No Regrets: Minnesota Women and the Joan Growe Senatorial Campaign

by Barbara Stuhler

No Regrets is a chronicle of Minnesota's Groweing, an amazing grassroots political pyramid designed by 10 women and built by thousands more to support the candidacy of Joan Growe for the United States Senate in 1984. In part, No Regrets tells the story of the political events surrounding Growe's endorsement by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, her impressive win in the primary election, and her loss to incumbent Rudy Boschwitz in the general election. But perhaps more importantly, this account of a spontaneous yet well-organized response to a woman's candidacy for high public office poses a fundamental question about the role of citizens in the electoral process at a time when money, media, and the polls dominate that process. One answer is provided by the experience of Minnesota's Groweing which many observers believe is a credible model for future campaigns. Or, as Arvonne Fraser states in her Foreword, it is also possible that the kind of campaign that the Minnesota's Groweing group ran would be a breath of fresh air in a stale political atmosphere.

Paperback

First published December 1, 1986