I figured I’d take notes and share what I’m thinking of them so far.
I was at the Minnesota Young DFL Spring Convention to elect a new exec. board and do the necessary business and since we’re basically the leaders of our college Dems chapters and a group who volunteers regularly, the candidates all came to make their pitch. In all, there were 11 different possible candidates with only one of them being a stand in and it was for one of lower known state legislators. All did a 3-5 minute speech about their candidacy, the issues, and usually how great it was to see young people involved. (Wait til we want to take their seats)
more after the jump…
Matt Entenza-excellent candidate, former House Minority Leader, ran for AG but had to drop out because of overblown GOP concerns about his wife’s health insurance job and conflict of interests in 2006. He recently rolled out a a pretty decent sized list for this stage of the game of endorsements, with 5-6 house and senate members, plus other assorted politicos and party members. He is from St. Paul and would have a strong base there. Solid progressive and his main issue is the green economy, and he knows a DAMN lot about it. He is also rich and would be able to take this to the primary. I’d put him as a Tier 1.
Margaret Anderson-Kelliher– current speaker of the state house and has so far been the only speaker in recent sessions to get everything done without a special session. If she manages to do a hat trick with this one and get us through a major budget fiaso, she’ll run. If it is ugly and hurts her, she wont. She would be the leading woman candidate which would give her a leg-up with women issues groups, and she also grew up on a farm in Mankato MN, a rather large city in southern rural MN. She’s from Minneapolis so she’ll have that base and be able to attract rural voters. She’s definitely Tier 1.
R.T. Rybak– current mayor of Minneapolis, running for a third term this year in the 09 elections, which makes him only a possible candidate as he can’t run for both at the same time without looking like a douche. He has solid liberal progressive credentials, has the college activist support, and has done a damn fine job as mayor by revitalizing neighborhoods and supporting LRT. He is energetic and is a complete natural as a campaigner, as I’ve seen him literally running around shaking hands and almost startling people with his energy. He’s Tier 1, if he gets in.
Chris Coleman– current mayor of St. Paul, running for a second term this in year in the 09 elections exactly like Rybak, but with one less term. He however seems much more likely to get into the race post mayoral elections. He’s hired some top campaign staff for an election he’ll probably face a Republican in, which is really bad because that is a DFL vs DFL race, unless you’re Norm Coleman. He’s also gotten good marks as mayor but I’d say could use more accomplishments as mayor to run off of, but he was also city council president and I dont know enough about how well known he was then and what he did. He’s Tier 1.
Mark Dayton– former US Senator (2000-2006) and was also state auditor in the 90’s. He retired from the Senate because it was commonly thought Kennedy would annihilate him. He seems a bit more awkward and and not charismatic enough but he spoke pretty decently and as a former Senator, he has a great base of support to work off of. He certainly has the money to take this to primary and probably will. He’s definitely in the race. Tier 1 or 2, he has a great base to work off of but I can’t help but feel that he’d lose. He just didn’t impress me in his five minutes like the other candidates.
Taryl Clark– state Senator since a special election in 2005, assistant majority leader and from the St. Cloud area, a city of 70,000 in the middle of some most conservative parts of the state. She’s been seen as an up and comer and I don’t think really intends on running for Governor but it more so just getting her name out there for future higher office or to be the Lt. Gov pick, which if it’s a male candidate, she’d be an EXCELLENT choice. Is from a Dem-leaning but still tough district, is an excellent speaker and spokeswoman. I really wish she would take on Bachmann though, she couldve beat her in 08. Tier 2 as she lacks the experience and the base. Lt. Gov though, watch for it.
Paul Thissen– state Rep since 2002 and has been getting pretty good marks from the blogs on his campaign. He has had some solid fundraising and is great on the stump. Definitely in. He’s Tier 2 but if none of those maybes get into the race, he’ll be Tier 1.
Steve Kelley– state Rep from 93-96 and then state senator from 1997-2006, and then he ran for AG in 2006 after Entenza got out of the race, but was beat by Lori Swanson. He’s now a prof at the U of M and that’s about it. He’s definitely in the race. Tier 3. Oh, and he was boring to boot.
John Marty-state Senator since 1987, was the DFL nominee for Gov in 94 (got spanked by Arne Carlson) and lost in the primary for Gov in 98. He’s a bit of a has been and I wasn’t impressed by his five minute stump at all. He didn’t grab my attention and didn’t make me want to listen, so I pretty much didn’t. I’m not quite sure how he didn’t lose his senate seat and still get to be the DFL Gov nominee and be on the ballot so I dunno if he’ll follow the whole process through and give up his senate seat. He’s definitely in the race. Tier 3.
Tom Bakk-state rep from 1995-2002 and then senate from 2003 til present. He is from up north on the Iron Range, which is a heavily DFL area (origins of the national union movement are there) and is a big source of DFL delegates/votes. However, beyond the Iron Range, he won’t be very favored anywhere else. According to wikipedia, he’s done the best in fundraising so far with $146k raised at the end of 08. He’s definitely in and is probably Tier 3, unless all the other candidates split enough of the other regions and he sweeps the Iron Range which would give him a solid number of delegates.
Susan Gaertner-current Ramsey County Attorney (Ramsey County is St. Paul plus some suburbs) and sadly for her, is probably doing the worst. While Klobuchar managed to take the same county position and become Senator, it won’t work this time. She’s dreadfully boring on the stump and is Tier 3.
If Kelliher, Coleman, and Rybak get into the race, it’ll be a showdown between them, Entenza, and Dayton. I expect both Coleman and Rybak to get into the race as they have nothing to lose electorally and as for all the state reps and senators, I imagine most of them would be out after the endorsement and then may just run in their respective primaries for their house/senate seats. I’m almost positive the filing deadline is after the endorsement convention.
Although I do want to point that since Im just a 22 year old, I may not really know how much support Dayton, Marty, or Kelly really have as they’ve kind of exited from the main stage for the DFL as I started to get to know politics, so my opinions are probably swayed more towards the new guard.