Thu 23 Oct 2008
True maverick: Arne Carlson ‘57
Posted by Ronit under Alumni, Eph Pundit, Ephs in Politics
Posted at 5:04 pmFrom Minnesota Public Radio:
There’s plenty of buzz in Minnesota’s political circles today about former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson endorsing Barack Obama. But the move isn’t terribly surprising.
Carlson is a more traditional East Coast Republican — a Williams College educated intellectual with an appreciation of both social service and fiscal conservatism — a progressive Republican. That’s the kind of Republican the party purged in the ’90s.
Carlson was a thorn in the side of the party, even when he was its highest-ranking official as governor, so the endorsement is unlikely to sway many — if any — Republicans. During his term, the party consistently endorsed more conservative candidates for governor. Carlson usually ignored them, then beat them handily in the party primaries. Carlson was the first Republican governor in the state’s history to be denied the endorsement by his own party.
Alan Quist lost in a landslide to Carlson in 1994 after running a campaign based on moral issues — Carlson supported legalized abortion — but that was back before that became the party mainstay, and when Republicans in the state were known as Independent Republicans.
Since leaving office, Carlson has teamed up with former VP Walter Mondale to try to repeal the concealed carry handgun law in the state, criticized Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget plan to use money from the Health Care Access fund, which funds the state health insurance program, and went to the Legislature to lobby against Pawlenty’s cuts in a state program to curb fetal alcohol syndrome, which was his wife’s project. He’s also endorsed the occasional Democrat in state Legislature races, as he did in 2004 in DFLer Jim Carlson unsuccessful bid inDistrict 38B, and he endorsed DFLer Rebecca Otto in her successful campaign for state auditor in 2006.
And earlier in this campaign, the Washington Post published a letter from Carlson lamenting that religion was being used in the Republican Party as a litmus test for the vice presidential selection.
For more than a decade, Arne Carlson has had nothing in common with the Republican Party. Today was no exception.
(Listen to Carlson’s announcement via Polinaut)
Can any of the numerous Class of 1957 folks on EphBlog (or, you know, anyone else who happens to have known him) tell us more about Gov. Carlson?
October 24th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Has anybody been around long enough or studied the subject to know if Republicans endorsing the Democratic candidate for president (or visa versa), in as many instances as this cycle, is extraordinary or not?
‘True’ and ‘real’ don’t yield the punch they used to. On second thought, you mean specifically in comparison to McCain?
October 24th, 2008 at 8:04 am
I know that he hasn’t been awarded a Bicentennial Medal.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:48 am
but was he offered one? perhaps as a former governor, he didn’t have the time to come on the date they selected?
October 24th, 2008 at 9:36 am
RE comment #1:
I was wondering the exact same thing. It seems an unprecedented amount of conservatives have endorsed the Dem this go-around.
I think we will see a lot of books come out of this election. It is historical in so many ways.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:48 am
There wasn’t been much emphasis on politicians. Martha is a bit of an anomaly, not only because she is from the first four-year class of Williams women but also because she is a local (raised in North Adams). That latter point counted for a lot, I think.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:56 am
OK, I am admittedly biased here for a number of reasons, but in addition to the North Adams factor (which I imagine did, appropriately, play a prominent role) it is not simply that she was any old elected prosecutor (now attorney general, of course). She also achieved national prominence for prosecution of child molestation and abuse cases, one in particular that made national headlines for months. David’s obsession with trying to rank various accomplishments on their face (without fail, to the detiment of women) without taking a deeper look into what someone has actually accomplished beyond title alone once again rears its ugly head. Unless you think, David, that spending years prosecuting people who abuse and molest children, and achieving national notoriety as a result of that work, is less worthy of recognition than serving as a congressman?
October 24th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I very much agree, Jeff. I was trying to address DK’s simplistic “look at one surface factor” approach and remembered how very excited North Adams people were about Martha’s election (and several local people have remarked to me that they knew about the award and were pleased that Williams had recognized Martha). I should have taken your approach and addressed her merits. She’s very impressive, and is nationally prominent as a result of her work, as you report. I think she would have received the award if she were male, especially because of all of the local and Massachusetts ties and the subject of her work. Martha is someone who not only has succeeded but has done a lot of good in the world.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I missed that part of David’s comment.
