A couple of days ago Mr. Flash over at Centrisity
reported that
Representative Margaret Anderson Kelliher is rumored to be considering jumping into the Senate race. I’ve been hearing some of the same rumblings and after asking a few questions around the capitol, it seems as though this rumor is getting to be a well-circulated rumor. And while it’s been difficult to establish the veracity of the rumor, I can say at this point that I’m pretty sure the Speaker is thinking about thinking about a run. How’s that for certainty?
Prior to the public entrance of Al Franken into the Senate race I had said on several occasions that Franken’s presence would almost guarantee the entrance of a legislator. While Franken has much to offer delegates in return for their vote (including an impressive fund-raising machine), he simply cannot meet the bar for experience that many people demand (that, and he makes a lot of people very nervous). So, there is a strong push among some sectors of the DFL party to root out and field a local politician who can present an experience grounded alternative to the Franken machine. For better or worse, there’s a market for an anti-Franken candidate in the race for the endorsement and Speaker Kelliher fits those shoes pretty nicely. Join me below the fold for an explanation as to why.
Moreover, the Speaker has had a pretty dang good session so far. Given the constraints of a Republican Governor with his eyes on No. 1 Observatory Circle, Speaker Kelliher has managed to reign in a diverse DFL majority in the House and with them pushed a very progressive, but grounded, legislative agenda. If things continue on this path, her cachet will be at a peak. Additionally, her stature and relative popularity among her colleagues puts her in a good position to win the endorsements (and votes in the DFL endorsement convention) of other DFL state legislators, an area where Franken has met some resistance.
For the same reasons that Kelliher has, so far, made a good Speaker, she would likely make a good candidate. Namely, she’s personable, disciplined, smart, and incredibly on message. But one of her assets that may be easy to overlook is her gender. Kelliher has absolutely no hope of coming remotely close to matching Franken’s fundraising and Ciresi’s cash makes him almost as difficult to catch up to. But as the only woman in the race, Kelliher would be a sure recipient of an EMILY’s list funding boost. This funding jumpstart may be enough money to make Kelliher competitive in the endorsement race, which traditionally are not dependent upon huge war chests. If she has enough money to keep herself competitive in the endorsement, and you don’t need that much, Kelliher may have a real shot at the convention of being the compromise, safe candidate.
And then there are her Minnesotan credentials that contrast so well against Norm Coleman’s amorphous past. First of all, Ms. Kelliher has actually been in one party her whole life and actually got her start in DFL politics at an early age. But more importantly, she’s a life-long Minnesotan, born and raised here. She grew up on a farm outside of Mankato and hasn’t left for any appreciable time since (she went to Gustavus). I would just love to see the ads: “Who do you trust to represent Minnesota values, a former New Yorker or a former Dairy Queen?”
All this being said, Franken has been extremely impressive thus far and Ciresi hasn’t even gotten moving yet. Although there are still those who are skeptical of Franken and his seemingly unending back-log of out-of-contextable (that’s right, I make up words too) jokes, he has managed to impress people everywhere he has gone. But not only has he been winning people over one by one, he has gotten a lot of people really excited. I mean, who else could draw 1200 people out to a junior high school on a cold, snowy winter morning 21 months before an election? And, for that matter, what other Minnesotan candidate has been on David Letterman recently? In short, Franken is potent for more reasons than his fund-raising capabilities.
All of this is, of course, pretty silly. Speaker Kelliher is focused on the session right now and ensuring that those who elected her and her colleagues get what they voted for. I have no doubt that if she is thinking about a Senate run that those thoughts have been relegated to the back of her head for now. So, we’ll just have to wait until after the session is over to get any sort of reading from MAK. Maybe I should just call up her Executive Assistant, Melissa Parker, to ask about the possibility of Kelliher jumping in the race. Parker took a job with Kelliher not so long ago and I’m sure her experience as Amy Klobuchar’s Political Director earlier on in the now Senator’s 2006 race would add an interesting angle of analysis…
Personally, I’d like to see Franken go to Washington.
We need a new sensibility there - and Franken seems like he’s got more on the ball that quite a few. This isn’t like a Ventura thing - where all the depth is expended in the first 10 minutes. Franken will do well. So if he’s prepared to go do the time, more power to him.
The dreary self-important crap that goes on in the senate would get shaken up & Franken would raise the bar for some of the speeches.
Enough of the people who played “student council” in grade school or high school. We need to cut to the chase on procedure for its own bloviating sake. If Franken ever decides to filibuster - it may actually be to a packed gallery!
Don’t know Cerisi much & Kelliher at all.
I’m sure they would do a good job too.
We know Normy hasn’t.
It’s an interesting possibility. Speaker Kelliher clearly managed a diverse slate to restore the DFL House majority, but I think it’s premature to suggest her cachet will be at a peak until we see how the chips fall and who wins the media game surrounding this session.
So far, in my opinion, Pawlenty’s “let’s live within our means” hocus-pocus rhetoric is still carrying the day. We need the House to emerge as the progressive, sane antidote. I’d love to see Kelliher pull it off.
The much-needed tax hikes and readjustments have drawn a lot of noise over on MDE. I think we need to take a careful look at what gets on the agenda, and what messages that sends about what DFL priorities are.
For example, we’ve seen a lot of regressive tax shifts by the Republicans over the past few years. We need to reverse some of these regressive burdens and put them back where they belong: on those who can afford them.
Consider reversing or scaling down Pawlenty’s cigarette tax, and tie it to a raise in upper-income income tax levels. This would give us a chance to revisit Pawlenty’s lie, and give him a starker choice: tax his base, or re-tax a lot of smokers. Believe me, every time he has to choose to tax smokers again, he’ll be giving himself a black eye.
On gas taxes, we need to tread more carefully. Gas prices are through the roof because of ME instability, which is firmly on the shoulders of the Republicans. We don’t want to confuse people on whom to blame for the price of gas. Find another way to raise transportation funds, force better reporting by gas giants to uncover possible reasons for price fluctuations, or do something to let people know WE know about how much the price of gas hurts the regular guy.
And one more thing - we need to deal head-on with the small business owner operating as a sole proprietor in the upper income bracket. These people do provide jobs, and they are the best argument the right has against taxing the upper income folks. Add a tax credit for these small businesses who actually do provide jobs to exempt them, focus the tax on unearned income, or do something else UNDERSTANDABLE to show everyone we understand and support small business. Small business is perhaps our greatest untapped resource.