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Thursday, February 10, 2005

Alan Page: Minnesota Senate 2006

When David suggests a candidate, I am inclined to learn more about him--such is the case with Alan Page. The more and more I learn about potential candidates to square off against Mark Kennedy, the more and more I think Dayton dropping out was a blessing in disguise.

So far we have a full slate of interesting candidates: Air America radio show host Al Franken, Minnesota Public Radio host and author Garrison Keillor, Minneapolis lawyer Mike Ciresi, and State Senator Steve Kelley. Ciresi and Kelley were both vanquished by Dayton in the 2000 primary. The St. Paul Pioneer Press has a full report on a large handful of potential successors.

But as I read about Alan Page, I really began to appreciate the man and his accomplishments. Page is the state's first African-American Supreme Court Justice. Others might know him as a Hall of Fame football player, part of the vaunted "Purple People Eaters."

Much of Page's activism has centered around providing educational opportunities for underprivileged children. His outreach includes establishing foundations to provide tuition for down-trodden students and co-sponsorship of a national essay writing contest to promote literacy.

In 2004, Page won re-election to the State Supreme Court in overwhelming fashion:

Alan Page 72%
Tim Tingelstad 28%

For more information:

Page Education Foundation Scholarship

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Profile Page

2004 Campaign Website

Posted at 11:34 AM in 2006 Elections, 2006 Elections - Senate, Minnesota | Technorati

Comments

Tim, thanks for the excellent post. Everything I've heard about Page had made me like him. (I think if he had been our sub instead of Mondale in 2002, we might have held Wellstone's seat.)

My only concern is Page's now-considerable body of written court decisions. (There were over 500 with his name when I searched Lexis.) It's too easy, as a commenter at Kos pointed out, for an opponent's campaign to pull a sentence or pargaph out of context and smear Page with it. Hopefully this tactic (if Pages runs) won't fly, but in any case, he's going to need some damn good "self-oppo" - and that means law students poring over every single decision of his looking for potentially questionable statements.

Posted by: DavidNYC at February 10, 2005 04:55 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I don't know too much about Page, but I have met Steve Kelley, and can say he'd be a great Democrat to get on a state-wide ticket--intelligent, strong-willed, eloquent, and has very little use for Republicrats like Mark Kennedy and Tim Pawlenty.

Posted by: JelloAbode at February 10, 2005 07:54 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment