sold to all kinds of folks who think I am interested in hearing from Republicans. Winton really wants to have it both ways, by the way - he opted out of the political suicide of choosing "Republican" as his party or principle, instead opting for the word mishmash you see above, yet he buys Republican mailing lists and sends very "I'm the only conservative in the race!" emails. There is a subtle difference between "I'm the only center/right candidate in the DEBATES" (which you could almost make a case for) and "I'm the only center/right candidate in the RACE" (which is a flat out lie).

Let me break out and give this its own paragraph, because I want to be really clear about this lie, so here are his own words from his own email: "I have the center&right to myself - while my 34 opponents divide the rest of the spectrum." I mean, what bullshit. It's actually worse now that I look at it because he's not saying he's center/right, he's saying he's encompassing the ENTIRE center AND right parts of the spectrum - that's like over half of the spectrum, right? And his 34 opponents all fall into this tiny box? Preposterous.

(DISCLAIMER: I hate the use of the spectrum at all, but as a Libertarian I consider myself "center/right" on the issues on which the mayor would have any real say - your mileage may vary [and feel free to leave a comment if you disagree - or even if you agree!])

...not that you'd even hear about this "center & right" stuff because every chance he gets, he *panders* to the "left" by praising all his DFL opponents and in turn, suckering them into praising HIM so he can post their quotes on his Facebook page. This is a smart way to run in our one party town - obviously the "smart" money says you will need the support of people who vote for the one party in order to win - and in the era of Ranked Choice Voting, if three or four DFL candidates DO split the #1 votes and he's convinced sufficient numbers to rank him second (and his Twitter stream is largely devoted to that kind of plea), he can definitely steal this election. In fact, I believe that's his campaign's overall strategy: seek out 100% of the Republican vote (sure, Minnesota Republicans know the deal and will hold their noses and forgive him for shunning the party label because of a misguided belief that results are the only thing that matters) while playing nice with the DFL and maybe convincing (or conning, you pick) enough of them to throw enough support to sneak out a win in a splintered field.

I highlighted the word "panders" up there because one of his "preachin' to the choir" gimmicks on his Facebook page is to dress up his negative campaigning [because nobody in this race is doing any negative campaigning, the media keeps saying] by using a "panda" scale based on how much he feels his opponent du status update has pandered to the voters. The absolute worst crime a politician can commit is hypocrisy.

Winton's got no end of gimmicks - he regularly holds circus events disguised as press conferences which the media are eating up, although I'm never sure whether they just want to find a way to mock him without looking like they're mocking him...letting him set himself up by posing with animals, on the bus, in the pothole, with multiple umbrellas, and so on - they post the photos without commentary and leaving it to the folks viewing the photos write their own jokes.

The thing is, Minneapolis is DYING for some fiscal responsibility. Maybe electing Winton would help bring it about, but it would depend which Winton gets elected...although I bet the Winton who would be elected has been carefully hidden from the Winton presented out in public. That's a long, overly mysterious way of saying "he'd probably be a great Republican mayor...I wonder how many people voting for him will be aware of that when they're voting for him? Also, is this just a stealth campaign to set up later runs for....Governor? Senator? Pope?"

In a sense, a Winton-led Minneapolis would probably be a lot like a Zimmerman-led Minneapolis, with the City Council working really hard to make sure the mayor didn't do anything too outside the orthodox - which would hopefully lead to a deadlocked, gridlocked government which couldn't accomplish ANYTHING. I'm not even sure if I'm serious or joking at this point. Let's move on.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but I believe I would! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: Man, it doesn't stop - next up is one of the presumptive "frontrunners"

13.10.13 17:20

@toshi3215 What does it mean? (Google translate: これはどういう意味？)

13.10.13 16:09

23 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY: I've been procrastinating on finishing up my (surely highly-anticipated) Cam Winton writeup when a discussion over on e-democracy about Facebook Likes turned to a discussion of Twitter. I ended up compiling this list of Twitter follower counts for the 18 candidates for which I could find accounts - surprisingly, I'm in the Top 3!

2003 Betsy Hodges (@betsyhodges)
1173 Mark Andrews (@MarkForMpls)
821 Me (@CRZ)
602 Cam Winton (@cam_winton)
593 Don Samuels (@don__samuels)
516 Merrill Anderson (@reach_mia)
356 Jackie Cherryhomes (@CherryhomesMpls)
240 Kurt Hanna (@CaptainKurtis)
138 Stephanie Woodruff (@swoodruffmpls)
  47 Bob Fine (@FineforMayor)
  13 Jeffrey Alan Wagner (@PissedOffMPLS)
  12 Dan Cohen (@DanCohenMayor)
   6 Alicia K. Bennett (@akbformpls)
   3 Edmund Bernard Bruyere (@BruyereforMayor)
   0 Bob "Again" Carney (@Transitrev)
   0 Bill Kahn (@LastMayorBill)
   0 Cyd Gorman (@CydGorman)
   0 James L. "Jimmy" Stroud Jr. (@JIMMY4MAYORMPLS)

A little more detail in my post over on e-dem linked right.......here: (Link to E-Democracy.org: Minneapolis Mayoral campaign moves from lawn signs to Facebook ...)

