Marco Rubio isn’t much of a name-dropper.

In a 45-minute speech in front of 1,600 supporters in Minneapolis Tuesday, the Republican senator from Florida and candidate for president referred briefly to Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and only alluded to his Republican opponents for the GOP nomination.

And he didn’t even mention the dozen or so Republican establishment leaders from Minnesota who recently endorsed him. 

It’s doubtful it was an oversight that Rubio didn’t bring up the names of former Sen. Norm Coleman, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Erik Paulsen. More likely it was an acknowledgement that endorsements don’t carry much weight this election year.   

In fact, Rubio said as much. “As candidates drop out, people join our team,” he said. “I admit, maybe I wasn’t their first choice because for a lot of people in the Republican establishment, they didn’t want me to run for president. They wanted me to wait in line. They wanted me to wait my turn. I didn’t know there was a line.”

Just who is and who is not establishment is a moving target, of course. Rubio was not establishment when he ran for the U.S. Senate with the support of the Tea Party.  But is he establishment now because he’s an office holder? Does Donald Trump become establishment if he gets elected? 

“I guess you could say anybody who is elected is establishment,” said Jeff Johnson, former candidate for governor who is the chair of Rubio’s Minnesota team. (Johnson is not one of those who dismiss the impact of an endorsement. “Norm Coleman is still popular with some people,” he said. “Every new endorsement might bring in a few new Republicans.”)

Rubio addressed those potential new faces directly in his speech.  “I am asking you to caucus for me a week from today,” he said.

Yet on a day that would see Trump go on to win the Nevada caucus with 46 percent of the vote, Rubio acknowledged that voters are angry with the establishment, however it's defined, and that tapping into that anger has produced results.

Nor did he predict victory in the Minnesota caucus — or any of the other 10 caucuses and primaries on Super Tuesday. Instead, he talked about his electability, mostly in terms of what he does not represent.

“This just can’t be an election about nominating someone because they seem angrier than anybody else. We’re all angry. We’re all frustrated. But you have to solve a problem,” he said, referring to Donald Trump. “So if we nominate someone that’s willing to say things that really express anger and you don’t get elected, what’s the point?”

Minnesota gave presidential candidate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio his only win on Super Tuesday, with a solid 36 percent of the vote at the Republican precinct caucuses.

And, yet, because of the way Minnesota proportions the awarding of delegates — coupled with Trump’s wins in other Super Tuesday states — Rubio’s victory means very little in his quest for the Republican nomination for president.

What also became clear in interviews with Rubio supporters on caucus night: Not a small number of those voters were motivated as much by stopping Trump as they were by propelling Rubio.

“Donald Trump is divisive, and a nomination for Trump will be the death knell of the conservative movement for generations to come,” said 32-year-old Edina voter Neil Busticker, who voted for Rubio. “We can’t let Darth Vader into the room.”

Betsy Elmore, another Edina voter, took a more positive view of Rubio. “We agree on a lot of the issues.”

But her mother, Holly Elmore, agrees with Donald Trump. “I want a nonpolitician who has executive experience and is not beholden to anybody,” she said. Elmore said she’s not a fan of the Trump style — “I’m not in love with the guy” — but does like his lack of political correctness. “That’s why he resonates with people,” she said.

Trump’s resonance was on display Tuesday, winning primaries and caucuses in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

In Minnesota, the real winner may be the state Republican Party. With a turnout of 111,253 voters, the party almost doubled its previous high water mark of 64,000 caucus goers in 2008.

“I’m seeing some younger people coming in,” said Jerry Witkowski, co-chair of the Senate District 49 GOP, in Bloomington and Edina. “I’m seeing … new faces. I don’t know how many we find that we had not discovered before, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there aren’t several hundred new people.”

Those new faces will not only be tapped for volunteer activities like door-knocking, they could help give the party a fresher look. Of course, to do that, the new voters who showed up on caucus night would have to stick around and support Republicans regardless of who becomes the presidential nominee.

“I think they all want to participate in their presidential preference ballot and see what the outcome is,” Witkowski said. “I think after they read the outcome, you’ll see some people who are disappointed that their candidate wasn’t the one selected and they may move on.”

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Edina voter Neil Busticker speaking to caucus-goers.

The presidential preference ballot was just the beginning for some caucus-goers. Each precinct selected delegates to advance to Senate district conventions, which proceed to select delegates to move to congressional district conventions. From there, delegates move to the state party convention, which ultimately chooses the delegates to represent Minnesota at the Republican National Convention in July.

Minnesota will send 38 delegates to the national convention. With several election twists still expected in the primary season, the final apportionment could remain unknown until the state party convention at the end of May.

From my first experience with a Minnesota caucus, working for the re-election of Gov. Arne Carlson, I became convinced that the caucus system, far from encouraging democracy, manipulated politics.

It was a hidden process that encouraged the extreme wings of political parties to use an election to advance narrow political agendas. In the case of Carlson, in 1994, the extreme right wing of the Republican Party gamed the delegate selection to deny a popular sitting governor the endorsement of his own party.

Tuesday night was different.

At the Senate District 49 caucuses at Southview Middle School in Edina, probably because of the sheer number of people who wanted to vote in the Republican presidential preference ballot, there was no stacked deck.

Logic, enthusiasm, emotion — and polite applause

They were there to vote for Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump or John Kasich. And they explained why, with logic, enthusiasm and emotion. Every comment drew a response of polite applause. 

“This is not a spur-of-the-moment thing,” said a Donald Trump supporter, who noted Trump’s longtime interest in politics and added, “All of the candidates have said things they are not proud of.”

A woman spoke, almost fiercely, about why she was voting for Ted Cruz. “He will do what he says he is going to do,” she said. “Think about that when you cast your vote.”

“Marco Rubio is the only candidate who will work for the next generations of conservatives,” said a Rubio supporter.

“Kasich is a thinker. He would be a rational person in the White House,” said one man.

Another Kasich supporter echoed those thoughts, then broke down in sobs. “I have a son serving in the Middle East,” he said. “John Kasich is the only one who has the right attitude about our sacrifices. Would you want your son or daughter to serve with Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio as commander in chief?”

“I don’t know who I’d vote for if The Donald would be nominated,” said a Rubio voter.

Wistful for Mitt Romney

“No matter what happens, I will be voting for the Republican candidate,” countered a Kasich supporter, who said the choice would be a lot easier if Mitt Romney were running again for president.

