Ritchie said he will lobby his wife for a second term in office, but rejected the idea of seeking higher office, noting some have urged a gubernatorial run.
“I’ve been pretty resistant to that,” he said, adding he prefers his current post, which Ritchie said “allows me to focus on the democracy itself.”
After watching him in action, I really believe that focusing on democracy is his passion. Above all else, Ritchie has been concerned with the integrity of our election process, and he’s defended it from attacks from both the right and the left. It’s our good fortune that he was our Secretary of State during the recount, and I hope it will be our continued fortune to have him as Secretary of State from 2010 to 2014.
[via David Brauer]
We are very fortunate to have Mark as our SoS. Though he is my personal favorite potential candidatein the gubernatorial field, I am very happy to have him in the Secretary’s office.
Impressive move by Ritchie. Many politicians wouldn’t have been able to resist the allure of higher office when their name recognition is this strong.
For some, higher office has little allure. I suspect that Mark is one of those people, regrettably.
He is a young man and has a long career in front of him. Should he keep his good government mindset going, he will be Governor some day. I was impressed with how he handled the BS and personal attacks aspects of the recount with great calmness. I think even Republicans have to see him as a good guy.
Mark? Mark’s not exactly young. 57. Although I guess that’s young enough to potentially run for governor down the line. I sure hope so. Mark’s one of my favorite politicians in the entire country.
To hear the folks at the Conservative blogs call Mark Ritchie a “partisan hack” shows emmense ignorance on their parts.
Mark has handled this with the utmost transparency and fairness.
My favorite Mark Ritchie story:
I walked a parade with Mark in St. Cloud the summer of 2006, when he ran for SoS. After we reached the end of the parade, we chatted as we walked back to our cars. We were talking about the farm crisis years in Iowa, and he happened to mention knowing the late Bishop Dingmann. I told him that my mom had once worked as a secretary to Bishop Dingmann and admired him very much. Mark enthusiastically told me about a biography of Dingmann and asked if my mother had read it. I replied that I had never heard her mention it, so I didn’t think she knew about it. The very next morning there was an e-mail in my inbox from Mark with a link to the Amazon page of the book. I forwarded it to my mother, who bought the book, read it, and loved it.
There was Mark conducting a statewide campaign, working his heart out, probably not getting very much sleep, and he took the time to send a link for an 81-year-old lady who wasn’t even a Minnesota voter, just because he knew she would enjoy it.
We’re blessed to have him.