Sullivan has message for party: Get over it!

Leave it to a noncandidate to deliver one of the better candidate-style speeches at the GOP state convention.

Brian Sullivan, one of the Minnesota members of the Republican National Committee, started out by acknowledging that the past couple of years haven't been good ones for the party. But for those Republicans down in the dumps, he said he had three words: "Get over it!"

Sullivan, a business executive who narrowly lost the GOP endorsement for governor to Tim Pawlenty in 2002, said the party has hit hard times in part because some Republican congressional leaders have stopped acting like Republicans (not the wonderful members of the Minnesota delegation, he added). "It's as if they think they can spend their way to a governing majority," he said.

He laid down what he called a fundamental political law: "When Republicans act like Democrats, Democrats win." Republicans can convince voters to give them another chance by reminding them of the party principles of fiscal discipline and strong defense.

When he finished, Sullivan received a standing ovation.

KEVIN DUCHSCHERE

Four of Minnesota's Republican-endorsed candidates for Congress spoke at the convention on Saturday, embracing energy independence and other policies ranging from opposition to abortion to encouraging making the Bush administration tax cuts permanent. All the positions are linchpins of the party platform.

The four who spoke Saturday, all challenging Democratic incumbents, were Brian Davis, running against Rep. Tim Walz in the First Congressional District; Ed Matthews, challenging Rep. Betty McCollum in the Fourth; Barb Davis White, going against Rep. Keith Ellison in the Fifth, and Seventh District candidate Glen Menze, taking on Rep. Collin Peterson.

Matthews, an accountant and attorney, joked about putting McCollum and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of work. "She's [McCollum] not as old as Nancy Pelosi is, so she's going to have to find a different way of making a living," Matthews said.

Davis, a physician, criticized Walz's record voting against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and for what he termed Walz's record of supporting taxes.

White, a prison chaplain and civil-rights activist, pushed for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and for making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

Menze, an accountant and former farmer, complained that Peterson does not represent the district, which extends from Marshall and Hutchinson to the Canadian border.

As delegates arrived at the Mayo Civic Center on Saturday morning, many were greeted by young men handing out buttons that read "Republicans Against the War."

They were Ron Paul supporters organized by delegate Ryan Sibinski, a Brooklyn Park salesman. He said that about 30 percent of the people offered a button had taken one and expressed support.

"There's not a lot of opportunity to discuss these issues on the floor," Sibinski said. "The Republican Party isn't allowing that kind of debate."

Paul, who spoke outside the convention hall Friday morning, is seeking the GOP presidential nomination and has set himself apart with his libertarian-style opposition to the war, higher taxes and big government.

Paul supporters made an unsuccessful bid Friday to win additional delegates to send to the GOP national convention in St. Paul. The infighting left a bad taste in the mouths of several Paul backers, including Sibinski.

Asked if he wouldn't feel more comfortable with DFLers, Sibinski shook his head. "I'm not a Democrat," he said. "I can't agree with them on increasing spending." That's another reason why he opposes the war, he said.