The crowd of 50 in Precinct 6 in Senate district 49 responded collectively with a wistful sigh.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Republicans checking in at the Senate District 49 caucus in Edina on Tuesday night.

The speeches and the preference ballot took just over an hour, a commitment caucus supporters believe citizens should be willing to make. But it took an extraordinary turn in national politics to crack open the caucus system to produce this worthy example of American democracy.

This year was a one-off. In two years, when the parties meet again to nominate candidates for governor and Congress and interest flags, a primary is still the better way to get the nomination systems open to the broadest group of voters.

The voters who swarmed the precinct caucuses for the presidential preference ballot last week delighted the state DFL and Republican parties with visions of fresh volunteers to help them to victories this fall. 

But the volume of caucus participants also presents a new challenge for local candidates as they try to secure delegates for their party endorsement fights. That’s especially the case in the crowded race for the Republican endorsement in the Second Congressional District, where Jason Lewis, Darlene Miller, John Howe, and David Gerson are all competing to replace retiring Rep. John Kline.

Last Tuesday, a staggering 18,800 voters attended precinct caucuses in the east and southeast suburbs of the Second District. Of that group, a couple of thousand people were elected delegates, people who will attend one of the 10 Senate district or county conventions throughout CD2 that make up the next part of the endorsement process, which starts this weekend. At those conventions, the delegates will get further winnowed to 303 delegates, a group that will determine who gets the GOP endorsement at the congressional district convention on May 7.

The campaigns obviously want as many of their supporters represented at the county and congressional district level as possible. So on caucus night, the candidates were threading their way through the crowds, trying to keep tabs on who showed up and who might move on to the next level.

Jason Lewis' campaign director, Jack Dwyer, gave a cautiously optimistic assessment about how the night went for the Lewis campaign. “It’s fairly anecdotal ,but it went very well,” he said.  “The people we knew were going to turn out, turned out.”

Even so, there were delegates elected that Lewis’ team had not identified in their previous contacts with the district activists, an effort that began months before the precinct caucuses. 

With new activists, the big question is one of commitment — whether they stay with the delegate process and show up when and where they say they will. In other words, are they willing to show up for a county convention on a Saturday morning? “Hopefully they will attend … and run as a delegate again,” said Dwyer, who believes Lewis’ supporters will remain active. 

The 10 Senate district and county conventions in CD2 will take place over the next four weeks. When they’re over, the candidates will have pretty good idea of who's likely to get the endorsement. Even after that, though, it’s expected that the winner will face one or more opponents in the Republican primary on Aug. 9.

In short, it will be a long and difficult road to the Republican nomination this year. And it will be followed by an even tougher general election against a Democratic candidate who, at this point, is expected to be Angie Craig — a candidate that, for now, has no DFL challengers.

Editor’s note: this post has been updated to add information and clarify the column.

Sen. Marco Rubio’s decision to suspend his campaign for president Tuesday could actually make his caucus win in Minnesota more interesting, and more relevant, to the GOP nominating process.

With Rubio out, the 17 delegates that Rubio won on March 2 will be  “unbound,” free to throw their support to another candidate, assuming that Rubio officially ends his campaign and releases them.

There's plenty of time for that to happen. The presidential preference poll conducted at Minnesota's March 2 caucuses allotted 17 delegates to Rubio, 13 to Ted Cruz and 8 to Donald Trump. The first round of delegate elections takes place at the congressional district conventions in April and early May, then gets winnowed to 38 delegates elected at the state Republican convention May 21.

In the interim, teams for Cruz and Trump will be maneuvering to woo those delegates to their side. “There will be a lot of action at the congressional district and state conventions,” where delegates are selected for the Republican National Convention, said GOP party chair Keith Downey.

Downey said he believed the suspense of who gets the GOP nomination could last until the RNC in Cleveland in July. “Even with Trump's wins on Tuesday, he would have to win half of the delegates still to be elected from other states. There's a greater chance after tonight that the convention will determine who the nominee is.”

But Downey dismissed the suggestion of an brokered convention. “That suggests some smoke-filled back room where the so-called establishment selects a nominee, maybe someone who wasn't even candidate,” he said.  “That will not happen. The convention is for the delegates, run by the delegates.”

And every delegate counts if the nomination is still open then – if no candidate has secured the 1,237 delegates needed to win.

Downey admits he was concerned that had any candidate locked up the nomination early, the state convention would be of little interest. He needn’t have worried. “Now it will be one of the most hotly contested conventions ever,” he said. 

The presidential preference poll at Minnesota's March 2 precinct caucuses was supposed to determine how the state’s 38 delegates to the Republican National Convention would be allocated. With his win, Sen. Marco Rubio picked up 17 delegates, while Ted Cruz got 13, and Donald Trump 8. 

But with the Rubio campaign suspension, several questions remain about what will eventually happen to the former candidate's share of the delegates. 

To understand, it’s better to consider the delegate as allocations rather than as individuals, since the actual delegates to the Republican National Convention haven’t been elected yet. That will happen in three stages: at state Senate district conventions, then congressional district conventions, and finally at the GOP state convention on May 21, where delegates will elect the 38 who go on to the national convention in Cleveland. 

At this point there’s no individuals bound to support Rubio because the delegates haven’t yet been chosen. “The reality is nobody is going to be elected a delegate who supports [Rubio],”  said Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson, former state party chair and current chair of Rubio’s Minnesota campaign. He added, “Unless Rubio re-enters the campaign, which he is not going to.”

As potential delegates make their way through the selection process, they are not required to declare their support for any candidate. “Everybody shows up and votes for whom they want,” Johnson said.

This system leaves ample opportunity for Cruz, Trump, and John Kasich teams to manuever for a bigger slice of the delegate pie. 

It’s still unclear which candidate might emerge as the Rubio alternative. In a conference call with Minnesota supporters on Wednesday, Rubio did not give an explicit endorsement. “I don't think there will be many Trump people,” said Johnson. “I would guess that more would go to Cruz than Kasich.”

The state party’s Republican National Committee members — Keith Downey, Chris Tiedeman, and Janet Beihoffer — later sent a memo to clarify further what a delegate must do to make it to the national convention.

He or she must “must run and be elected as a delegate for one candidate who earned Minnesota delegates as a result of the precinct caucus presidential preference vote.” Then, at the national convention, “delegates are bound to vote for the candidate whose delegate slot they hold if that candidate is on the first ballot; otherwise they are unbound and may vote for any candidate on the convention ballot.”

