by Joe Radosevich

Matt, his son Ben and I had breakfast with the firefighters of Duluth Fire Station #8. They gave us a tour of their station, told us about the effects of LGA cuts on the department and cooked a great homemade meal - eggs from a family farm, bacon, and fresh salsa made from their own garden.

The best part of campaigning is meeting different people and hearing their stories - it gives you a great feel for how Minnesota is doing. It's important for our next governor to understand and listen to the whole state.

By Matt Entenza

Progress doesn't have a finish line.  Progressives' work is never done.

Earlier this week, those who believe in justice, equality - and frankly, good, old-fashioned fiscal responsibility - won an important victory with health care reform.

This bill is a good step. It will make our nation stronger and healthier.  And, history is on the side of reform. Lyndon B. Johnson's Medicare victory was decried by conservatives with the same over-the-top, fear-mongering rhetoric that has been used in the past year to try and prevent reform.  Yet today, you'll struggle to find a politician who doesn't support Medicare, and our seniors lead richer lives because of it.

But there is more to be done.  We now face a movement among those seeking to protect the status quo to fight reform.  Without bold, progressive leadership on the state level, we risk going backwards.  And that, we cannot afford to do.

Don't take it from me. Take it from these voices for reform.

A week ago we asked for your health care stories. Here are a few.

*(These stories were read from submissions sent to our campaign with permission by the original authors)

Last week, I asked for your health care stories.  We pored over them.  We heard you, and now others will hear your stories, too. 

Happy as we are about the health care victory earlier this week, it's obvious there is much, much more to be done: to defend the progress we have made and keep moving forward.

I want to be your governor.  I will continue to advocate and lead for progress as governor of this great state. If you haven't already, sign up to join our campaign.  We need you, your commitment and your energy to win in August and again in November.

It's time to face our challenges and set our state up for success in the future. Please - join me!

by Bridget Cusick

Earlier today I had an argument that, frankly, I've been wanting to have for a while. 

It was with one of my Twitter friends. This person, like Rep. Tom Emmer, seems to take an interest in campaign finance reform only when it suits the Republican campaign or talking point of the moment. Recently, in defending his 2005 position in favor of new campaign finance restrictions (unpopular with Republicans who tend not to favor contribution limits), Rep. Emmer used some years-old contributions Matt Entenza had made as the rationale for his departure from the typical GOP stance.

You see, the most basic way of characterizing Rep. Emmer's position is this: He favors campaign finance restrictions when they're good for his side but doesn't favor them when they're not.

By Bridget Cusick

Earlier this week I accompanied Matt on a leg of our "Great Minnesota" tour, hitting St. Cloud, Brainerd and Isanti.

The context in which we find ourselves right now - on the heels of the historic passage of health care reform, quickly speeding towards both the DFL State Convention and the August primary election - could not have made for a more appropriate backdrop for this trip.

In St. Cloud, we sat down with an editor from the St. Cloud Times and discussed the times, as they are, in St. Cloud. Unsurprisingly, we kept coming back around to the economy and education.

We hit the road for a community meeting at Coco Moon Coffee Shop in Brainerd. The event was billed as a seniors issues forum, and most of the attendees were indeed seniors; we talked mostly health care reform and local economy. One of the attendees in particular, a nurse, discussed in depth the issues she sees with uninsured people locally utilizing the ER for care. Let's say she was VERY glad about the health care reform victory as a step in the right direction for our country and state.

We're so ready to wave goodbye to years of stagnation on this issue, and it feels great. But lest we get complacent, the news was breaking that 13 attorneys general throughout the country were ready to take on this breakthrough legislation and stand in the way of progress. If nothing else, this is evidence that we need a governor ready to stand up for reform and continue moving us forward on health care.

En route back to the office, we stopped in Isanti for a visit to Ever Cat Fuels. Now, I haven't taken a science class since I was done with my U of M College of Liberal Arts requirements in 1996. However, when I meet people like Clayton McNeff, I get excited about science like I haven't been since somewhere around 7^th grade biology class.

Clayton (the young guy on the right in this photo), along with his father, Larry, and mother, Marie (also pictured) is about to change our energy paradigm.

by Jake Levy-Pollans

Bob Dylan's lyrics seem particularly appropriate today. Here are two pictures that fit well with those lyrics.

First, America took a big step forward when the U.S. House of Representatives passed comprehensive health care reform legislation. Check out Matt's comments about the legislation, and a picture of my TV when we hit the magic number 216.

