State Central

The potentially momentous meeting of the Minnesota Republican State Central Committee is beginning as I write this. As has been well documented, the state GOP is a big mess right now. I've made the conscious decision to participate in party politics only at the BPOU level, so I don't have a dog in this fight. Selecting the new party chair is going to be tough and there's been a spirited debate concerning the relative merits of the potential candidates.

It looks likely that the decision comes down to either Pat Shortridge, a well-liked figure in GOP circles who most recently was a key player in the Marco Rubio campaign in Florida, or Terry McCall, who is from John Kline's district and from what I gather has ties to the Ron Paul wing of the party. There's also a third candidate named Todd McIntyre but he is likely to be an also-ran.

As I said, I don't have a dog in this fight. People whose opinions I respect differ on the candidates. My guess is that Shortridge would be better positioned to clean up the current mess, but McCall might be a better choice for rallying the troops and trying to secure the loyalty of the Paul supporters long-term. At this point, Shortridge is the better choice, but it's going to be important to ensure that McCall, and the constituency that he represents, has a strong voice in the party.