Why do you ‘cap’ your posts in that way. David?
For reaction? To get more discussion going? If so, you should consider otherwise as it doesn’t reflect well on EB, or Williams…not to mention what it says about you.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:36 am
It’s only a goddamned medal for good behaviour from a shit-assed little college nobody has heard of - not quite as prestigious as a sticker for being hall monitor. One can’t even use it in substitution for food stamps. Give ‘em all medals - give none of ‘em medals - who cares?
October 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I sent an email to Arnie’s .gov address last month asking him for some comments for the blog and to add to the class of 1957 comments on fraternities.
Arne was on the “Ad Hoc” committee (forerunner of the Angevine Committee) butting heads with my old pal Garret Schenck ‘55 (Garret, by the way, lives on in some of the speech and mannerisms of Rechtal Turgidley, Jr.)
If ever a guy was destined for Minnesota politics in spite of being from New York, it was Arne Helge Carlson, a compact, blonde, Scandahovian who might have been from Lake Woebegon. He arrived with Jim Bingham ‘57 in tow. For a while he shared a cabin on Lake Minnetonka with Lee Lynch of Carmichel Lynch advertising agency fame.
I saw him around on and off for 30 years in Minneapolis and even went to his first wedding down in Chaska, MN (he had two more, haven’t we all!) We had several nice dinners and a Williams picnic at the Gov’s mansion on Summit Avenue in St. Paul.
Arne was an extremely effective governor of Minnesota and is a Republican of the old school when you could be socially liberal but fiscally conservative. This, by the way, is the general nature of Minnesota with that northern European heritage. Also, polite, clean and tidy - the State as well as Arne. I don’t know how Jesse Ventura fits in - it must have been the Schwartzenegger craze.
Here is a snippet of his farewell speech to the Minnesota legislature:
http://www.tpt.org/aatc/videos/2008/04/03/arnes_farewell
A truly nice guy!
October 24th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Soph Mom/nuts: here’s another
old-school Republican Governoranti-American traitor endorsing “that one”October 24th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Yet another for Obama.
“Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, [...] one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States…”
It seems to be hourly at this point.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
This is just devastating
October 24th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Good Lord, am I the only alum on ephblog who actually remembers Arne Carlson?
October 24th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Dick Swart,
I remember Arne Carlson ‘57. He was at our 50th reunion. And he and Susan have dropped off to see Sue and me in Boston fairly recently. I am not surprised and happy by his endorsemeent of Obama. Several years ago he was honored by the Pioneer Institute in Boston. Pioneer is quite independent politically. It supports school vouchers and opposses spending tons of public $ on huge convention centers, etc.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
What was the exact moment when the Republican party decided it no longer had any interest in moderation or pragmatism? I think the turning point was 1992, when an extremely popular, moderate, and pragmatic Republican President from the Northeast somehow failed to be re-elected - partly because his pragmatism on taxes genuinely made him lose credibility with the conservative base, and partly because of the role played by freaks like Buchanan and Perot in that odd year, 1992.
After that loss, they decided that it was no longer desirable to be a big tent party. Yes, vestiges survived in the Northeast and Midwest for some time - people like Jim Jeffords and William Weld and Arne Carlson and Lincoln Chafee (all of whom have essentially dissociated themselves from the current Republican party); only the two Maine Senators are left, and they are practically living fossils in a political sense.
Romney had some success in Massachusetts as a moderate Republican in the classic mold, but quickly ditched that facade when it came time to lay claim to national ambitions… then it was time to “double Guantanamo”.
Nate Silver points out just how drastically the Republican party has moved away from its roots:
They have done very well betting on fear and loathing for the last couple of decades; if, for once, Americans choose not to listen to their worst selves on Nov. 4, there may just be hope for the Republican party yet. Losing this election is the party’s only chance at becoming a national party again, instead of continuing on its current path, where it is fast becoming a rural, white, uneducated rump confined to the deep South and the Appalachians.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
For me it was 1988. My daughter came to visit as she was advancing the Dukakis campaign and convinced me of the error of my ways. Since then, I’ve been turned off, even by Ronnie.