Rubio has collected 164 delegates nationwide, a small number that nonetheless could be significant in the race to secure the necessary 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the Republican nomination on the first ballot. Trump now has 673 delegates, Cruz has 411, and Kasich has 143.

Johnson is one of the many Republican activists who believe the nominee could be undetermined at the opening of the national convention in July, leading to a potentially explosive intersection of rule changes, multiple ballots, and old-fashioned convention floor hustling. “It could be interesting and ugly,” he said. “And fun.”

The Minnesota Republican Party has received a letter from Marco Rubio asking that the state delegates he won at the presidential preference poll remain bound to him at the national convention.

Party chair Keith Downey replied back to the Rubio campaign that, in effect, the letter wasn’t necessary.  “These are not Rubio delegates that he can release or ask to support another candidate,” Downey said in an interview. “They are Minnesota delegates that are bound by the state rules requiring the national delegate slots to reflect the results of the preference poll.”

At the March 1 precinct caucus, the presidential preference poll allocated 17 delegate slots to Rubio, 13 to Ted Cruz, and eight to Donald Trump.

At the senate district conventions that are taking place now and the congressional district conventions in a few weeks, someone wanting a delegate slot must declare which candidate they support. They go on to the state convention in May, which will elect the final delegate group to the national convention in the same proportion.

“When Minnesota goes to the national convention, we will have 17 delegates designated to vote  for Marco Rubio,” Downey said, “if Rubio is designated a candidate on the first round of balloting.”

That is a big if. Rubio may not meet some of RNC rules for a candidate’s name to be placed in nomination, specifically the rule that a candidate must have won the majority of delegates in at least eight states, which Rubio has not.

Rubio has sent similar letters to party chairs in other states where he’s won delegates, asking the delegates to remain bound to him.

“You could speculate on why,” Downey said. “Perhaps he’s trying to retain influence or he might anticipate that the convention rules might change.  There’s just a lot of things.”

Including an attempt by Rubio to keep Donald Trump from reaching the 1,237 delegates he needs to be the party nominee.

That may be the motive behind Rubio’s request that his name be removed from the June 7 California primary ballot.

It seems contradictory that Rubio would press to keep delegates he’s already won but drop out of a major primary race like California, unless the intent is to move some voters to Ted Cruz or John Kasich.

It’s all part of the machinations that could lead to high drama on the national convention floor in July in Cleveland and that keep states like Minnesota, even with relatively few delegates, players in the nomination race.

It’s also confusing and arcane, even to political professionals. “I have never had more calls than in the last three weeks about this behind the curtain stuff, this political minutia that is now so critical to electing the next leader of the free world,” Downey said.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Doug Seaton

Attorney Doug Seaton really wants to be a Minnesota delegate at the Republican National Convention, so much so that he’s gladly enduring the tedious process it takes to get there.

Over the last few weeks, Seaton has run for delegate positions at the precinct and Senate district levels — and is now is running for the big prize: one of 38 slots that will make up Minnesota’s delegate contingent that heads to Cleveland in July for the RNC.

“I think I’ve earned that spot, but I also think I could contribute,” Seaton said. “Given the complexity of the presidential campaign, I think they may need a few cool heads and a few people that have analyzed a few things and can find their way through rules to a solution.” 

On Saturday, at the Senate District 49 convention in Bloomington, Seaton was elected as a delegate to the state GOP convention, which will take place on May 21 in Duluth. That means he now has two options to compete for a national delegate slot: He can bid for one of the three delegate slots from his Fifth Congressional District; or he could be chosen as an at-large delegate at the state convention. 

Seaton’s efforts demonstrate the complexity of selecting national delegates in Minnesota, a process that has taken on substantially more weight this year given the possibililty that the party’s nominee could be determined in Cleveland. 

Seaton, a 30-year party activist from Edina, started out as a Scott Walker supporter.  When Walker dropped out, he supported Marco Rubio. With Rubio “suspending” his campaign, he is now a Ted Cruz supporter, but he actually has the option of running for a spot as either a Cruz or Rubio delegate.

That’s because, based on the results of the March 1 presidential preference poll, Minnesota’s national delegation will consist of 17 delegates for Rubio, 13 for Cruz, and 8 for Donald Trump. A delegate can represent one of those slots while supporting a different candidate, an option that will be significant if neither Cruz nor Trump can secure the nomination on the first convention ballot. If that happens, most delegates are no longer bound to their original candidate.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

On Saturday, at the Senate District 49 convention in Bloomington, Seaton was elected as a delegate to the state GOP convention, which will take place on May 21 in Duluth.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the path to become a national delegate in Minnesota is different depending on which of the state’s congressional districts one is running in.

Each of the eight congressional districts elects three delegates to the national slate, proportionately reflecting the votes that Rubio, Cruz, and Trump received in their district. In the Third, Fourth and Fifth Congressional Districts — essentially the Twin Cities and first ring suburbs — Trump did not receive enough votes to qualify for a delegate, so their three delegates each are designated only for Rubio or Cruz.

Since Rubio has suspended his campaign, his declared delegates from Minnesota will be unbound at the national convention, which could lead to additional screening as congressional districts select their delegates.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Republican party deputy chair Chris Fields

“Declaring who they are supporting is up to the individual congressional district,” said the Republican Party Deputy Chair Chris Fields, who attended the Senate district 49 convention. “Some will say, if you’re a Rubio guy, I know you’re unbound so I want to know who you really support. And that’s up to the different nominating committees. This is local control. Everyone will have their own set of rules.”

The congressional districts account for 24 of Minnesota’s 38 seats at the RNC — of the remaining 14, 3 are reserved for party officials and 11 are at-large seats to be elected at the state convention — all elected proportionally to the statewide results of the March 1 preference poll.

Which brings us back to Doug Seaton. He’s still not sure what rules will govern either his Fifth District or at-large candidacy to be a delegate. “It’s up to those who are setting up these slates and what the convention ultimately does,” he said.  But he’s willing to wade through the rules and make the commitment of time and money. “I believe this could be a very, very important convention and I think it’s going to be material what happens at the convention,” he said. 

Seaton, like many political activists, is looking at the national convention as a history-making event where, or the first time in decades, there may be no candidate with a lock on the nomination, where a candidate must personally lobby delegations for their support, where the delegates cross state lines to form subgroups and caucuses to get their candidate to the top, and where even a state with a small delegation becomes critical to how a party chooses its candidate for U.S. president. 

