[Orangedog]

His and the GOP’s “alternative” will look a lot like romney...err, I mean obamacare, except with much, much higher penalties for not buying an insurance policy from their campaign contributors. They will probably add jail time to it, too.

[TurboZamboni]

The fact is that Mike McFadden is the only guy with the means to challenge Al Franken. It’s that simple.

The other challengers lacked the resources to take on Franken and that makes McFadden the only realistic option.

(NOT an endorsement of Mr. McFadden.) I don’t know where the guy stands on key issues and he certainly has made no real effort to clarify his world view. Moreover, he has shown no real interest in cultivating support from delegates. “Aloof” would be a charitable description.

Like it or not, financial viability is a necessary, critical component in mounting a credible, realistic challenge to Weird Al.There’s only one person in Minnesota who has demonstrated that viability so far is Mike McFadden. (Al ‘party of the little guy’ Franken has raised over $15 million in 2014.) McFadden has raised nearly $3 million in 2014, the only Republican to bring in over $1 million and the only one to even come close.

If you want to join the world’s most exclusive club, you need the money to get out your message.If you doubt it, check recent history. 2012 and the race was Bills vs. Amy ‘Hotdish’ Klobuchar.An Internet search will show all sorts of articles and quotes about Kurt Bills and the optimism despite the lack of money.He got beaten BADLY.

IMHO, this guy is Norm Coleman with more personal wealth.(and he earned it in the business world)

[Eagle Forgotten]

You suggest that the RINO alternative to Obamacare will involve "much, much higher penalties for not buying an insurance policy from their campaign contributors."

That's possible -- but the RINOs' problem is that the single most unpopular feature of Obamacare is the individual mandate (the part it borrowed from Romneycare). Republicans can't get any electoral mileage from "repeal and replace" if they admit that their replacement will also include an individual mandate. If they dump the mandate, though, they also have to dump required issue (i.e., the Obamacare provision that the insurance companies have to issue policies regardless of pre-existing conditions) -- which is one of the most popular parts of Obamacare.

The true conservative position is to repeal both the mandate and required issue, leaving individuals and insurance companies free to make their own decisions based on the market. There seems to be a shortage of Republicans willing to say that, however.