What were they thinking?

In what was certainly a surprise to me, Senate District 16 delegates yesterday endorsed Mark Olson to run in Betsy Wergin's Minnesota Senate seat, defeating challenger Alison Krueger in only the second round of voting.

How is it that the same Mark Olson who was convicted of domestic assault, the same Mark Olson who was rightly shunned by his GOP colleagues, and the same Mark Olson who rightfully lost his BPOU's endorsement for his own House seat to Mary Kiffmeyer, was somehow endorsed by his BPOU for a run for the State Senate?

Olson won the endorsement against Big Lake Republican activist Alison Krueger on the second ballot, Krueger said.

“The people who liked Mark showed up,” she said afterward. “If people in the district don’t like what happened, that can still change at the primary voting booth.”

That's all we need, is a Minnesota senate race filled with so much baggage that it will literally be pickens likened to fish in a barrel for his democratic challenger.

Despite the unconfirmed report by a convention attendee on KNSI-AM's Hot Talk with the Ox this morning that suggested possible voting irregularities on the first ballot, with over 100 ballots passed to delegates, but only 90+ ballots returned, the endorsement indeed belonged to those who showed up, which underscores the importance of attendance at these functions.

All is not yet lost in SD16, however,

Krueger’s name will remain on a Sept. 9 primary ballot, but she said she signed a pledge at the convention not to actively campaign for the seat.

It is my hope that a more sober collection of activists show up on September 9th than showed up last night in Princeton.