(D-MN) Sen. Mark Dayton expected to bow out of re-election bid

[MN--Troy]

Very interesting. I had never heard anything of this. This would be too bad, but we could hold it.

Kiffmeyer pissed a lot of people off last election, and she's never topped 50% for the Sec. of State position, I have to say she's far too polarzing to win now.

Mary Kiffmeyer would be better suited to run for the 6th district if Mark Kennedy decides to run for the senate.

Mary Kiffmeyer has never topped 50% in any election, but topping 50% is not a barometer for winning a Minnesota senate seat.  If that were the case than a Paul Wellstone would have never been elected to U.S. Senate. Wellstone never had been elected to any public office before he defeated Rudy Boschwitz. And Paul Wellstone is not the exception either.

[MN--Troy]

If Arnold can win, Franken can win.

Franken is not on the same level as Arnold.

Right now, I'm hoping for either Mark Kennedy or Rod Grams as the nominee for the Republicans and Franken for the Dems.

Rod Grams would be a very weak candidate for the Republicans to nominate. The former senator was a nice and decent man, but like Mark Dayton he was not a terribly visible senator; he was not a great fundraiser, and he was just too conservative for the state. Grams even admitted that he had tough time campaigning and articulating his message; and he found it easier to ask the questions (he was a T.V. news anchor before holding public office.) than to answer the questions.

Mark Kennedy on the other hand has the willingness and the drive to run and be elected to the U.S. senate. He reminds me very much of former senator Rudy Boschwitz.

At any rate, the U.S. senate race here in Minnesota should be spirited and fun to watch.

[MN--Troy]

Article in the StarTrib on this today didn't mention Franken even once.

Ciresi is almost a given. He lost the primary narrowly to Dayton in 2000 and said he'd jump into a race "in a nanosecond" if Dayton dropped out. He's a huge attorney who won a $6 billion case against the tobacco industry, and has the huge plus of being able to finance his own campaign.

The other mentioned candidate is Hennepin county attorney Amy Klouboucher. She's actually pretty high profile and was a speaker at the DNC, and has a strong record of a prosecutor of being tough on crime. Her dad was also a well known columnist giving her name recognition. But I think she's more likely to run for Attorney General since Mike Hatch is almost certain to run against Pawlenty.

I can't remember the third profiled guy's name, but he's a legal counsel for the U of M who's been hinting he's interested in a run at quite some time. He was the chair of Lieberman's campaign in MN so he must be a moderate, but that means I won't be supporting him in the primary for sure. I don't mind moderates, but supporting Lieberman runs me the wrong way.

Dean Johnson, Betty McCollum and Alan Page were all mentioned as possibilities. It also said Alan Page couldn't be reached for comment yet.

I just realized I have almost 2 years until the primary so that's plenty of time to make up mind, but out of the mentioned ones, I'd be supporting Ciresi now. But there's a LOOOOOONG way to go.

Also, apparentely Rod Grams is officially in now. Let's just hope he wins the nomination.

I have seen from anywhere 6 to 9 Minnesota Democrats vying for the nomination. The DFL does not need an embittered primary especially against potential strong challengers like Mark Kennedy or Gil Gutknecht.

Rod Grams is DEAD ON ARRIVAL with respect to the nomination.