To get elected as a Minnesota delegate to the Republican National Convention, a candidate must declare which presidential candidate they will represent in balloting — but not which candidate they really support.

That ambiguity in the delegate selection process has Trump volunteers in Minnesota crying foul as they try to ensure that the seven delegates Trump won in Minnesota's presidential preference poll on March 1 truly want Trump to be president; and that those delegates will support Trump on multiple ballots at the national convention if necessary.  

The gripe echoes a complaint coming from Trump himself: that political insiders have “rigged” the awarding of delegates to deny him the nomination if he falls short of the 1,237 delegates needed to win nomination on a first ballot in Cleveland.  

Dozens of Trump Minnesota volunteers are now contacting Republicans who plan to show up at Minnesota's eight congressional district conventions later this month, when each district will elect three delegates as part of the 38-member Minnesota national slate. 

Kevin Kinzi of New Brighton is one of those volunteers. “We are calling all around the state,” he said. “Our task is to get the most actual Trump supporters elected as delegates.” 

Kinzi estimates he’s made about 1,500 phone calls and counting. He’s aware that Trump is getting bested by Sen. Ted Cruz in this aspect of the campaign. “We are coming late to the game,” he said. 

“They are late to the game, but they are working their tails off now,” said Chris Fields, deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican party. “I think its fair to say that the Trump folks have been very passionate and aggressive, especially given that we have 17 Rubio delegates that are going to be unbound on the first ballot.”  

Marco Rubio won those 17 delegates in the March 1 presidential poll, while Cruz won 13 and Trump won eight.

The Cruz campaign has been focused on filling the Rubio slots with Cruz supporters. “The Cruz guys have a solid ground game and a lot of their delegates are known in the Republican community,” Fields said.   

Cruz is making a meticulous, granular effort across the country to reach out to delegates who could give him the Republican presidential nomination if Trump does not secure it on the first ballot.

Trump supporters like Kinzi view those tactics as proof of the backdoor politics that their candidate has railed against. “If they try and cheat Trump out of the nomination it will be the second American Revolution,” Kinzi said. 

So Kinzi spends his days contacting not only potential Minnesota national delegates but delegates in other states. “We’re going to have the 1,237 delegates and if they cheat us, be prepared for war,” he promised.  

The war has already started in Minnesota at the congressional district level. And veterans of state conventions predict that the Cruz and Trump battle for delegates will still be in full swing at the state party convention on May 20-21 in Duluth.

Gary Johnson, former Republican governor of New Mexico, was once a golden boy of the Republican party. In 1994, he defeated an incumbent Democrat in a Democrat-leaning state and was re-elected by a wide margin in 1998. After the GOP’s sharp right-turn on social issues, though, Johnson left the party. He joined the Libertarian Party and in 2012 ran as that party’s candidate for president, winning less than one percent of the vote.

Johnson thinks 2016 will be different. As the Libertarian Party’s likely presidential nominee, he maintains voters are more than ready for a socially moderate, fiscally conservative candidate and a candidate who is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

Johnson explained why in an interview Saturday before his appearance at the Minnesota Libertarian Party convention in Maple Grove, where he took part in a debate with another party presidential candidate, Shawna Sterling. 

As Johnson sees it, his positions on limited foreign involvement; limited-to-no government intervention on abortion, gay marriage, and marijuana; the replacement of the income tax with a consumption tax; and his support for immigrants and immigration all fall in line with most American voters today.

Also, he emphasized, he is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

MinnPost: Why do you think this could be the year for Libertarian Party to make an impact? 

Gary Johnson: You’ve got what I think are the two most polarizing figures in American politics today – Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Trump has to go out and attract 30 percent of the far right, Hillary has to go out and attract 30 percent of the far left, when 50 percent of Americans now are declaring themselves as independent. I think at the end of the day, the two major parties represent 30 percent of the electorate. I think that most people in this country are libertarian. They just don’t know it. 

MP: If you are the party’s nominee, what do you have to do be included in the debates? 

GJ: Number one, I’m suing the national debate commission. It’s a rigged game. But outside of that lawsuit … 15 percent is what the presidential debate commission has said is their threshold.

The first time I was in a national poll three weeks ago, against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — this was Monmouth — I was at 11 percent. Any third name would have been at 11 percent but there is a legitimacy of having my name as the third name because the Libertarian nominee for president will be the only third party on the ballot in all 50 states. Hence the nominee — and you could argue that I’m the frontrunner — will be on the ballot in all 50 states. If my name continues to appear in national polls I believe I will be in the presidential debates.

MP: You ran as a GOP nominee in 2012 before turning to the Libertarian party. You fared poorly. What happened here?

GJ: Well in 2012, running for president as a Republican, it was a rigged game. There were only social conservatives on stage. Where was the voice that represented most Republicans? Well, it was me. People would say to me, “Gee, you just didn’t get traction.” Well, that was completely false. The issue for me was that [to be included in the debates], you had to be at two percent in A, B, C and D polls. Well, when you’re not included in the A, B and C polls, that means you have to get eight percent in poll D. That really was a toughie.

MP: Donald Trump is using the word rigged. Does he have a point?

GJ: In this case, yes, he does. Right now most Americans should be asking themselves, “Why do we even have primaries if delegates aren’t committed?” And they are committed for the first ballot, but yeah, it’s a rigged game.

MP: Has Donald Trump given you a special opening more than Hillary Clinton has?

GJ: Well they both have. First of all, having been in New Hampshire, having been in the Midwest, what I recognized was that 30 percent of Republican voters believe the scourge of the earth is Mexican immigration, no matter what you tell them.

I was the one that said, “Look, they’re taking jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want. They’re the cream of the crop when it comes to workers. They’re not siphoning off our welfare system. Don’t build a fence. That’s an insane idea.” That’s Trump’s 30 percent. And then on top of that 30 percent, his other 9 points comes from just the pitch I made in New Mexico — “I’ve never been involved in politics before, a really successful business guy, I’m going to apply these same principles to state government. Just watch how well it works.”

And New Mexico is a state that’s two-to-one Democrat. I get re-elected by being a penny pincher. But I never said anything as stupid as deporting 11 million illegal immigrants. Building a fence across the border — crazy. Killing the families of Islamic terrorists? Bringing back water boarding or worse? Free market — but in the next sentence [Trump says] “I’m going to force Apple to make their iPads and iPhones in the United States.” And then the comment the other day about abortion. “Oh yeah, women should be punished.” And then clarifying it by saying doctors should be punished.

