Fargen, Johnson Official for District 8

Democrat Mitch Fargen and Republican Jerry Johnson have turned in their petitions to run for our two District 8 State House seats. (Secretary Nelson must have someone working on Easter!) In numbers and parties, the ballot is now a repeat of the 2006 contest, with one Republican and two Democrats. We also have two Madison candidates, Johnson and veteran legislator Gerry Lange. We have a youthful challenger again -- last time Russell Olson for the GOP, this time an even younger Fargen for the Dems. We'll see if Fargen generates any of that "golden boy, future governor" talk that occasional commenters like to laud Olson with.

We have no incumbents this time, at least not yet. With a full ticket for the Dems, the pressure is off Senator Dan Sutton (D-Flandreau) and Representative David Gassman (D-Canova) to do their duty for the party. But is the fire out of their bellies? The general impression is that both men will be content to leave the battle in the hands of others, but they have 33 hours yet to surprise us.

So the Dem ticket as it stands offers us a remarkable spread of generations and backgrounds. Both Lange and Parsley served in the military (Lange, Air Force; Parsley, Navy) and have worked for the electric industry; Lange also brings his background as a farmer and history professor and a lot of that institutional memory of the Legislature. Fargen has perhaps the most conventional political background, with SDSU degrees in business econ and poli-sci and work as membership coordinator and legislative assistant for the Farmers Union.

The GOP will give us Olson, with one term in the House under his belt, to to challenge Parsley for the Senate seat. Johnson brings six years of Madison City Commission experience to the race. But what about that third seat? Are the Republicans becoming so complacent as to let the Dems have a freebie in District 8 again? Olson and Johnson can't be the only two Republicans in the district willing to fight the good fight, can they?

Dems statewide are determined to retake the Legislature by 2010. Chortle if you will that the Dems only manage to do that every 36 years... but guess what: 1936, 1972... 2008! We're due! Even if you're still chortling, why let the Dems have even one seat without a fight? Take a cue from the Obama campaign book: every state, every district, every seat matters.

Come on, District 8 GOP, you can do it. One more Republican. 50 signatures. A chance to poke a stick in the Dems' eye. How can you pass that up? Get some young buck (or buckette!) from CreditSoup. Get someone working on wind turbine blades over in Howard. Stir up someone in Woonsocket to challenge the usually solid Dem vote on the west side of the district. Let's see some hustle!