Strike another name off the watch list.
MNPublius first heard the news, and MinnPost.com confirms the news: Democratic Rep. Tim Walz won’t be running for Governor in 2010:
Word had been circulating that Walz was calling key supporters to inform them of his plans. Walz confirmed his decision in an interview with MinnPost moments ago.
This bluntly:
Me: “I’m calling to confirm rumors that you have decided not to run for governor.”
Walz: “That’s correct.”
Given the rogue’s gallery of losers that the DFL has nominated for Governor in recent cycles, it’s no surprise that a lot of Minnesotans hoped Walz would step forward and attempt to snap the DFL’s remarkable losing streak. Guess not.
(Hat-tip: Rev. Wright)
….MN-01 remains instinctually Republican district so it would be hard to hold the seat if Walz attempted a gubernatorial run. Furthermore, I’m not sure it’s possible for any Democrat to win the Minnesota Governor’s mansion having to compete against the Republicans and the Independence Party every four years. Walz would have, at best, lost in another “respectable” 47-46-6 three-way race where either center-left suburbanities or leftist college students shanked him with a narrow defeat by breaking for the well-spoken, left-of-center IP candidate.
I’m a bit shocked at the hopeless attitude of some people towards MN statewide races because of the INdepedence Party. Hatch, despite completely imploding in the last 2 weeks, still nearly won it because of the race he ran prior. Currently the Democrats have 3 candidates running in Ramsey County Prosecuter Sue Gaertner, former US Senator Mark Dayton (yeah, I know, but he has been elected statewide twice), and STate Senator Tom Bakk, in addition Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is considering running. I don’t know about 2 out of the 4 (Gaertner, Bakk) but Dayton managed to win statewide twice (and can self-fund) while Rybak is well thought of by a lot of people in Minnesota. I mean, the Independence Party didn’t affect any of the other 4 statewide races between 2004-2006 (the ’04 Senate race, the ’06 AG/State Auditor/Sec STate races) so if a good campaign is run that doesn’t implode, we still have a shot.