Field of Partisans in Centrist Times

The field of candidates hoping to replace Pawlenty will need to seek their party's endorsement. Whoever they are, they are going to be caught between the ideological bent of their endorsing party and a considerably more centrist public tired of partisan bickering.

Would an Independent win in this anti-partisan climate? State Senator Terry Bonoff says both sides have "clear-the-field candidates." But, would they get endorsed?

Republicans are looking to balance the current Democratic tilt in the Minnesota Legislature, but it would seem Pawlenty did that with his Veto pen.

The novelty would be Ramstad running as an Independent. Would he get votes from the conservative Minnesota Republicans?

Right now the Legislature, big-city mayoral offices and the state's congressional delegation are all dominated by Democrats.

The state Republican pickings are pretty thin, according to Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College.

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates begin with former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton to former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, who has already run one statewide campaign, to Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, so far the only woman to officially announce her candidacy.

Others, include House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, are all said to be weighing entry into the race.

Schier said in Twin Cities.com that "the GOP base active in party politics is more conservative than the state as a whole, and thus the endorsement process is "not reliably likely to produce a candidate who is electable statewide. "

Though it might be the Democrats' race to lose, at least one Democratic candidate warned against ruling out Republicans, pointing out that Democrats haven't won a governor's race since 1986.

Pawlenty painted a grim picture of DFLers controlling both the Legislature and the governor's office. But, if lawmakers proceed in 2010 to eliminate gubernatorial powers, a Republican Governor would be less able to overturn the tide of control.

In the meantime Pawlenty is getting ready to make $2.7B in spending cuts by July. Cities and organizations affected by the cuts are looking at the state statutes and a possible legal action against the Governor for abuse of power.

If there is a law-suit against Pawlenty, in what many deem as an unprecedented use of the process, it might impede the success of Republican candidates running in 2010.

It's ironic that after the session ended Pawlenty sought the suggestions of the public, who in fact, pay the salaries of all those legislators, Republican and Democrat alike, to make decisions on our behalf, Republican and Democrat, alike.

The message from Pawlenty was that the legislature ended on time and would not go into a special session. But the end result is that we paid our representatives to get the people's business done and that didn't happen.