[Oe List ...] {Disarmed} Bud Philbrook for Governor of Minnesota

[kroegerd@aol.com]

Making a bid for governor, one living room at a time 
Lori Sturdevant 
October 2, 2005 LORI1002 
 

Any candidate for governor who declares at his 121st house party that he has only 379 more to go gets a tip of my hat, and some questions: 
In a state that turned out almost 3 million voters last year, can a serious bid for the governor's office be made in one living room at a time? 
Bud Philbrook claims that it can, and it is. He'll confirm as much with the crowd he expects to attract at Battle Creek Regional Park in Maplewood at noon today, when he makes his candidacy official -- at a picnic.
What year is this again? 
A cynic would paint DFLer Philbrook as a naive neophyte, trying to replicate the simpler politics he knew 31 years ago, when he won a single term in the Minnesota House, representing Roseville. 
He can't compete, the cynic would say, with the name recognition and party connections of Attorney General Mike Hatch, or the legislative network of state Sen. Steve Kelley, or the checkbook of developer Kelly Doran. Statewide races are waged on a wholesale level, not retail. 
But the cynic might be missing some things. 
Consider, for instance, the appeal of an outsider in a year when "time for a change" is shaping up as a potent theme. 
Philbrook may be a former legislator and assistant state DNR commissioner. But his long suit is the founding and operating of Global Volunteers, a 21-year-old nonsectarian, nonprofit organization that deploys willing adults on short-duration service projects all over the world -- this year, to 111 sites in 20 countries on six continents. 
You don't like the over-the-top partisanship you've been seeing in St. Paul? Philbrook is a professional peacemaker. Want to find new, cost-effective ways to build the common good? Philbrook is a master at recruiting and mobilizing volunteers -- more than 17,000 of them over 20 years. Want a governor who'll improve the rural economy? Philbrook is personally acquainted with leaders in nations that could be new markets for outstate products. 
At age 59 and with 140-year family roots in Minnesota, Philbrook unabashedly tugs the heartstrings of those who think this state has lost its moorings of late. But when Philbrook talks education, it's with an up-to-date emphasis on early childhood. When he talks transportation, it's heavy on transit. His vision for volunteerism looks ahead to the retirement of the baby boomers. 
I've been detecting signs of one other change that, if it's real, could work in Philbrook's favor. Minnesotans seem less willing than they were four years ago to limit their political activity to picking a candidate off of some party's shelf. They seem interested in playing a citizen's rightful role. Citizens aren't just consumers of politics; they are its manufacturers.
Philbrook's house party schedule is filling fast -- but that's not the only sign of something stirring at the grass roots. Go back to 2004, when precinct caucus turnout, especially on the DFL side, swamped all predictions, and voter turnout in Minnesota brushed close to 80 percent.
Citizen lobbying was big -- and, arguably, decisive -- at the Legislature this spring. This summer, Citizens League breakfasts about policy nuts and bolts, like taxes and health care, drew large crowds. Public policy classes, lectures and forums we've witnessed lately have played to full houses. The volume of letters to the editor this newspaper receives has swelled considerably since 2003. 
Maybe a war that's going badly, a hurricane the nation couldn't manage and a Legislature that let state government shut down have gotten people's attention. Maybe they sense that things won't change for the better if they only plug into politics every other November. 
When Philbrook asked his standard question at party No. 121 -- "What are you looking for in a governor?" -- the 20 people in the downtown Minneapolis living room had ready answers. They sounded flattered to be asked. Later, when the inevitable fundraising appeal was made, the mood stayed positive. 
Afterward, Philbrook reminded me that one other latter-day Minnesota politician made house parties a staple of a winning statewide campaign. His name was Wellstone. 
Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist. She is at lsturdevant at startribune.com.
 
Dick Kroeger
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