HATCH MAKES AN OFFER WETTERLING MAY REFUSE
Hatch asks Wetterling to join ticket
She said she is considering his offer of the lieutenant governor candidacy but is also looking at some other options.
Attorney General Mike Hatch said Tuesday that he has invited child safety advocate Patty Wetterling to run for lieutenant governor on his gubernatorial ticket, saying she'd bring "a great reservoir of support" to the campaign.
Wetterling said Tuesday that she is seriously considering Hatch's offer, but that she is also weighing other options and hopes to reach a decision within the next couple of weeks.
She withdrew from the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Friday and endorsed Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. Hatch and Wetterling met recently to discuss her political future.
"If she is interested, I'd love to have her on the ticket," Hatch said.
Wetterling became well known after the abduction of her son, Jacob, in 1989, and is regarded as a liberal within the DFL Party. Having her on the Hatch ticket would be an asset for him at the nominating convention "with the more true-blue liberal activists who attend," said Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.
"In the general election, there are very few lieutenant governor candidates who have high name identification and overwhelmingly positive name identification," Schier said. "She's in a very rare category, so I can see why he is so interested."
Wetterling said she has known Hatch for years and talked with him about running for lieutenant governor.
"He did clearly state that that was an option," Wetterling said. "He's interested ... but he's not pushing me to do one thing or another."
Joining Hatch would hurt Wetterling's image among some of her most loyal supporters, said Mark Drake, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Minnesota.
"It would probably disillusion a lot of her supporters who are liberal idealists," Drake said.
Tension over 6th District
Wetterling said Tuesday that she hasn't ruled out running for secretary of state or making another bid for the Sixth District congressional seat. She got about 46 percent of the vote against Republican Mark Kennedy in 2004 in that predominantly GOP district.
But former Blaine Mayor Elwyn Tinklenberg reiterated Tuesday that Wetterling had given him her word, and reaffirmed it over many months, that she would not get into the Sixth District race. Tinklenberg, who is also a former state transportation commissioner, is the only Democrat seeking the seat, which will be an open one because the incumbent, Kennedy, is running for the Senate. Four Republicans, State Sen. Michele Bachmann, State Reps. Phil Krinkie and Jim Knoblach, and businessman Jay Esmay, are competing for the Republican endorsement.
In an interview, Tinklenberg said he supported Wetterling in 2004 and would have deferred to her if she had run again.
Before entering the race last spring, he spoke to her. "She said she was not running; she encouraged us to get in the race. On the basis of that, my wife and I and all of our family have changed our lives dramatically, to move ahead aggressively in what we believe is a worthwhile effort, and it was all based on her commitment to me that she does not intend to run in the Sixth."
Ciresi to reveal plans
In another election development, wealthy trial attorney Mike Ciresi, who for months has stayed mum about his political future, said Tuesday that he'll announce next week if he'll be a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
He ran for the seat six years ago, and should he run again, it could slow the momentum of the frontrunner, Klobuchar. Veterinarian Ford Bell is also in the race, but Klobuchar holds a wide lead in fundraising and support of prominent DFLers. Source: Star Tribune, Janaury 25, 2006
She said she is considering his offer of the lieutenant governor candidacy but is also looking at some other options.
Attorney General Mike Hatch said Tuesday that he has invited child safety advocate Patty Wetterling to run for lieutenant governor on his gubernatorial ticket, saying she'd bring "a great reservoir of support" to the campaign.
Wetterling said Tuesday that she is seriously considering Hatch's offer, but that she is also weighing other options and hopes to reach a decision within the next couple of weeks.
She withdrew from the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Friday and endorsed Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. Hatch and Wetterling met recently to discuss her political future.
"If she is interested, I'd love to have her on the ticket," Hatch said.
Wetterling became well known after the abduction of her son, Jacob, in 1989, and is regarded as a liberal within the DFL Party. Having her on the Hatch ticket would be an asset for him at the nominating convention "with the more true-blue liberal activists who attend," said Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.
"In the general election, there are very few lieutenant governor candidates who have high name identification and overwhelmingly positive name identification," Schier said. "She's in a very rare category, so I can see why he is so interested."
Wetterling said she has known Hatch for years and talked with him about running for lieutenant governor.
"He did clearly state that that was an option," Wetterling said. "He's interested ... but he's not pushing me to do one thing or another."
Joining Hatch would hurt Wetterling's image among some of her most loyal supporters, said Mark Drake, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Minnesota.
"It would probably disillusion a lot of her supporters who are liberal idealists," Drake said.
Tension over 6th District
Wetterling said Tuesday that she hasn't ruled out running for secretary of state or making another bid for the Sixth District congressional seat. She got about 46 percent of the vote against Republican Mark Kennedy in 2004 in that predominantly GOP district.
But former Blaine Mayor Elwyn Tinklenberg reiterated Tuesday that Wetterling had given him her word, and reaffirmed it over many months, that she would not get into the Sixth District race. Tinklenberg, who is also a former state transportation commissioner, is the only Democrat seeking the seat, which will be an open one because the incumbent, Kennedy, is running for the Senate. Four Republicans, State Sen. Michele Bachmann, State Reps. Phil Krinkie and Jim Knoblach, and businessman Jay Esmay, are competing for the Republican endorsement.
In an interview, Tinklenberg said he supported Wetterling in 2004 and would have deferred to her if she had run again.
Before entering the race last spring, he spoke to her. "She said she was not running; she encouraged us to get in the race. On the basis of that, my wife and I and all of our family have changed our lives dramatically, to move ahead aggressively in what we believe is a worthwhile effort, and it was all based on her commitment to me that she does not intend to run in the Sixth."
Ciresi to reveal plans
In another election development, wealthy trial attorney Mike Ciresi, who for months has stayed mum about his political future, said Tuesday that he'll announce next week if he'll be a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
He ran for the seat six years ago, and should he run again, it could slow the momentum of the frontrunner, Klobuchar. Veterinarian Ford Bell is also in the race, but Klobuchar holds a wide lead in fundraising and support of prominent DFLers. Source: Star Tribune, Janaury 25, 2006
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