DFL Says Yes To Margaret Anderson Kelliher - Audio and Video From The Convention
April 25, 2010
Duluth, MN - Marty Owings
It took just six ballots to narrow the field of DFL Governor Candidates, at least those abiding by the process, to one. At a little before midnight, after many months of campaigning, much speculation and even some Convention style political drama, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher became the first woman in Minnesota history to receive her party's endorsement for Governor.
Throughout the evening, one by one the other Candidates fell away starting with Senator John Marty who gave an emotional concession speech, saying that his campaign, "raised the issues that were important to most Minnesotan's". Marty talks about his campaign ending.
After Marty conceded, most pundits predicted his supporters would go to Rukavina or Thissen, but instead they distributed evenly to Kelliher, Rybak and the others. This enabled Kelliher to keep a lead she's enjoyed since the first ballot was cast.
It became clear after the third ballot that Rukavina and Thissen were losing ground to both Rybak and Kelliher. Rukavina, who had delivered arguably the best speech of his career and of the Convention, made the decision to end his bid. He promptly delivered another great speech in which he threw his support behind Kelliher.
Here is the video.
During the next ballot, Thissen and Rybak worked hard to shore up any undecided delegates, but both were clearly working uphill as Kelliher built on the momentum of the previous ballots and Rukavina's endorsement. Thissen was the next to concede saying he to would support Kelliher. That left just Rybak and Kelliher.
Rybak and his supporters worked the delegates hard and for a time, the rumors emerging from the floor were that he was gaining significant ground. It wasn't to be though and after the sixth ballot, Kelliher was the clear victor. Rybak then delivered his concession speech and pledged his support for Kelliher.
Then it was Margaret Anderson Kelliher's turn to deliver a speech.