That’s a pretty big opening. That’s a pretty darn big opening.

MP:Short of beating the Democratic and Republican nominee in the race for U.S. president, what are your expectations as a candidate? 

GJ: Well, I would not be doing this if there wasn’t the opportunity that I could win, if there wasn’t the idea that I could win. But the only way that I could win is to be in the presidential debates, the general election presidential debates. And if that happens, in my opinion, I get to express opinions that people haven’t heard before and I think they make a lot of sense. And I think that most people think that they make a lot of sense, as opposed to Democrats and Republicans who really are stuck to their dogma. Not that Libertarians don’t have their dogma also, but much less so. Running as a Libertarian I have the least amount of explaining to do.

I’m no fan of the delegate route to get a nomination for public office. Maybe it’s just the bad memory of how, in 1994, delegates to the state GOP convention denied my boss, Gov. Arne Carlson, the endorsement for re-election. Delegates instead endorsed Allen Quist, whose wife, Julie, meticulously cultivated the support of grass-roots social conservatives.

But even a sitting governor with a 60 percent approval rating had to play by the party rules and respect the delegate process. So does Donald Trump.

MinnPost file photo by James Nord

Former Gov. Arne Carlson

Carlson had to go from defeat at the delegate level to victory in the primary. Trump must reverse the order for the presidential nomination, especially if he falls shy of the 1237 committed delegates to win on a first ballot. But like Carlson, he has to acknowledge the importance of grass-roots activism in party politics.

'The unspoken contract'

“It’s the unspoken contract,” said one GOP party leader who preferred to be unnamed. “It’s the candidate’s job to motivate and excite the grass roots not only to contribute to his or her success, but the success of the party on Election Day.”

Trump, and Ted Cruz and John Kasich, know who these activists are. Moreover, what they haven’t learned through their own ground operations, the state parties will generally supply. The Minnesota Republican Party, for example, gave a list of 200,000 names to the candidates shortly after the precinct caucuses and updates the candidates weekly on who is advancing toward a national delegate slot.

By comparison, the Carlson campaign, having been denied endorsement, had to build its own list of active voters who would turn out for a primary. I was there at the campaign as teams of volunteers were dispatched to phone or door knock to remind and persuade voters to vote in the primary election. And this was on behalf of a candidate who had the bully pulpit of the governor’s office.

(There was a DFL primary as well in 1994. There the party did its grass-roots job, boosting turnout for endorsed candidate John Marty, who narrowly defeated Mike Hatch.)

Carlson’s efforts paid off not only in his primary victory. On Election Day, polls showed more than 80 percent of the state’s Republicans supported his candidacy, propelling him to a decisive win in November. A strong candidate became stronger by appealing to the GOP base.

'You have to have a ground game'

The moral of the story, says the party leader: “You can’t run a campaign on CNN and Twitter. You have to have a ground game.”

Trump reportedly has improved his ground game with staff changes. And he continues to hold a popularity edge with Republican voters, 60 percent of whom, according to a Wall Street Journal poll, say a plurality of delegates should be enough to win the nomination.

But the national Republican Party would have to change the rules to allow that — which it might if Trump were a consensus candidate among party leaders.

He’s not, although the Trump campaign appears to be admitting that bulldozing his way to nomination would further shred the Republican Party. The question now is whether an active effort to understand the role of the delegates is too little too late to result in a stronger candidate and a party that will stand behind him on Election Day.

Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina seemed to take pains to avoid the gender issue when the Republican Texas Senator announced Fiorina as running mate for in his bid for president.

But in an election year that has seen GOP frontrunner Donald Trump take delight in disparaging women, including Fiorina, she gives Republicans a chance to improve the anti-woman image that has been on the rise since former Missouri congressman Todd Akin’s remarks about “legitimate rape” in 2014.

Jennifer DeJournett, the former Minnesota state director of Carly for America, the SuperPac working to promote Fiorina's candidacy, called thousands of Republican voters on behalf of the candidate and said she was electrified by their responses.

“Carly got people to believe a woman is competent to be president,” she said. “For women, no matter what political stripe, for some one to put that last smack in the glass ceiling — it’s an amazing thing to watch.”

DeJournett is an authority on conservative women candidates. She founded Voices of Conservative Women, the only group in the country dedicated to electing women solely on fiscal and economic issues. She has qualified views on the contributions of Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to the election of conservative women to national office.

“They [Bachmann and Palin] never crossed the threshold of where people believed a woman was qualified to be president in her own right,” DeJournett said. “Carly Fiorina crossed the threshold and walked ten miles past.”

Electoral math

With critical primaries May 3 in Indiana and June 7 in California, Fiorina is seen as moderately useful in helping Cruz improve his dwindling chances to knock down Trump’s delegate lead in the nomination battle.

She has a poor track record in California politics. Democrat Barbara Boxer beat Fiorina by ten points in the state’s U.S. Senate race in 2010. Fiorina’s controversial tenure as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard became a campaign issue that dogs her today.

But Fiorina won a competitive California Republican primary and may still hold influence with those same voters who go to the polls in June. “Her voice will be amplified in Indiana but the big bucket is going to be California,” DeJournett said.

DeJournett is a Cruz supporter who is running to be a Minnesota delegate supporting either Cruz or Rubio at the national Republican convention. There, she can accomplish one more task to support Fiorina. Because delegates at the Cleveland convention vote separately on a vice-presidential nominee and are not bound to a VP choice, DeJournett can cast her vote to nominate Carly Fiorina for vice president.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Jason Lewis

Anyone who expected fireworks – or even a little suspense – would have been disappointed by the Republican Second Congressional District Convention in Apple Valley over the weekend. 

Despite predictions that there would be a deluge of nasty literature, personal confrontations, and endless ballots, there was little drama in the decision to endorse a candidate to replace retiring Republican Congressman John Kline. Former radio talk show host Jason Lewis required just seven ballots — not a big number in such contests — to secure the endorsement. He knocked out former state Sen. John Howe on the second ballot, and defeated activist David Gerson on the last one, 63 to 37 percent.

Lewis is an outspoken conservative with a libertarian streak whose radio commentaries  on race, abortion, and the Constitution has led opponents to offer a stream of claims that he runs too far right for CD2, a swing district that covers the Twin Cities’ southern and eastern suburbs. 

