While Mark Dayton and Margaret Anderson Kelliher waited for the last primary-election vote to be counted, they and Matt Entenza finally closed circles Wednesday and proclaimed Democratic unity going into the race with state Rep. Tom Emmer, the GOP's choice for governor.
There is no doubt that with Dayton's ability to spend and his penchant to go after the wealthy, plenty of TV ads will be seen between now and November.
Emmer isn't of family wealth, but he has the backing of the Minnesota Republican Party, which has already launched a negative ad against Dayton.
The problem this year will be the January U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows independent expenditures by unions and corporations. What the candidates can't afford, somebody will pay for.
If the voters got tired of negative ads that started in May, it's not over yet. We hope that by the time the election is held, there will be a hue and cry among the public for campaign contribution controls as well as spending limits that can withstand constitutional tests.
FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE BEMIDJI PIONEER
PRIMARY TURNOUT
Too low, but better than expected
So much for "it's still summer" and "no one's thinking about elections yet" and blah, blah, blah.
Despite the much-ballyhooed arguments for voter-turnout doom, more than 580,000 eligible Minnesota voters participated in Tuesday's primary, based on preliminary results. That's the most for a primary in a decade in our state. In addition, a record number of voters, more than 31,000, cast absentee ballots.
