Doug Friedline

In the world of third party political campaigns there are seldom winners. On of the biggest third party winners was Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota. A large part of the credit for Ventura’s win went to his campaign manager Doug Friedline.

Doug died suddenly Friday in Florida. He was 49 years old.

I met Doug when he managed Gatewood Galbraith’s campaign for Attorney General. I think Doug believed that every candidate he worked for was going to be the next Jesse Ventura. He was an interesting mix of political realist and passionate idealist. The political spectrum is a little less colorful with his passing.