Two Marshall Republicans have been chosen for national election positions — one of them getting the chance to possibly play the same role his great-great-grandfather did in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was elected president.
At last weekend’s state Republican convention, Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, was voted as a Minnesota delegate to the National Republican Party Convention, which will take place Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul.
At the same state convention, Marshall’s David Sturrock was chosen as an Electoral College elector — meaning he would get to cast one of the constitutionally defined electoral votes if Republican John McCain carries Minnesota in the general presidential election.
Seifert earned the second-highest vote total for national delegates out of several dozen at-large candidates. Fourteen at-large candidates were chosen, and Seifert got 85.2 percent of the vote.
He finished ahead of Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, who also were chosen national delegates. The only delegate to finish ahead of Seifert was former state auditor Pat Anderson, whose name appeared on two ballots. Seifert was on just one.
“It’s exciting, being that (the national convention) is close to home,” Seifert said. “If it were in New York or California, I would not have as much interest. Being it is in St. Paul, it’s not as big a drag on the schedule or budget.”
Plus, it gives Seifert, an avowed political buff, a closer look at the process behind choosing the presidential nominee.
“I’ve never been to a national convention before,” said Seifert. “It will be a learning experience.”
Seifert was able to give two speeches at the state convention. One was a wrap-up to a pre-convention event last Thursday night, and the other was a one-minute speech allotted to those nominated for delegate positions. He said he believes his strong showing was also due to his role as House minority leader and his 12 years of service in the Legislature.
That gave him name recognition among the 1,500 to 2,000 who voted at the convention, and also credibility — he said he thinks he had respect among the voters for the time he has put in and the work he’s done in making a small minority in the House a factor in end-of-session decisions this year.
Seifert was asked if his high vote total signaled that the state Republican party may be considering him for higher office, such as the governorship. He shrugged that off, saying he believed voters were looking for good representatives at the national convention.
“I think they were looking for someone who has stayed grounded, stayed focused,” Seifert said.
At the national convention, Seifert said he will vote for McCain — who has collected enough pledged delegates during the primary season to ensure the nomination. Earlier on, Seifert had supported candidate Fred Thompson, but he noted that others who now back McCain also had earlier supported other candidates.
Delegates eventually gravitate toward those candidates still remaining who best reflect their values, Seifert said.
“There’s no ideal candidate you’re 100 percent (in line with),” he said. “I’ll go into the convention supporting McCain and will be voting for him.”
Seifert also said the atmosphere at the convention should be exciting.
“There will be a lot of national figures,” he said. “Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to be there. Cabinet members, members of Congress, other big names.”
There were 14 at-large members chosen as national delegates. Another 24 were chosen from the state’s eight congressional districts and three national-level officials get automatic delegate spots, giving the state 41 total delegates at the national convention.
n Sturrock, a political science professor at Southwest Minnesota State University and former congressional candidate, was chosen as the 7th Congressional District’s Electoral College elector.
Candidates in Minnesota get to choose 10 electors, one for each congressional district and two at-large positions. Whichever candidate carries the popular vote in Minnesota gets to send his electors to vote in the Electoral College. If McCain loses the Minnesota vote, Sturrock’s role will end.
If McCain wins in Minnesota, Sturrock will go to St. Paul on the second Tuesday in December to cast two ballots at the state Capitol — one for president, the other for vice president.
Sturrock was nominated and had to clear a voice vote on the floor of the state convention last Friday.
He’s in pretty distinguished company as an elector. The two at-large Republican electors are former Gov. Al Quie and former Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum.
Sturrock said he was excited to be chosen, because he is a “passionate defender of the Electoral College. In my political science classes at Southwest Minnesota State University I make sure my students understand the wisdom that led the Framers to adopt this method of electing America’s presidents.”
He said the role of an elector is “absolutely necessary to the constitutional process of choosing a president.
“On the other hand, it’s completely anonymous, because the electors ... are picked by the parties generally based on party service and with the assumption they’ll support the party candidate. Electors rarely make news.
“You are clearly expected to vote for the candidate for president and vice president nominated by the convention.”
Still, like Seifert, Sturrock is a political-insider junkie and looks forward to the role.
“It’s a very important topic and something I feel strongly about,” he said. “It’s a great thing to be a part of this.”
He’ll also be carrying on some family tradition.
His great-great-grandfather, Charles Ames Washburn, was a Lincoln elector from California in 1860. By the Constitution, electoral votes have to be delivered to Washington D.C. and officially counted there. Washburn volunteered to take California’s ballots to the capital.
“He had to travel around the Horn (of South America) via clipper ship to deliver the official record of California’s vote to Washington,” Sturrock said. “Discharging my duty as elector would be vastly easier — a three-hour drive to St. Paul! — but would be no less meaningful for the bond it would represent with my Republican roots.”
