North Star Politics

The Rochester Post-Bulletin is running a story tonight speculating that Sen. Sheila Kiscaden (I-30) will be gubernatorial candidate Kelly Doran's running mate.

I regard this speculation's chances of being correct extremely likely. Sen. Kiscaden should have made public moves towards reelection by now, whether by declaring that she'd run once again with the Independence Party or deciding to run with the DFL.

I further regard this as an extremely poor choice politically. If she had chosen to run under the DFL banner, she would have had what I would estimate as a nearly guaranteed reelection campaign. Instead, she'll be running with an underdog gubernatorial candidate who has already all but conceded the endorsement and whose natural constituency is unlikely to turn out in great force in the primary. While it would have seemed smarter to run with Mike Hatch or Steve Kelley, Doran's adding another moderate to the ticket makes little sense. It's already clear that he's a centrist, and now his challenge is to survive the primary; in that context, this decision is really confusing. If the Doran/Kiscaden ticket loses (and I think it will, for a variety of reasons) Kiscaden's political career may well be over. It seems an odd way to throw it out the window.

In addition, notice anything odd about the article?

Analysts reason that since all of the declared gubernatorial candidates are white, male and from the metro area, a seasoned, female politician from rural Minnesota would add balance to the ticket.

What the hell? Are you forgetting State Sen. Becky Lourey (DFL-Kerrick), who is neither male nor metro-area? Matthew Stolle isn't just another reporter writing this story, either; he's the PB's dedicated political reporter. Great.

UPDATE: Not only did the error appear in the online edition since it was posted, but it exists in the printed edition of the P-B today. There's no excuse for this shoddy error or the fact that it wasn't caught by either Stolle or his editor.