I was at a wake this evening for a long time DFLer

[dflprincess]

I mentioned her in a post a few weeks ago - she was really DFL establishment and she had surprised me by a) admitting she had been wrong when she thought Franken would be a mistake for the DFL and she liked him more all the time; b) Amy Klobuchar was a disappointment and I should not mention that woman's name to her and c) she really hoped we'd have someone else to support besides Clinton.

Her wake was a veritable who's who of the local DFL and everyone was buzzing about Bernie and the buzz is good (even from the hacks). Everyone was happy to feel like there's a reason to attend the caucuses next March (not that any of us would miss them, but it's more fun when you feel good about it).

Several of these people were Clinton supporters 8 years ago.

Strictly anecdotal and it is group of political junkies but I was encouraged given that I would have expected about half of them to be Clinton supporters.

[ann---]

1. What is

DFL?

[dflprincess]

2. The Democratic Farmer Labor party

Once upon a time in Minnesota there were two parties (besides the Republicans), the Democratic and the Farmer Labor party. The Farmer Labor party, more to the left, had some success during the Depression but as the economy improved it became apparent that the two parties were splitting the vote and allowing the Republicans to win elections. So, in 1944 they merged and became the Democratic Farmer Labor party.

After the merger, Hubert Humphrey and other Democrats set about trying to purge the Farmer Laborites from the party (claiming they were commies) - how successful they were depends on who you talk to. Every now and then someone in the party makes some noise about dropping the Farmer Labor part of the name but (to date) that has proved unpopular.

Here's the strict party line on the history - note how they don't really tell you much about the Farmer Laborites:

https://www.dfl.org/about-our-party/overview-dfl-history/

I think Wiki may have some info on the Farmer Labor party but I can't get the link to work.

[merrily]

3. THANKS! Please cnsider cross posting in the Bernie Sanders Group.