WASHINGTON — Republican Chip Cravaack pulled off one of the great upsets of the 2010 election cycle when he knocked off U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, an 18-term incumbent, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee and a staple of politics in Minnesota’s 8th District, by a few thousand votes.
His re-election campaign turned out much differently. Cravaack lost to liberal former Congressman Rick Nolan by 10 points after a bruising campaign that saw millions of dollars in outside spending in one of the most contested congressional campaigns in recent 8th District history.
But Cravaack remains in Congress until the end of the year, and he’s approaching the last major legislative conflict of the term, the “fiscal cliff,” with a pretty conservative philosophy — don’t hike taxes, protect defense spending but find savings elsewhere.
Even as Nolan was on Capitol Hill for new member orientation, Cravaack sat down with MinnPost on Wednesday to discuss his loss, his governing philosophy for the last few weeks of his term and what’s next for him and his family.
MinnPost: Why did Rick Nolan beat you?
Chip Cravaack: I don’t have an answer to that question. We had done our own polling and we were up about 7 points a month prior. And then a week prior we were up 10 points. And then on Election Night, I think the get out the vote on the Democrats’ side was just better than ours.
MP: Do you think that you had a good message? Was it just tough to run as a Republican in a Democratic district?
CC: We were endorsed by every major paper in the district. My message always was mining, jobs, I think I used the phrase, 'We want to be the Bakken Fields of precious metals.' I had a plan, I had a vision, and it was about creating jobs in the 8th. I truly believe if we had moved forward, people would be moving into the 8th District for employment.
MP: Are you worried that’s not going to be the case now under Rick Nolan?
CC: It’s going to be up to Congressman Nolan. It’s up to him now.
MP: What were your emotions like on Election Night and how have they changed over the last week?
CC: I was very analytical. When we saw the numbers coming in, and then seeing that Duluth had not reported, and then when we started seeing the numbers that Duluth was going to report, I just said, 'Hey, let’s end the agony.' I called Rick up and I said, ‘Congratulations on the win. You can rest assured that my office will work seamlessly with yours in ensuring that the constituents of the 8th District’s priorities come first.’ And he said thank you very much. He was very gracious.
MP: What do you think the last two election cycles have meant for the 8th District? You’re the first Republican to represent the district in decades, then this election comes and you lose by 10 points. What does that say about both the district as a whole and what message does it send to Republicans who might wager a challenger there in the future?
CC: I see great opportunity in the 8th District. I think it’s incumbent upon Congressman Nolan to act upon those opportunities. I think we made great strides. We had a couple [bills] signed by the president. Our office was, if the not the most active legislative staff in the freshman class, if not the most, we’re second. We were a legislative shop. It’s now up to Congressman Nolan to move forward in however he feels is the best way for the 8th. We’ll see, again, if the people of the 8th hold him accountable.
MP: How do you expect Congressman Nolan to govern in the next term? Knowing what you know about him as a politician, as a person, what do you hope to see from him when he takes office next year?
CC: He’s done this before. He’s been a member of Congress. I don’t know what his leadership style is. Obviously we differ greatly on the issues. And I think we’ll have to respectfully agree to disagree. The people of the 8th have decided to take a new path and I respect that.
MP: What’s next for you?
CC: I’m keeping my options open. I’ve had a couple phone calls already. It’s nice to know that what we’ve done here has been recognized, but I don’t know. I’ll just take it one day at a time, keep my options open.
MP: Have you thought about running for office again, or moving into lobbying or something like that?
CC: I don’t know. I’ve had a lot of phone calls from people saying, 'We want you to do this now.' You know, wait a minute, guys. Wait till I’m back in my office. Let me get my stuff moved out first, then let’s talk. We still have some pretty significant issues that we need to talk about until the end of the [year].
MP: Are you planning to stay in Minnesota or might you move out to New Hampshire to be with your wife?
CC: Traci and I have been having these discussions, and her job — to some degree, they move her around as well.
We’re trying to see what the options are for her, as well. We have a cabin, we’ve got a house, we like it in Minnesota, my boys were born there, her parents live in Wisconsin. We don’t know. My wife has worked very hard in her career to get to where she is … I want to support her as she’s supported me.
MP: What should a final deal to avert the fiscal cliff look like?
CC: Anything that does not hurt the economy. That’s the bottom line. It can’t hurt the economy.
MP: Could you define a package of what you think would hurt the economy would look like?
CC: If somebody can prove to me that raising income taxes would benefit the economy, I’ll be glad to take a look at it. But Ernst & Young came out and said, 'If you raise taxes on those making $250,000 or above, it’s going to be at the cost of 700,000 jobs.'
[Note: The Congressional Budget Office says raising taxes on incomes above $250,000 will mean 200,000 fewer jobs over what would happen if all the Bush-era tax cuts were extended.]
MP: Some Republicans from Speaker Boehner on down have said that they’re open to more revenue.
CC: But how do they do that? Closing loopholes, closing special interests, that’s another way of raising revenue. It’s so funny because, we demonize the 1 percent, when we’re the ones who are trying to close the loopholes on the one percent. The special tax incentives — why isn’t some major corporation not paying taxes? Allowing these current tax rates to expire isn’t the way to go.
MP: So we’re clear here, you seem to be OK with closing loopholes, but you don’t want to raise tax rates?
CC: I don’t want raise tax rates because … I was at London Rental in Duluth, and one of the CREDO guys [a super PAC that opposed Cravaack] came up and started hitting me on it. I said, show me data that says by raising taxes on income, we’ll produce jobs. I said, please send it to me, I’d love to take a look. Make an appointment ... in Duluth and I’ll come in and we’ll talk about it.
If you can show me that raising taxes will produce jobs, not hurt the economy. I’ll look at that. But I haven’t found that data.
MP: How do you think last week’s election would or should affect the way you govern for the end of your term? You ran against a candidate who wants to cut military spending, who wants to raise taxes, and that’s the way that the district voted. Does that send a message to you to change your approach, or not?
CC: When Congressman Nolan takes the oath of office it will be up to him to offer leadership in a manner that he thinks is appropriate. When I was elected, in 2010, I got the message loud and clear as well: cut government spending, make government more accountable, make a simpler, flatter, fairer tax system — tax reform is key — protect entitlements of our seniors. I got all that. That’s what I’ve done over the last two years, and when Congressman Nolan takes the oath of office, it will be incumbent on his shoulders to make those right decisions.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.