As Minnesota’s Third District voters decide how to cast their vote in arguably the most important presidential race in decades, there is one elected official they can’t turn to for guidance: Erik Paulsen.
First saying he would endorse the nominee, then saying Trump had to earn his vote, then saying he would “likely” write in Marco Rubio, Erik Paulsen has offered little in what voters expect from a leader. Instead, his craven political calculus is on full display, and has in fact earned him an admonishment from the Star Tribune Editorial Board:
“But if you were to write in, say, Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio — as Third District U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen recently said he would do instead of voting for his party’s nominee, Donald Trump — your vote will only count in terms of the personal satisfaction you derive from it. It won’t register anywhere or with anyone else.”
The editorial board goes on to say that while they sympathize with voters, the write-in option is “a retreat from the responsibility Americans share to participate in using the human capital at hand to form their government.”
Finally, the kicker:
“As for Paulsen, who won the Star Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsement in his re-election bid: The most efficacious time for a four-term member of Congress to declare a leading presidential candidate of his own party unacceptable is early in the nominating process — not with a write-in vote on Election Day.”
“Only three days before the election, Erik Paulsen is fending off critiques of his partisan record on women’s choice, same-sex marriage, and climate change, and is now facing admonishment from Minnesota’s paper of record over his lack of leadership in merely writing in his vote for president,” said Sacha Haworth of the DCCC. “Editorial boards are seeing through Paulsen’s political cowardice, and Minnesota voters will punish him for it on Tuesday.”