The DFL-endorsed candidate for the district, former St. Jude Medical executive Angie Craig pounced within minutes of the Lewis endorsement. “I’m confident his views are totally out of step with a majority of Minnesotans,” Craig said in a news release. “I will work tirelessly to show how Jason Lewis’s divisive views and ugly rhetoric are out of touch with my own values and those of our state.”

Lewis fended off similar arguments from his GOP opponents during the course of the endorsement campaign. And he may still have Republican opposition before he gets to take on Craig. Lakeville businesswoman Darlene Miller, who’s been endorsed by Kline, has said she will challenge Lewis in the Republican primary, which will take place on Aug. 9. Howe said he may do the same.

Lewis expressed confidence he will prevail. At the convention, he described Craig as “the most radical candidate,” and said he would campaign on reducing the national debt and protecting people’s private information. 

In an interview, Lewis said he has no problem with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, although he supported Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in the presidential primary campaign. Lewis intends to use those libertarian credentials in his appeal to voters. “Remember, this is a district that supported [former governor and Independence Party candidate] Jesse Ventura,” he said.

But voters in CD2 also supported Mark Dayton and Al Franken, as DFL party chair Ken Martin was quick to point out in statement released after Lewis’ endorsement, indicating that Democrats will make an intense effort to flip this once safe Republican seat.

Stanley Hubbard

Stanley S. Hubbard himself might consider it breaking news. On Monday, the chairman and CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting — a leader in the Dump-Trump effort — joined the advisory committee of Great America PAC, the pro-Donald Trump SuperPAC.

“I just agreed with [Trump PAC organizer] Ed Rollins this morning to be on a committee, the first Trump PAC,” Hubbard said in an interview with MinnPost. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that as an advisor,’ and we’ll see how much money I have to give.”

Earlier, Hubbard gave $10,000 to Our Principles PAC, which was attempting to defeat Trump. He was also an early backer of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign, and eventually donated money to several of the Republican candidates for president. He didn’t like Trump’s style and some of the extreme positions he staked out.

But now, he says, he has no choice.

“Every one of my favorite candidates dropped out, one by one by one,” he said. “It means I have to back Donald Trump because I’m worried about more government regulation. I’m worried about more of the same, which I think Mrs. Clinton would bring. And I’m worried who’s going to select the new Supreme Court Justice.”

Hubbard, who is one of the country’s most prolific political donors, stresses that he is not a Republican, and says his views tend toward the libertarian. 

“I determine who’s going to vote the way I think and speak the way I think the country should go,” he said. “That is, in my opinion: more freedom, less regulation, more freedom for investors to invest and create businesses and opportunities for other people so everybody can get ahead, not just the rich. I’m for the little guy becoming the big guy.”

“Harry Truman would be a great president,” he said. “I could vote for Harry Truman today.”

Instead, Hubbard says he will vote for Trump — and try to persuade others to do the same. Here’s more from our interview.

MinnPost: Do you think Trump is going to be a good President?
Stanley Hubbard: I think anybody would be better than Clinton. I think he’ll moderate himself. He’s been in business long enough to know you have to listen to others, which he does.  And he’s spent his whole life promoting Donald Trump, which he knows how to promote. If I were Hillary, I’d be very nervous.

MP: Is Trump going to change the Republican Party?
SH: If he doesn’t get elected he’s not going to affect that much. If he gets elected, he’ll have a great effect; we’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully, it will be a common sense effect.

MinnPost: What about down-ticket candidates, candidates that you are interested in?
SH: I think it would be foolish to walk away from Trump. You want to lose, walk away from the candidate. He won it fair and square. I don’t agree with the way he did it. But he did it.

MinnPost: Have you met Trump?
SH: Yes. I was invited … to explain to Donald Trump how he could use satellite to set up a network to start a new football league. It was a great idea. But Trump didn’t like it. He was polite and he listened. 

MinnPost:  Do you want to meet with him again?
SH: I don’t have to meet with him. He has to do what he does. If he asks for my opinion, I’ll give him my telephone number. I don’t think he’s going to call me. Trump’s not going to come to see me. I’m just a very minor cog.

Talking to Republican activists about Donald Trump at last week’s 2nd Congressional District convention in Apple Valley was like listening to people suffering through the five stages of grief. From denial to anger to bargaining, it’s clear that these GOP voters have some distance to go before they reach acceptance.

“I’m not happy with any candidate on the ticket,” said delegate Bill Jungbauer, a former party chair in the second district. “I’m considering going with a third party. Why not vote with my heart instead of the lesser of two evils?”

State Sen. Dave Thompson said he would not consider a third party vote, but a vote for Trump would come with an asterisk. “He certainly is not a philosophical conservative,” he said. “The way he has talked about women and other people concerns me. But would I in my heart of hearts prefer Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, the answer is yes. So that’s the dilemma with which I am left.”

Thompson also isn't sure about the contention that Trump hurts all Republican candidates in Minnesota. “I think it’s going to be very balkanized,” he said. “Trump will hurt Republicans in the suburbs but you don’t know about the Iron Range where a number of people up there who are concerned about their economic future might like his protectionism.” 

State senator Julianne Ortman touched on Trump's potential economic appeal as she addressed the delegates on Trump’s behalf. “He will create thousands and thousands of new jobs. He will negotiate good deals, better [trade] deals, right?” she asked the group which responded with mild applause.

Party chair Keith Downey and state Rep. Matt Dean suggested that Minnesota Republicans might have a more positive reaction if Trump himself delivered that message.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Keith Downey

Downey is remaining neutral until after the state party convention on May 20-21, but he said that Trump needs to personally connect with activists, particularly those still committed to Sen. Ted Cruz.

Dean agrees. “I’m going to support our party’s endorsed candidate, but Trump needs to reach out and meet people where they are and that’s a lot of hard work,” he said.

A Trump appearance is unlikely at the GOP’s state convention on Friday and Saturday. Party rules require delegates to the national convention to be allocated according to votes taken in the presidential poll – 17 for Marco Rubio, 13 for Cruz, and 8 for Trump.  

Some activists are suggesting delegates at the state convention consider a Trump “no confidence” resolution to register their disapproval. Others have suggested the convention change the party name back to the Independent Republican party to create some distance. 

While delegates are unlikely to defy Trump’s nomination that brazenly, the state GOP convention will convene with the party’s presumed presidential nominee having a weak standing in the Minnesota delegation.

Despite the apparent inevitability of Donald Trump becoming the GOP presidential nominee, former presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz maintained an active presence at the Minnesota Republican convention.