Second, if our statewide "GREAT Minnesota" tour weren't proof enough, the campaign is moving onto its next phase. Our political director, Will Howell, shaved off his SD convention beard. Unfortunately, he shaved it info mutton chops - hopefully more change will come soon.

by Jake Levy-Pollans

Yesterday we set out to entertain people a bit with an email and video that was a little bit different than the usual political stuff. It's important to have some fun, even in places as hectic as campaigns.

by Bridget Cusick

Today, we released a video featuring Dave Colling, our new campaign manager here at the campaign to make Minnesota great again. We called it "How We Win," partly because A) isn't that what every Democrat wants to hear? and B) we're really excited to get out there and campaign all over Minnesota as we head towards the November election.

 On that topic, in the coming weeks you're going to see Matt popping up everywhere: east-central Minnesota, northern Minnesota, south-central Minnesota, southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Minnesota, the Iron Range, the northwest... all over the place! Look for Road Journals, hear Matt on local radio, attend a town hall (details to come).

 All of this is part of getting the job done for Minnesota -- because the first task is getting elected. https://entenza.zissousecure.com/website/blog/manage/post/5/181

 A couple of parting thoughts:

-          The Red River is expected to crest in northwestern Minnesota in the coming days. Please keep all those in its path - including some of the great people Matt sandbagged with a couple weeks ago - in your thoughts... and more importantly, help if at all possible. 

-          Below is the email we sent out this morning, featuring that video I mentioned above.

Enjoy!

Matt has three sons: a 20-year-old and twin 18-year-olds. None of them has seen a DFL governor of Minnesota - it's been that long. So it's no surprise that the question we get as much as any is "can Matt win?"

Today, our new campaign manager, Dave Colling, is not only going to answer that question with an unequivocal "yes!" but also tell you how.

The biggest reason of course is that Matt's a candidate with a vision for Minnesota that voters across the state can support. But another reason is the top-notch team we're building to compete against whichever candidate the Republicans throw at us.

Here's a video about our path to victory. For a little fun while you watch, see how many times you can spot Dave's ceramic squirrel. (No, seriously - we don't really get it, but the squirrel has a prominent place in our office - so we figured it was fitting that it has a prominent place in our video.)

How many times did you spot it? We got eight - so here are  eight ways to help our  campaign to make Minnesota great again.

1.    Keep that smile on Sarah's face and volunteer. It's a good way to get into the office and meet our squirrel.
2.    Give the finance team a break and donate what you can.
3.    Make Will's day and sign up to support Matt.
4.    Share your thoughts and concerns about the issues facing our state.
5.    Join Matt at an event near you.
6.    The squirrel probably needs a name better than "the squirrel." Thoughts?
7.    Become a fan on Facebook, follow our tweets, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and check out the campaign blog.
8.    Spread the word and forward this email.

Together we ARE going to take back our state. Join us!

It was 64 beautiful degrees on Sunday afternoon in St. Louis Park, where one of the last local DFL conventions was being held. It set a record as the warmest March 14th in Minneapolis history.

It's the end of two seasons; local conventions are wrapping up and Minnesota is thawing from another winter.

I felt a renewed sense of optimism yesterday, but it's not going to be as easy to reverse years of Conservative rule as it is to prepare for spring. We know what we need to do, are we going to make some more history this year?

by Dave Colling

After receiving a tremendous response to our inquiry about what Minnesotans want to see in their next lieutenant governor, we have another question for you:

What's your education story?

Matt knows education is the foundation of our state's success. As many of you know, Matt grew up without a lot. He was able to build a successful life because of great schools and a supportive community.

Our schools are struggling. In just the past seven years, in fact, they've slipped in key measures from near the top in the country to middle of the pack. This is bad for us, our children and our future. 

The story isn't much better for our colleges and universities. Once a major driver of our economic success -- launching major Minnesota companies like Medtronic -- our colleges and universities have been defunded and made inaccessible to many in our state due to double-digit tuition increases year after year.

Matt wants to know.

- What are your experiences with education in Minnesota? Have you struggled to pay for college? Has a local school closed? Are your children's class sizes increasing?

- Do you have ideas about what we can do to make Minnesota education number-one again?

Send us your ideas and stories.

by Jake Levy-Pollans

A picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll keep this post brief and encourage you to check out the pics at the end. For this week's road journal, I wanted to cover Matt's visit to Moorhead. The city is preparing for flood season and volunteers are rushing to fill as many sand bags as possible. He spent the afternoon helping out.