Congressional candidate Dean Phillips wages his own kind of challenge

The following commentary by Lori Sturdevant was posted on the Star Tribune website September 9, 2018:

He stresses campaign finance reform in his bid to unseat Rep. Erik Paulsen, even as national party pols resist that tack.

DFL challenger Dean Phillips and Rep. Erik Paulsen greeted each other at the end of their August debate. Credit: Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Tell me whether you met a congressional candidate from your district at his or her own booth at the State Fair. If you say you did, I’ll tell you in which district you live.

This trick requires no clairvoyance. The only fairgoers who could say yes live in the Third District, because the only congressional candidate who sprang for a booth of his own at this year’s fair was DFLer Dean Phillips.

That’s a small way — albeit a telling one — in which Phillips is standing apart from the congressional challengers’ pack as he seeks to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen.

View the complete commentary here.