A Cruz campaign booth, staff, and video at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center seemed to indicate that Cruz is preparing for the 2020 presidential year. But Brandon Lerch, former state director for the Cruz campaign and still working on his behalf, said the operation had a much shorter-term goal.

“While we are no longer seeking to get our people elected to the delegate positions in order to nominate Ted to be president, we want them to be in Cleveland so that they can sit on the rules committee, sit on the platform committee, the two most important committees,” said Brandon Lerch, former state director for the Cruz campaign and still working on his behalf. The goal is to produce “a very conservative platform, a platform that reflects conservatism throughout the nation.”

Cruz supporters fear the Republican platform will take a liberal tilt with Trump as the nominee. “Part of why I’m running for national delegate is that I wanted to be appointed to the platform committee so our platform stays as conservative as possible,” said Marjorie Holsten, who will be Cruz delegate at the national convention. “When I’m there, if there is a choice I will make a choice.”

So for the Cruz team, the real work began after the state convention selected its official slate of 17 delegates for Marco Rubio, 13 for Cruz, and 8 for Donald Trump.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Brandon Lerch

The delegates adjourned to elect the chair of delegation and two representatives each to four committee assignments.

Holsten didn’t make it to the platform committee, but Lerch said he’s very satisfied with the choice of national committeewoman Janet Beihoffer and Anoka County activist Andy Aplikowski. 

The Cruz campaign, which continues on via a PAC, is working in other states to place supporters on key RNC committees. But Lerch says there is no hidden agenda to put Cruz forward as a candidate for nomination. 

“Right now his name stays on the ballot until he or the convention comes up with something different,” Lerch said. “But when supporters ask if there’s a possibility that [Cruz] could still be nominated, I have to be firm and tell them no.”

Michelle MacDonald

When the Minnesota Republican Party got together for its state convention a couple of weeks ago, delegates voted to eliminate its judicial elections committee, a move that should shut off the spigot that produced unqualified or controversial candidates like Michelle MacDonald.

It's also likely to result in a lot fewer GOP judicial endorsements in the future. 

“Very few judges ever seek endorsement, so the committee would either go recruit someone totally unqualified to run or try to endorse someone already running who didn’t want to be endorsed,” said one critic within the party. “Now that we have taken away the ability to create those two scenarios, I think endorsements will be very rare — and in only in cases where it is truly warranted and where the candidate actually wants party endorsement.” 

The change made at the state party convention doesn’t carry a deliberately moderate agenda. But it clearly marginalizes a faction of the party that’s been problematic since the GOP adopted judicial endorsements in 2000.

The 20-member committee (there are two members from each judicial district) frequently included members who used the vetting process to ensure a candidate would advocate certain issue positions, often anti-abortion or pro-gun. And it wasn’t uncommon for the committee to include members who had personal complaints about the judicial system.   

Most problematic was the committee’s track record, though. Not a single endorsed candidate has ever been elected as a judge. And in the last two years, only one candidate, MacDonald, even asked for an endorsement. 

It was that fiasco that finally pushed party leaders to alter the process. In 2014, the committee nominated MacDonald — knowing that she had been convicted in 2013 for refusing a blood alcohol test and resisting arrest. The larger group of GOP delegates that approved her endorsement, however, was not made aware of her arrest record.

In the wake of those revelations, party leaders, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson, were forced to disavow MacDonald. She was barred from the GOP booth at the Minnesota State Fair and was physically ejected by bodyguards. MacDonald then claimed she received threatening phone calls from an attorney acting on the party’s behalf. 

When the judicial committee endorsed MacDonald this time, the wheels were already in motion to throw both MacDonald and the committee itself under the bus.

Attorneys David Asp and Harry Niska, former members of the judicial committee, successfully passed a resolution that moved judicial endorsement to the party’s nominations committee, which vets all other candidates for state offices.  Some members of the committee argued passionately on the convention floor to retain its functions, but the change passed with limited opposition.

“The judicial elections process seemed opaque,” Asp said. “The delegates [who must approve the nominations] never knew much about the candidates or how they were selected or who was even on the committee.”

The state GOP is not likely to follow the DFL and completely eliminate judicial endorsements, say even the strongest critics of the endorsement process. But many feel the change should produce more suitable judicial candidates, or at least limit the possibility that controversial ones will become a GOP distraction, embarrassment, or worse – a symbol of the party’s priorities.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek rebuffs any suggestion — and there have been many — that he’s interested in running for governor. “I love what I do,” he says.

What he does is run a department that has a very large footprint. With a $100 million budget, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department answers 700,000 911 emergency calls annually; runs a full-service crime lab; manages the county’s jail system; issues 30,000 warrants a year; and assists metro-area police departments.    

At the end of this month, he will play a big role in Minneapolis’ hosting of the annual meeting of the National Sheriffs Association, a convention prize that the city had to procure seven years in advance. Stanek will be more than just the host, though. As a leader in the organization, he has helped shape federal policy on public safety, including gun control, which he’s discussed with President Barack Obama.

He has a full plate.

And yet. A speech Stanek gave at the Republican Party of Minnesota’s state convention last month certainly seemed calibrated to indicate his interest in something more. As an endorsed Republican, Stanek reminded the group that he won re-election in 2014 with 69 percent of the vote. “I win in Erik Paulsen’s district,” he said. “I win in Keith Ellison’s district.”

During the speech, he described a conversation with Obama in which he defended Second Amendment rights — and then asked the crowd not to boo at the mention of Obama’s name.

He said he chooses to run for sheriff as a Republican, even though a partisan preference is not required. Yet he chided the party’s litmus tests. “Get rid of the party test and the ‘not conservative enough’ message,” he said.

In a recent interview with MinnPost, he elaborated on all that and more: 

MinnPost: Crime has dropped in the almost 10 years you’ve been sheriff, but it’s ticking back up. Why?

Rich Stanek: Some of it is an erosion of respect across the community. If people don’t respect their friends and where they live, you’ve got a problem on your hands. Crime is less, but it is more violent than every before. Much of it is the uptick in shootings in the inner cities. But it happens all over the county. 

MinnPost: So why not more gun control? 

RS: Everyone wants to tie the two — that gun control reduces gun violence. I've never seen any evidence that that is true. We have 33,000 people who have conceal and carry permits [in Hennepin County] and very few violations. But we have removed [thousands of] illegal guns used by robbers, rapists, and everybody in between. They were used in crimes. They steal them out of people’s homes, offices. These are the targets of the Violent Offender Task force, a multi-agency operation led by the sheriff’s office. They are really good at what they do. Really good. I credit them for the huge reduction of crime.

