North Star Politics

Just when you thought things were beginning to settle down, everything gets shaken up.

An anonymous comment just left here brought a thought. Mike Hatch and Steve Kelly have obvious natural constituencies. What is Kelly Doran's? His apparent lack of one plagued him during his brief Senate campaign and I can't see how things will change in the gubernatorial race. The only real difference is that there is no well-established candidate for him to beat this time. Even so, however, he has a long, uphill battle. His name recognition is still minimal, he's not familiar with the political process or scene, and his self-financed campaign may arouse fears that he's trying to buy the election.

Mr. Doran, how do you plan to win the Governor's Mansion?

I don't subscribe to a lot of what I hear about the DLC. I'm not a fan, don't get me wrong, but I think we need every Democrat in our corner that we can get, even if they aren't quite what we'd like them to be. NSP, however, subscribes a bit more to the Daily Kos school.

This kind of stuff, however, just pisses me off. Marshall Wittman is almost exactly arguing for the other side. He's congratulating Sen. Leahy for helping Pres. Bush. I don't know whether Roberts should or should not be confirmed, but I do know that Democrats, at most, should be reluctantly allowing their members to vote to confirm Roberts, certainly not encouraging them to do so. A weak Democratic party following, however complainingly, the GOP, will never be successful. A strong, alternative, reform Democratic party that refuses to go along with the GOP's unconscionable plans for America will have the future in its hands.

The ACLU is pro-life. This kind of stuff prevents abortions in the first place.

William Mitchell is getting screwed over!

I'm not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, though I'm not entirely sure either way. What I do know is that it's bad that we don't have any choice.

Kelly Doran may be out. While I'm more or less neutral on Doran, I can't help but think that this is a positive development for the DFL. If Idusogie is right, Amy Klobuchar will be in a much improved position.

UPDATE: Apparently Doran is running for governor. Ouch. This throws a wrench into the works, but I think it lowers his credibility. Does he want an office but not care which one?

Am I the only one who worries that this just might be a bad deal for the taxpayers of Anoka County especially and the State of Minnesota in general?