The Big Question » Blog Archive » Guestposter Patricia Lopez on a draft-Walz effort that’s meeting nothing but resistance

Guestposter Patricia Lopez on a draft-Walz effort that’s meeting nothing but resistance

July 3rd, 2007 – 9:58 AM by D.J. Tice

Old-line political operative Jim Goff, part of the short-lived Kelly Doran for Governor/Senator campaigns, apparently is mounting a one-man effort to draft U.S. Rep Tim Walz for the Senate race.

Goff, who did not return reportersÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ phone calls or emails, has been circulating a draft petition that would pit the first-term Rochester congressman against his former benefactors, humorist Al Franken and attorney Mike Ciresi.

WalzÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s congressional and campaign staff have emphatically (and repeatedly) said that their man is not interested in entering the Senate race and is intent on winning re-election in the First District.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We are really, really focused on re-election in the first,Ã¢â‚¬Â said Walz campaign manager Richard Carlblom. Ã¢â‚¬Å“ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s very flattering to even be considered, but Congressman Walz is really dedicated to re-election in his own district in 2008.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Carlblom noted that both Ciresi and Franken helped Walz in his upset victory over Republican Gil Gutknecht in 2006 and that Walz Ã¢â‚¬Å“is good friends with both of them.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Andy OÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Leary, executive director of the state DFL, said heÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d seen a copy of the petition — but knew of no one who had signed it or who intended to sign it. Ã¢â‚¬Å“WeÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve had no contact with Mr. ciresi Goff,Ã¢â‚¬Â OÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Leary said.

Walz has been high on politicos’ radar since his win in what had been a Republican district, but a serious draft attempt would face a major hurdle: a Walz Senate run would leave Dems without an incumbent in the first district and vulnerable in what is already a targeted race for Republicans.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“I do know from my conversation with Walz and his staff that heÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s committed to running in the first district,Ã¢â‚¬Â OÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Leary said. “In our minds, this [petition] is a nonstarter.”

Patricia Lopez

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 9:58 am and is filed under 1st District, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to "Guestposter Patricia Lopez on a draft-Walz effort that’s meeting nothing but resistance"

swschrad says:

July 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 am

sounds like somebody put Jim Goff up to this to try and clear the way for ol’ Gil to get back into Congress.

prove me wrong.

bsimon says:

July 3rd, 2007 at 11:16 am

Looks like the DFL is having as much trouble coming up with an inspiring Senate nominee as the Nat’l GOP is having with the Pres race.

swschrad says:

July 3rd, 2007 at 11:46 am

ahh, but that would imply it WOULD take an inspiring Senate nominee to beat Normie. any one of a number of competent folks could beat Normie. they don’t have to be inspiring. and sure enough, not all the likely DFL candidates are inspiring, just solid and competent.

Justin C. Adams says:

July 4th, 2007 at 8:37 am

Whatever do you guys mean?

I keep saying, and keep being ignored when I say, the debate between Coleman and Franken will be the single best hour of television in Minnesota political history. It will be inspired. I assure you.

Inspiring, competent, solid… Franken is all of these things, but he wouldn’t need to be. That Franken is living will be helpful to his campaign, but Coleman will lose the race all on his own without much help from the DFL.

He doesn’t fit the GOP mold very well. He’s a flip flopper. He voted for amnesty before he voted against it. He actually voted for the war before he voted against it. He hasn’t gone and called the terrorists a nuisence, yet, but if the nuisence demographic looks like it’s a swing block, he might yet.

He doesn’t have any chairmanships or anything that make moderates think twice – you know there are conservatives in Duluth who vote Oberstar because they know it is good for our state to chair the Transportation committee.

And the drug use. Franken’s line should be “what’s your excuse”. And Coleman’s excuse is, ironically, that he was a hippy-liberal extremist in college. Franken’s is that he was hanging out with John Belushi. Considering their respective bases, I think Franken comes out on top.

I don’t mean to be dismissive of Ciresi, but it really seemed like the regular people in the party didn’t care for him much. Even with the money the way it is, I think Franken has enough to be heard, and I think Franken’s charisma and off the cuff style will easily be more appealing than Ciresi’s somewhat dull, party-loyal competence.

Not that Ciresi would be bad. Just not exciting. I also think Walz is less exciting than Franken and would be the more conservative candidate in the race if he faced Norm in the general. Not really conservative in bad way – just conservative in a rural way. Compare Walz and Coleman in their early 20s… in Walz photo, he’s sporting a uniform – Coleman’s got a joint, a peace sign, hair to his elbows, and he’s standing on top of a building he’s taken over like Tommy Lee Jones in the classic film “The Park is Mine”.

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