DAYTON BUMPER STICKER RIPPER

All you Dayton supporters out there who have Mark Dayton for a Better Minnesota bumper stickers on your vehicles - watch out for the Dayton Bumper Sticker Ripper who is on the loose. I've had three Dayton Bumper Stickers ripped off of my back bumper in the last 1 1/2 weeks. Part of the stickers stuck to the bumper, but more than half of each was missing. One was missing all but a small part of the right side. My reNEW MN and TakeAction MN bumper stickers were not touched.

Who would want to vandalize my Dayton Bumper Stickers? The nerve of some people! Now I'm out again and can't get another one. I'm so frustrated. I wish whoever is doing it would keep their hands off my car. Not that my car is anything special. That is, it wasn't until it was decorated with the beautiful red, white and blue Dayton Bumper Stickers. I wish I could get my hands on the Ripper.

It's probably some Republican. Or maybe even a DFLer who is mad because Mark Dayton won't pursue the endorsement or even have his name on the ballots. Rumor has it that all those undecided votes are Dayton supporters who are going to get him the DFL endorsement whether he likes it or not. (I'm sure he'd love it.) Wow, that will be an interesting state convention if that happens. I'd join that caucus in a heartbeat.

Do you think it would help if I glued a Dayton Bumper Sticker on my bumper with super glue? Boy, the Dayton Bumper Sticker Ripper would sure be surprised when he (or she) found that it couldn't be ripped off. I wonder if someone would be so kind as to send me about three Dayton Bumper Stickers.

Other political experiences today:

I took the afternoon off. First stop was the Riverside Perkins, where I had lunch with some of the Senior Caucus members. That was very enjoyable. Good company away from downtown St. Paul. Guess who showed up? Dave Pinto. He thought there might be some members from Ramsey County. There were. Me. Also at least one other lady. As you probably know, Dave Pinto is running for Ramsey County Attorney. There are three DFL candidates seeking endorsement. They are Dave Pinto, David Schultz and John Choi. I like all three of them. How on earth will I decide? Hmmmm...Pinto talked to me the longest of any of them. He even asked me if I was TigerHawk. He's been reading my blogs at MPP. He said he really liked my blogs. I told him I would have a Meet and Greet for him. I'm also more than willing to have one for Chris Knopf, who's running for State Representative in SD53B, and Sandy Rummel, who's running for reelection as State Senator of SD53. And one for Dayton, if he has the time and inclination. And more bumper stickers.

Pinto couldn't stay to eat with us, but I enjoyed chatting with members of the Senior Caucus. I heard a lot of opinions of who the individual members were supporting. A couple of people said Tom Rukavina because they think that he's the one who can stand up to the Republicans the best. I asked them if they had seen the YouTube video of Mark Dayton giving his AFSCME Day on the Hill speech, and they said no, but they had heard about it. I encouraged them to go watch it if they wanted to hear and see the first candidate in a long, long time who can do a Wellstonian speech better than Wellstone himself did. Seriously. One member said, "If he has improved that much and can stand up and give a rousing speech now, I'll vote for him."

One woman said that she heard Marty Seifert speak in public at some Harvest event. He told the crowd that he harvested pickles. She said that everyone laughed at him for not knowing the difference between pickles and cucumbers.

Another person said that Emmer might be able to get the GOP endorsement over Seifert because Emmer is very good at getting people to like him. Really? I'm surprised. Especially after a senior told me that Emmer had said that you can't be a good, loyal American if you're a Democrat. What a foul remark! 

After lunch I drove to Burnsville. My son works at Crosstown Goodyear. I had called the shop and made an appointment for an oil change. The manager kept it a surprise so Charlie wouldn't know I was coming. As always, he was the good son and was happy to change my oil, level off all the fluids and check the air pressure in my tires. The hard part was trying to get all the rope and the bicycle lock off the hood. That's what holds my hood down when I'm driving. Marcus put so much rope on that it took Charlie half an hour to get it all off. The manager and another employee named Mike came into the garage to watch and laugh. I thought I may as well join in. So we all stood around laughing and chuckling, then left Charlie to finish the job while we went back into the office.

I steered the conversation to politics and asked Mike what he was. He said he was a leaning Republican. I made my DFL pitch. I told him the horrible things Pawlenty has done with his veto of GAMC. Mike said, "So if I don't vote DFL people will die from not having health insurance?"

"Yes," I replied. I then told him about Alan Grayson and his revealing of the Republican Health Plan.

"Who's running for governor on the DFL ticket," he asked. I told him. He said that Mark Dayton's name sounded familiar.

"It should," I said. "He was our Senator from Minnesota." (Mike is probably in his 20's.)

The manager, also a Republican, piped in, "He's the Target guy."

"Ohhh," said Mike.

"Yes," I agreed. "But he's never been in the family business. He was in public service for 35 years."

"But he took the family money," said the manager.

"Well sure," I said. "Wouldn't you? Never look a gift horse in the mouth." (I need to be careful of my metaphors. I think that one is okay.)

The manager and Mike both agreed that yes, they would. After all, it's family.

Darn, all I inherited was a bunch of metaphors! I really enjoy using them, though, so that's okay.

I just happened to have one Mark Dayton for a Better Minnesota business card so I gave it to Mike. It happened to be Katie's. He asked who that was. I explained that she was on the staff and that he should call or go to the website, http://www.markdayton.org/ and sign up for the email updates. He took the card and put it in his wallet. Progress.

We then all went back into the garage to watch Charlie some more. Mike told Charlie that I had told him that if he didn't vote DFL, people would die. Charlie made one of his usual dry remarks. Then we stood around and laughed some more at my car as Charlie pointed out the rust on the underside. He told me not to put money into this car for anything other than what is absolutely necessary. After all, it is 12 years old.

I don't have to convince Charlie to vote DFL. He would never vote Republican. He can't stand what they are doing.

It was a very enjoyable day. Then I got to come home and blog. I love writing. I'm still working on my technique. It seems that no matter how you do it, someone gets offended. I try to add as much humor as possible to avoid offending anyone.

How did I do this time?