Minge

analyzes

his defeat

Four-term

Democrat

beaten by

Kennedy

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

MONTEVIDEO -- Sounding tired and emotionally drained on Thursday, U.S. Congressman David Minge, the four-term Democrat from Montevideo, held a conference call on Thursday to talk about his defeat on Tuesday.

Minge was defeated by Watertown businessman Mark Kennedy by a vote of 138,939 to 138,789. The official totals, recorded by the Secretary of State's office on Thursday indicated a difference of only 150 votes.

"Many have been asking me what happened," Minge said. "For two weeks prior to ,the election, everything indicated I was in the lead, and that was with twice the margin of error."

Things have been proceeding fairly well throughout the campaign, and everything seemed stable, because of the overwhelming support of Mark Dayton in the 2nd District, he said.

"There was a point when things were running at a dead heat," Minge said. "Then, Dayton lost the 2nd District count, and my support began to deteriorate rapidly with other Democrats in the district."

The economy in the 2nd District is fairly weak, and farmers are faced with low prices, Minge said.

"As support for Bush gained throughout the region, many people began to wonder what would be gained by a change in representation," he said. "One of the major issues revolved around guns and Second Amendment Rights. The NRA pulled their support of Gore and that filtered to other Democrats as well."

The campaign ended up with a lot of negative publicity from all sides of the fence, which he was unhappy with, stating he found them personally offensive and against the norms of the campaign process.

"There has been a substantial amount of money spent on this campaign as well," he said. "When all the figures come in, it may be close to $2 million."

Minge called for a recount based on conflicting reports indicating that he had lost with anywhere from less than 100 votes to over 500.

"The proceedings can't start until the canvass board is done counting the ballots in the state," he said. "Recounting the ballots becomes a judicial proceeding in Minnesota."

Once a recount is called, the ballots are secured to avoid tampering. There is no evidence of fraud or misconduct related to the vote, but Minge has heard reports of technical problems that may have changed the count in some precincts.

"My hope is that the canvass board will complete the process within 10 days so we can get started and have results before the end of the month," Minge said. "Once we get a complete and accurate count, I will fully be able to recognize the success of the candidate and work on conceding."

Minge did acknowledge Kennedy's success and had been in contact with his campaign office on Wednesday to congratulate him and to discuss the recount issue. he also admired the vigorous campaign run by Kennedy.

"The figures initially showed a 400 vote spread, but official results on Thursday say otherwise," Minge said. "The mechanism for a recount of votes in Minnesota rests with the courts. I am interested in determining a winner based on numbers the voters can be confident with. The recount is in the best interest of the district."

If the point spread had been over 1,000, Minge would congratulate Kennedy and wish him luck in Washington, but that is not an option at this point, he said.

"I was slightly handicapped by my inability to campaign in October, but having the session run longer was not a political strategy by either party, as has been suggested," Minge said.

Minge believes the suburbs helped elect Kennedy because his support has dropped in metro areas. If the district were only rural, he feels he would still be in Congress.

"There were also many single-issue voters, and that could have affected the outcome as well," he said. "Maybe I should have gone to bed. Last time I did that in a close race, I woke up the winner."

In a recount, Minge could end up paying as much as $100,000 from his own pocket, depending on the number of volunteers helping with the recount. The money cannot come out of leftover campaign funds.