13.10.13 16:03

Which #MPLSmayor candidate has the most followers? http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/post/28Q4R3jXmZcmi0bpu7KkcS #MPLS13

13.10.13 16:02

I found 18 #MPLSmayor candidates on Twitter: https://t.co/foMhtBN97Z (let me know if I missed you) #MPLS13

13.10.13 14:44

@BringMN Are you guys aware you've been sending all your @BringMNsports tweets through the wrong account for hours? (it's annoying)

13.10.13 14:33

You forgot VIKINGS were in the building. RT @PerkatPlay: The @minnesotalynx in the building. That pretty much guarantees a Vikings victory.

13.10.13 00:48

@britain Thanks for the kind words. Anyway, these days it's all Subway, Domino's, Popeye's and USA original programming

12.10.13 22:14

McDonald's (Saint Paul, MN)

12.10.13 21:32

Wolves... don't win #raptors 104 - #twolves 97 @ Target Center

12.10.13 21:15

Attention #twolves fans: five brothers on the floor for Minnesota

12.10.13 20:34

#TWOLVES PRESEASON DOUBLE DOUBLE WATCH: KEVIN LOVE (21 & 10, 8:03 3rd)

12.10.13 20:14

HALFTIME: 52-52 #raptors #twolves @ Target Center

12.10.13 19:04

Dudes our seats from last year are still available for new Season Ticket Members! #twolves

12.10.13 17:33

LET'S GO #TWOLVES! (at @TargetCenterMn for @Raptors vs @MNTimberwolves) http://4sq.com/1682hdl

12.10.13 17:33

LET'S GO #TWOLVES! - Toronto Raptors vs Minnesota Timberwolves - Target Center (Minneapolis, MN)

12.10.13 17:05

Spire Credit Union (Minneapolis, MN)

12.10.13 14:48

Zombies don't vote, do they?

12.10.13 04:18

We are all marks.

12.10.13 04:18

Reality is ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:18

Guys named "Big E" are ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:18

Constant identification of pronoun use in commentary is ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:18

Concussions are ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:18

Breast cancer is ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:17

Hashtags are ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:17

Unfortunate demands for acting are ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:17

Crowd chants are ruining wrestling

12.10.13 04:17

Politics is ruining wrestling

12.10.13 02:45

24 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY - MAYORAL CANDIDATE #26: DON SAMUELS (DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR)

We're in the home stretch! Our final ten candidates starts with another one of the chosen eight, Councilman of nearly a decade Don Samuels (64, Jordan). He filed on 8/12 - and then amended in 8/13 for reasons I don't fully comprehend but suspect were at the behest of someone really anal-retentive in Elections. (The only difference I see were that he accidentally filled in "R.T. Rybak" as "judicial incumbent" when it should have been left blank.) On both, he has a lovely signature which is just plain "Don."

He's really been into this "six families are responsible for all the crime!" thing (I linked here earlier) but still can't quite explain why he wants to talk to them, but won't talk to them until he's mayor - also, how talking to them is going to end all the crime. I wondered this aloud on Twitter back in August, and somehow he SAW my tweet and answered with a tweet of his own: "Actually, I may have [talked to them], but not knowingly. This is new data, based on ResultsMpls, a newer data system I helped institute in City Hall." A little evasive and not answering the question I was asking, but better than nothin'! (MAYBE.)

He didn't tell us which of the six crime families were responsible for the dude peeing on the building and his friend who swiped Samuels' iPhone, leading to an epic tale of recovery and redemption which reads too good to be true and doesn't actually have much to do with him running for mayor...but that's mostly because he wrote it a year ago.

In the past year, he's ALSO been the main driver behind the disbanding of the Civilian Police Review Authority - a move which just about removed citizen oversight of the MPD and wasn't well received, especially now that we're into the Office of Police Conduct Review era.

Although I haven't talked to a lot of people, Samuels is the one I hear the most about - but almost never in a positive light. What I have heard the most is how strange it is for someone to live in the North side, represent the North side on the City Council, yet do so little for the North side (with the exception of the occasional goodies for Jordan). As if that weren't enough, he was one of the seven votes to proceed with tearing down the Metrodome and putting up a new expensive stadium for the Vikings without asking the people of Minneapolis to vote on it. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Samuels declined to try for re-election to his council seat - thus, the run for mayor.

In his favor, Johnny Northside gave him a positive review. (I mention this because a lot of people have strong opinions about Johnny Northside and this might help you make up your mind about Mr. Samuels as well.)

Lastly, one of his favourite issues to talk about besides crime is the schools, which - sing along with me, kids - the mayor has very little to do with in Minneapolis and if he'd REALLY wanted to help out, he'd have considered running for the School Board.

I honestly can't tell you if I'd be a better mayor than this guy or not, but as with all of the "big" candidates (or DFL candidates - take your pick) and *especially* given his previous experience in Minneapolis government, I tend to think I might be! Am I right or wrong? It's YOUR vote!

NEXT: We continue our string of most favored nations with a real doozy!

12.10.13 00:15

@grumpymartian "This video is private." (Maybe set to "unlisted?")

11.10.13 20:20

@grumpymartian The longer you are married, the more we start looking alike? http://pic.twitter.com/e7ClG8d7bk

11.10.13 19:49

Can of Diet Dr Pepper

11.10.13 19:09

Flavor Blasted Xtra Cheddar

11.10.13 19:00

Listened to Brainbug - Nightmare (Sinister Strings Mix)

11.10.13 18:54

Listened to Art of Noise - This Is Your Life [Take Six, TCH Vox]