Yesterday, I talked with my 100 year old pal, Karl Kramer about politics.
Karl graduated with an AA degree in art from the Chicago Art institute in 1930, just in time for the Depression. He was a part of the WPA artists program for a while. Then he moved to The Dalles, Oregon and made his living as a sign-painter and commercial artist. His house is painted purple with New England scenes on the doors of his garage and a large separate studio in the back where he used to teach art to women’s groups
And Karl was excited about getting his ballot in the mail a day ago! The first election he voted in was 1932 and he voted for FDR. While he’s voted for each Democratic candidate since he says he hasn’t been this excited since 1932 until Obama in 2008.
It’s not every day you can talk to some one who voted for FDR the first time in 1932. Someday, I suppose they’ll be wanting to shake the hand of a man who actually voted twice for Nixon.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
If Jesus Christ endorsed McCain, he would still lose.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Don’t give them any ideas, Frank. ;-)
October 24th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Ronit, agreed 100 percent. Assuming nothing crazy happens in 10 days, the GOP will try to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong. Limbaugh, Hannity et. al. will be pushing the “McCain is not a true conservative and that is why we lost” narrative hard, and they will be in Palin’s corner from the get-go. If the GOP nominates Palin in 2012 they might as well just fold the party, considering just how many skeptical moderates she has single-handedly handed to Obama. They absolutely have to go with someone like Romney, Pawlenty, or Bobby Jindahl, all of whom are articulate, intelligent, have the right temperment, and could reach out to moderates. But since they are a Morman, boring, and non-white respectively, not sure any of them would be able to beat a Palin juggernaut in a primary.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Dick: Great story about Karl. Thanks. One wonders what they’ll think of us, 76 years now, for electing George W. twice.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Jeff - Weird, I was thinking about this last night, and I came to the conclusion that Republicans’ best hope of winning in 2012 if Obama pulls it off this year is Bobby Jindal, with someone like Susan Collins as a running mate. Talk about a rebranding! But, knowing them, they’ll probably nominate Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin instead.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Dick,
Ditto from me…I have been thinking about your friend since I read your comment….and imagining what an Obama presidency looks like from his point of view. Amazing perspective.
Enjoyed your comment too, Ronit. It has me remembering what the GOP once was. It is now so fragmented, so perversely ‘co-dependent’. They should be planning how to start over. If the best of the Conservative minds put some serious intention into reclaiming their party, then I think Palin is complete toast. Actually, I think she’s done, regardless.
And Jeff? Florida, eh? Lookin good…very good.
October 25th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Odds are that in 2012 the Repubs will nominate someone who is currently entirely off the radar screen. In politics 8 years is a lifetime.
October 25th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Palin was a hail mary pass by McCain late in the fourth quarter and down by 27. One doesn’t throw hail marys in the first quarter, irrespective of the score.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Frank,
I agree that Palin was a hail mary pass in the 4th quarter. McCain was desperate. However, Lieberman would have been a gamble, too. And Lieberman had a chance of working. The crazies would have been furious. But, have no place to go. When the chips were down McCain did not have the guts to stand up to the crazies and move to the center. And would not have had the guts to stand up to the right wing as president. Too bad. And McCain is a gutsy fellow. I just can’t understand why he chickened out.
The GOP is really sick.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
This Mineapolis Star-Tribune article about the endorsement, which quotes Carlson several times (Bachmann helped him make up his mind), is currently the most viewed and third-most emailed article on the Star Tribune’s web site. The Star Tribune is, of course, the largest paper in Minnesota. I’m usually skeptical about the electoral value of endorsements, but it’s not implausible to conclude that this may just have sealed up Minnesota undecideds for Obama.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:12 am
McCain is an admirable guy disastrously saddled by a currently foolish and weak party in major disarray. He was the last chance for those relatively few citizens born in the 30s to have a POTUS of their own.