Attorney Mike Ciresi has officially launched his campaign for United States Senate today making him the second major Democratic candidate to get in. Ciresi has notably stated that he will abide by the endorsement and will not self-fund.
Details on Mike Ciresi and the pros/cons of his candidacy can be found in our in-depth analysis here and a back-log of stories can be found in our archives. His teaser site is now live.
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I’m still a little leary of Mike Ciresi. Apart from his prior run for the Senate, he has no particular record of political involvement (other than campaign contributions). I would like him a lot more if I didn’t have the sense that running for the Senate was just the Next Challenge in his life. Sometimes it seems as if he’s running for the Senate instead of doing something more commonplace for someone looking for new words to conquer, like climbing Mount Everest or competing in the Vendee Globe.
On the other hand, he certainly has a more convincing air of gravitas than Al Franken. I know, Al is a serious candidate, and is very well-informed and well-spoken on the issues. My uneasiness comes from the fact that every news story refers to him as “comedian Al Franken.”
I had/have some of the same reservations as Randy, but I thought Ciresi sounded great in his announcement, better than I ever heard him sound as a trial lawyer. He’s saying the right stuff on the issues. Plus, I fear that Franken has, at one time or another, said so many things
I saw Al Franken speak at the St. Paul Ward 4 convention last week. He was warm and funny and really connected with the crowd. I have seen Ciresi speak and he is ok, but not as good as Franken. Maybe its not a fair comparison. I remember taking a vacation a few years ago and taking two books with me - Franken’s Lying Liars book and a Joe Conason book that came out around the same time. The Conason book was an excellent political book, but Franken’s book made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions, so Conason paled in comparison. Ciresi won’t come across as well as Franken, but objectively I think he will be a solid candidate.
The question then becomes why don’t we go with the guy who comes across better? Maybe we should. My concern is that Franken only connects to the true believers, like those who attend DFL events. His polling basically shows him only getting the support of the DFL base, and his negatives are ridiculously high. He is not behind Coleman in the polls because people don’t know him (as is the case for many challengers) but because they don’t like him. And while Franken’s fundraising was impressive overall, the breakdown is an absolute nightmare - 75 percent coming from out of state. Not that out of state money is necessarily bad, but I think this shows that Franken has narrow national support, rather than broad support here in Minnesota.
Maybe Franken can reverse those problems. In any event, I’m glad that Ciresi is now in and gives us some options.
I agree with Dan’s assessment - Franken did connect in St. Paul’s ward 4 with those of us who would “pull the lever” if today’s voting machines allowed it. But I strongly suspect, based on my small sample of my urban and suburban brother- and sisters-in-law, that Ciresi has a longer and more potent ability to attract purple voters.
I’m damn glad Ciresi’s in.