MinnPost: But what about north Minneapolis? If you were setting the policy for the Minneapolis Police Department — where you were once an officer — what would you change?

RS: I think the department could do a better job leveraging resources. They do it, but not to the greatest degree. There are 2,500 police officers that work across Hennepin County. I would leverage these. We have a very decentralized county in terms of law enforcement.

MP: What do you think Black Lives Matter has accomplished?

RS: People are still forming their opinions. It’s a coalition of smaller groups. Law enforcement is still trying to figure it out. With BLM, we are never quite sure who is going to show up. Nonetheless, they have a message. They have passion.  

MP: You seemed to be urging Republican activists to develop this kind of open attitude. Why?

RS: The vast majority of people are hard working and come in different ethnicities, races and religious beliefs. I don’t want a test that keeps people out. I want something that brings people together. 

MP:  With statements like this, are you surprised there’s speculation you will be a candidate for governor?  

RS: I think people crave leadership. When people see me at a Rotary meeting at 7:30 in the morning and a City Council at 7:30 at night or they see me on an interview, they tell me,  ‘You’re tireless, when you speak you convey a sense of confidence and reassurance like no other.’ But then I have 30-plus years of experience doing this.

MP: So, any thoughts about moving on? 

RS: Everybody looks for a candidate, but I love what I do. I’ve been to the White House, worked with Homeland security, worked with [DFL Senators] Klobuchar and Franken. I’m a pragmatist, a realist, I always look to the future. Whatever I choose to do, I am going to work really hard at it.

MP: Do you think you could handle the biggest job in the state – being governor?

RS: Yeah, I can.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump may have set a new standard for taking advantage of tragedy with his Twitter response to the massacre in Orlando and a subsequent speech aimed directly at his supporters’ fear that Muslims threaten American security.

Two Minnesota GOP activists say those comments have only reinforced their opinion of his candidacy — reactions that offer a window into the party’s divide over their presumptive nominee.

To re-cap, the first tweet from Trump after details of the massacre were revealed came at 10:45 AM Sunday.  “Horrific incident in FL. Praying for all the victims & their families. When will this stop? When will we get tough, smart & vigilant?”

The next tweet arrived an hour later. “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” 

Trump congratulated himself again Monday in a speech in New Hampshire. 

“I called for a ban [on Muslim immigration] after San Bernardino, and was met with great scorn and anger but now, many are saying I was right to do so — and although the pause is temporary, we must find out what is going on,” Trump said in speech in New Hampshire. “The ban will be lifted when we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into our country.” 

Such rhetoric was more evidence to Minnesota Republican activist Dave Thul that Trump is unfit for the presidency. “Trump doesn’t have a filter and doesn’t think about what he says before he says it,” said the former Steele County GOP chair, who resigned earlier this year over his objection to Trump’s candidacy. “I don’t think he has the self awareness that this tragedy is a time when the country is looking for a leader.”

Not that Thul gave high marks to Hillary Clinton’s response. “Hillary Clinton put out a very calculated vanilla response that intended to say nothing and offend no one,” he said.  

Clinton too made political points with her base by arguing for gun control and expressing allegiance with the GLBT community that saw the attack at a gay nightclub as terrorism targeted at homosexuals. 

But she chose not to match the confrontational tone of Trump’s remarks, which included a call for military intervention.

Brian LeClair

Yet for Brian LeClair, chair of the Trump for President organization in Minnesota’s Fourth Congressional District, Trump's words were on target. “I wish Donald Trump had been wrong about the risks we face from radical Islamic terrorism,” he said via email. “With regret, it must be said that Donald Trump has not been wrong. What we really need, though, is a smart, tough President to destroy ISIS in its bases in Syria and Iraq. Secretary Clinton did not get the job done when she had the chance, and ISIS grew dangerous on her watch.”  

Reaction on social media was even more polarized. Trump supporters praised his toughness. His detractors condemned him as egotistical and racist. 

Thul, like many Republicans, remains disappointed with his putative nominee. “Look back to Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster,” he said. “Those were words that helped inspire and heal the country.  With Trump, there is none of that.”  

In a presidential election where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump voters are not necessarily Clinton and Trump supporters, the Libertarian Party sees an opening for its presidential candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Leaders of the Minnesota Libertarian Party, like their counterparts in other states, are canvassing voters to gather signatures to ensure Johnson’s name will appear on the ballot in Minnesota — and to plant the seed that he is a viable alternative. 

“We have to do more community work because there’s not as much immediate, instant support for the Libertarian party,” said Valerie Lockhart, executive of director of the Minnesota Libertarian Party.  

Sunday morning at Lake Calhoun, signers of a petition to put Johnson’s name on the Minnesota ballot appeared to be caught in the fog of voter ambivalence.

One of those signers was Luke Zak of Minneapolis.

“I think democracy is important. I think I would like to see more parties on the ballot,” Zak said. “I don’t support Gary Johnson and I won’t vote for him, but people who want to vote for him should be able to. I support Bernie. The only way any of his stuff is going to get done is if Hillary is in the White House and he’s in the Senate. I wouldn’t use the word support [for Clinton]. I’ll probably vote for her but that’s kind of up in the air also.”

A self-identified Republican who signed the Johnson petition said he is a Johnson supporter, by default.

“Can’t support Trump,” said Tim Grant of Minneapolis. “He doesn’t have the temperament. I was a Walker supporter. Then I drifted to Ted Cruz. I liked Marco Rubio, but he was too young. And Johnson was a governor. We need candidates that have executive experience like governors.”

Lockhart is hopeful that the presidential debates will highlight Johnson’s qualifications if he meets the inclusion threshold of 15 percent support in national polling. The debates are pivotal “to getting the message out that people are not stuck in this one-or-the-other system,” she said.

But even a relative unknown like Gary Johnson has an active opposition. “What I do see is a lot of negative backlash. There’s always a lot of this argument that the third party splits votes,” Lockhart said. “There’s an anti-third party campaign … which is, ‘If you do this, Trump’s gonna win,’ and there’s all this fear.”

On Sunday, the Minnesota Libertarian Party collected 125 signatures to add to the 2,000 already collected — just more than enough to qualify Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, for the Minnesota ballot. 

Lockhart said the party is aiming for 1,000 more names as insurance — again a move being made in all 50 states to give the option of “one of the above” to voters who are saying “none of the above.”