PHU,

If he can't get his own clan support why should another clan?  HELLO!  Obviously, influence starts with family, clan, ethnic group, local, state, national, global....univ erse even

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I'm an observant of this very important race myself.  To clear things up for you and to make sure I am not bias, I recommend you to visit the following sites for more info on who you would like to vote for:  Remember, there are 11 candidates total with 9Dems, 1Ind, and 1Rep.

1) Chai Lee.  http://chaileeforsenate.com/
2) Jim McGowan.  http://www.mcgowan.mn/
3) Trayshana Thomas.  http://trayshanaforsenate.com/
4) Cha Yang.  http://chaforsenate.com/
5) John Harrington.  http://www.harringtonforsenate.com/
6) Vang Lor.  http://www.vanglorforsenate.com/
7) Foung Heu.  http://founghawj.com/news.htm
Avi Visvanathan.  http://www.eastsidersforavi.com/
9) Tom Hilbert.  (can't seem to find his website).

Have fun finding out more about these candidates. 

-Pill

we vote for the most qualified to represent our values and concerns! democracy, it's great!

Yeah, democracy is great!

I agreed with Splash that it's not that easy for Foung to win in this election, let alone in the Primary.  So far, Foung, Cha, and Vang doesn't even have any big/important endorsements other than some Hmong business/big shot people.  This doesn't mean much when you're talking about the East Side where the majority of the citizens are not Hmong and are not run by Hmong businesses and land owners.  Especially Cha, who doesn't have any kind of endorsements at all.

In their websites, Foung was endorsed by State Representative Cy Thao, City Councilmember Lee Helgen, and School Boardmember Kazoua Kong-Thao.  Cha's website doesn't show any kind of endorsement or supporters.  Vang's website also doesn't show endorsements.  Chai is endorsed by Jim Scheibel, former St. Paul Mayor; Steve Kelley, former State Senator; Pakou Hang, political consultant; Mike Sodomka, Humboldt HS Principal; Gary Ales, retired educator; Tou Saiko Lee, community activist and spoken word artist; Bee Vang, Gran Torino actor; and Theresa Behnke, educator.  Let's look at these four candidates closely-can we really conclude that Foung will win this race?  I don't think so.

-pill

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Trut that!  Here is the deal...consoli dation is also part of the past.  As new Hmong Americans that we all are and that we all claim to be...let's not get caught up in the "old closed mindedness" that we should have only one Hmong candidate.  We should be ashamed of ourselves that there isn't more Hmong candidate running for Sen. Mee Moua's seat or Rep. Cy Thao's seat or any seat in general.  We must begin move away from the one clan system where two people of the same clan must consolidate or in this matter to rule out 3 Hmong candidates and leave only one to fight for votes in the primary.  I understand people's concern for having a Hmong rep. in the legislation but we must not do it illegally or to discriminate against any candidate who has his/her own will to pursue what's best for his/her career as well as for the betterment of his/her community. 

We should not built unity based on the color of our skin or from cultural similarities but on the need to improve our lives as family, friends, neighbors, etc. 

-pill

OK. So go for the issues, you say.

Yes, let's get to the real issues and cut all the BS. 

Many votes will be driven by favoritism, not by the issues. But we hope the winner will actually work on the issues, right?

In the case of Hmong voters, they will only vote for someone who is Hmong. In this race, there are 4 Hmong running. All the Hmong are screwed. Other voters will vote based on who they know. So, yea, it will be driven by favoritism. SD 67 just lucked out that Mee Moua was an intelligent woman. No doubt she got the Hmong support. BUt when she DID get elected, she actually got sh^t done, regardless of what the Hmong voters perceived as "in their best interest". She worked for all the East Side. The next senator needs to be able to do what Mee Moua has done. Actually, it will suck to be the next senator because Mee Moua set the bar REALLY high.

I hope people vote based on issues that concern them and not on who they like - given that they are knowledgeable about what they are concerned about.  Favoritism leads people to hold grudge against who they don't like if that person actually got voted to office.

True that Mee Moua set the bar really high.  But of the current 4 Hmong, who do you think will do a better job at the MN Senate?

Your hope is right. But I don't know what the voters will actually do.  We'll have to see.

Perhaps we should discuss the candidates' strengths and weaknesses rather than saying that the 4 Hmong will divide up all of the votes?

At this point, I don't know. Like I have said before, of the Hmong candidates, I think Vang Lor and Chai Lee have the most abilities to be senator without sacrificing their values. Foung and Cha seem to do what is popular and not usually what is necessary to be a leader.