The Independence Party of Minnesota endorsed a political newcomer for the U.S. Senate race Saturday and threw its support behind DFL candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg in the Sixth Congressional District race.
Stephen Williams, who farms near Austin, got the party's nod in the race currently dominated by Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken.
Williams' campaign slogan "Time for a prairie fire," emphasizes his call for fundamental reforms in job outsourcing, reform of health care and Social Security, the federal budget deficit, immigration and the Iraq war.
In the Sixth District race, where Tinklenberg is challenging Republican incumbent Michele Bachmann, a wide majority of delegates at the party's state convention passed on a party member, which is not unprecedented, said party chair Craig Swaggert.
"It happens from time to time," he said. "We tend to want to support good candidates and Tinklenberg was much more in line with our platform and beliefs than the Republican."
Tinklenberg spoke to the delegates Saturday afternoon; Bachmann did not.
The Independence Party, under whose banner Jesse Ventura won the governorship a decade ago, has since fallen on hard times, with no significant election victories.
BOB VON STERNBERG
