Independence Party Joins dfl in endorsing el tinklenberg in minnesota's 6th congressional district race

For Immediate Release, 6/21/08

Contact: John Wodele (612.987.6203)

 

(Bloomington, MN) Sixth Congressional District candidate El Tinklenberg scored a key endorsement today from Minnesota's Independence Party (IP) at their state convention in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Tinklenberg was endorsed by a show of hands that indicated he had gained significantly more votes from the delegates present than the sixty percent needed to endorse.

Former Independence Party stalwarts Dean Barkley, Peter Hutchinson and Jack Uldrich all spoke in favor of the IP endorsement after the party's chair, Craig Swaggert, suggeted to the convention that they consider endorsing the Blaine DFLer.

Tinklenberg, who didn't actively seek the endorsement, had made it known that he would accept it if offered. After the convention voted, Tinklenberg told he delegates that he was in full support of the party's values and would proudly campaign on them.

Tinklenberg noted that in the 2006 race the winner, Michele Bachmann, won by a mere 547 votes over the combined DFL and IP votes.

John Binkowski, the IP candidate in the 2006 race, was a delegate to the convention and also spoke in favor of the Tinklenberg endorsement.