Franken seeks Senate nod amid 7 state primaries - Al Franken grabbed the Democratic nomination Tues

With 18 percent of precincts reporting, Franken had 70 percent of the vote to Lord Faris' 27 percent.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STATE_PRIMARIES?SITE=COBOU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

...but the state primary was today.

First, delegates to the Democratic Farmer Labor* convention choose a candidate.

Then, we have a primary.

I think the primary should come first, but it doesn't.

* - In Minnesota, the state Democratic party is called the "Democratic Farmer Labor" party.

He received the endorsement at the state convention in June but we have a system in Minnesota that would allow a DFLer to knock the endorsed candidate out of the race in the September primary. The really awful thing about our system is that we do not have party registration so it's real easy for Republicans to cross over and vote in the DFL primary (it would be easy for DFLers to cross over as well, we just never seem to have that opportunity.

If Franken had been defeated by Faris she would have been the one on the November ballot with 'DFL' beside her name. However, the party would not consider her its nominee unless the State Central Committee caved in and endorsed her. If the party did not endorse her she would not have been entiteld to any official help (money, caucus lists, etc) from the state party nor would she have been put on any sample ballots that the state party pays for. Faris comes from an old DFL family (her dad is former Federal Judge Miles Lord so the odds are she would have gotton the party endorsement had she won tonight.

We don't always have primary contests - one of the big questions candidates are asked when they are going through the nominating process (caucuses, district conventions, etc) is "Will you respect the endorsement?" It usually doesn't bode will for candidates who say no. Faris jumped into the race in July, she never went through the caucus process and did not have any kind of grass roots organization.

in california, you never know when you meet an undecided from Mn.

Actually i just love Al and the thought of him in the senate---awesome!

...the Democratic Farmer Labor party had endorsed Al Franken, and so I was glad I could keep him as our nominee.

That's a race we all need to support.

Along with Rick Noreiega in Texas against Cornhole, er, Cornyn. Rick is only a couple of points behind, last I looked.