Marcus Harcus Suspends Campaign

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, image from Marcus Harcus' campaign website.

On July 2 Marcus Harcus, the only DFL candidate on the ballot against incumbent Joe Mullery announced on his Facebook page that he was suspending his campaign.  He posted:

[Marcus Harcus'] name will remain on the ballot, but I have suspended my campaign for State Representative due to a lack of support, financial and management-wise. Yes, there were a few dozen people who committed to volunteering, but I can't manage the campaign and be the candidate at once, at least not without enough money to get the messages out to my community. Many people tell me to keep running... next time, but I'm done. My window of opportunity is closing in 2012. This was a bad year to run due to my personal finance, health and related challenges, but it was now or never for me.

Going forward, I'm focusing almost exclusively on raising my kids, completing my academic goals and integrating into full-time entrepreneurship. I deeply appreciate everyone who made a contribution of time and money. When most people didn't respond to my calls for help, it makes me appreciate everyone who did even more! I often felt like a loser during this campaign, but I'm good because there is success in trying to be the change I wanted to see versus simply engaging in empty complaining about politicians and government. I'll post my final campaign blog tonight or tomorrow @ www.marcusharcus.org

Peace and blessings!

mh

I have been waiting to see if Mr. Harcus would post something more formal on either his campaign website or campaign Facebook page, but no new information has appeared there as of the time of this posting.  Given the importance of knowing who is and is not campaigning for office in north Minneapolis, I elected to wait a reasonable amount of time and then share the announcement.

Although I have supported Joe Mullery in this race, I was surprised and impressed with how well Harcus had run his campaign.  His last push for elected office was not a serious attempt, and even he admitted so.  However, it's pretty rare for someone to make a transition from a political also-ran to a legitimate contender.  I believe Harcus did exactly that.  While he has stated that--win or lose--this would be the last time he runs for public office, I hope that he changes his mind in the future.

Harcus' departure almost certainly clears the way for Mullery to be re-elected.  A suspended campaign isn't the same as completely bowing out, but I don't see how Marcus can get more votes if he's not actively campaigning against a long-term incumbent.  Another possibility is that one of the other handful of challengers could revive their campaign.  But since the filing deadline has passed, they would have to run while asking people to write in their name on the ballot.  Given that all other candidates were eliminated from the DFL endorsement on the first ballot at the convention, I doubt they have the support needed to succeed in such an endeavor.

The least likely but scariest prospect is that the Republican challenger Cindy Lilly could beat out Joe Mullery.  However unlikely that is, he's still got a campaign to run.

Parliamentary Maneuvers in 59A Fail to Block Endorsement

Post and video by the Hawthorne Hawkman, video from a previous candidate forum, not from the senate district convention.

The parliamentary order used to run meetings as small as neighborhood or church council and as large as political conventions has two guiding principles that participants too often forget.  First, it's supposed to make sense.  Second, people with a superior knowledge of parliamentary procedure are not supposed to use that knowledge to manipulate the outcome of a meeting.  Think of David Carradine's character in Kung Fu - a Shaolin monk who was a master of martial arts but never really used that to fight anyone.  The meeting or convention that uses parliamentary order might have plenty of drama, but the application of Robert's Rules of Order should have all the excitement of two people exchanging business cards in slow motion after they've taken an Ambien.

Clearly this is not what happened in the DFL convention for the house seat in 59A.  Joe Mullery did get the endorsement, but only after a series of convoluted parliamentary maneuvers.  I was in the midst of the 59B stalemate, and only heard snippets of how things were proceeding.  Challengers David Younk, David Boyd, and (surprisingly for a sitting elected official) Jon Olson were eliminated from contention after the first ballot, leaving Marcus Harcus to either claim or block a DFL endorsement of the incumbent.  In an ironic twist of fate, Mullery was at one time a single vote short of the nomination.  Had I already moved into 59A, I would have cast that clinching vote.  On two other occasions, there were enough spoiled ballots (the delegate did not sign the back of the ballot as required - even an x, or line, or anything that could remotely be construed as a signature would have validated those votes) that would have given Mullery the endorsement before the drama of the last vote.

I heard several versions of what transpired while at the convention itself.  Later on North Talk and on his own Facebook page, Harcus posted his version of the events.  After speaking with several credible sources, here is what I believe to be a fairly accurate recounting...