Trouble in Saint Cloud?

According to Checks and Balances (registration required), the Republican candidate that is running to succeed Rep. Joe Opatz in St. Cloud, Sue Ek, voted in St. Paul between 2001 and 2004, leading to questions about her St. Cloud residency. However, according to her campaign literature, she has been a St. Cloud resident "since 1968". Either she is lying on her campaign lit, or she is lying about her residency when she votes in St. Paul. Either way, it's not good.

It is also interesting that Republicans always complain about students voting twice, both at their home address and at their school address. Now, there is no indication that Ek has been voting both in St. Cloud and St. Paul, but it is interesting that for some odd reason she is choosing to consistently vote in a location that doesn't seem to be her home. I would never do such a strange thing, nor would most voters.

I don't know a whole lot about Ek or her candidacy, but she does sound like she is a bit off the wall. She is the executive director of a "Natural Family Planning" organization, which isn't really surprising given the people who live in Saint Cloud (and believe me, I know them all too well). What is Natural Family Planning? It's a way to pretend to use a method of birth control while not going against any dogmatic Catholic beliefs. According to this "method," you guess the days that you can't have sex. The standard joke told by real family planning professionals is this:

Q. What do you call people who use natural family planning?
A. Parents.

The only people that I know of who have used it have five kids, so judge for yourself.

In any case, Republicans have cause for concern in these races. Ek and her Republican Senate candidate counterpart are not the strongest of candidates (the guy running for Senate is some blowhard talk radio host -- I don't know if the "Jesse Factor" really works up in St. Cloud). Not only is there a good chance that Republicans will lose both races, but some moderate Republicans are getting very nervous. Stay tuned.