RYBAK FOR U.S. SENATE?
Due to all of the political excitement from last week, I missed this article on Rybak.
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Politicos handicap Rybak for Senate run
Mayor leaves door ajar to Coleman challenge in 2008
He's smooth, feisty and one of the strongest vote-getters in Minneapolis since the city's first mayoral race in 1867, so political black belts are pondering whether DFL Mayor R.T. Rybak will take on Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008.
A Minneapolis mayor versus a former St. Paul mayor. Political savants think the race would have a nice ring to it.
Rybak says he intends to finish his new four-year mayoral term, precluding a run at Coleman, but allows that ardent supporters could push him to change his mind. That hint caused election watchers to praise his chances.
"I think he would be a strong candidate for the nomination — a front-runner, if not the front-runner,'' said Steven Schier, a Carleton College political scientist.
"Success breeds success,'' said Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "He's kind of a natural.''
To be sure, there will be others who'll attempt to dethrone Coleman, a Republican who won his seat in 2002. They're led most notably by author and talk-show host Al Franken, a
Minnesota native who recently took up residence here for a possible Senate bid.
Other potential DFL Party contenders, Schier and Jacobs said, might include 4th District U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson and Minneapolis attorney Mike Ciresi.
The pool also could comprise Attorney General Mike Hatch, if his gubernatorial bid fails this year, and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, if her try this year for Minnesota's other U.S. Senate seat falls short.
So why Rybak?
For one thing, he surprised many experts with his huge margin of victory — 61 percent to 37 percent — in last fall's mayoral race against fellow DFLer Peter McLaughlin, a well-known Hennepin County commissioner. For another, Rybak doesn't sound like traditional DFL candidates, making him appealing to the politically unaligned.
"He took a tough line on spending and took on some of the unions — not the usual DFL approach,'' Jacobs said. "It cost him politically but won him admiration from some of the independent voters. R.T. is a different DFLer, and that's what it takes to win.''
Coincidence? Rybak hired John Blackshaw to run his re-election campaign — the same Blackshaw who was a manager of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's first Senate campaign. He also hired as his new chief of staff Tina Smith, a DFL strategist who ran the 2002 U.S. Senate campaign of Walter Mondale and the 1998 gubernatorial campaign of Ted Mondale.
Coincidence? Rybak has spent quite a bit of time at civic gatherings in St. Paul recently, sometimes in conjunction with appearances by Mayor Chris Coleman. Could he be trying to expand his constituency?
Although Rybak diverges from the party mainstream sometimes, he shored up his Democratic credentials in 2002 by co-chairing the Howard Dean presidential campaign in Minnesota and then stumping for Sen. John Kerry when Dean dropped out of the race.
But a run against Coleman in 2008 would mean Rybak would need to campaign during his current mayoral term and then head to Washington a year before the term is over, should he win. He said he won't do that.
"I will absolutely finish my four-year term,'' Rybak said. "I may run for something when I'm done being mayor, but I was just re-elected to the job that I wanted all my life, and I want to make sure I do it well and finish the job.''
But would he consider a run against Coleman if backers pushed him to do it?
"It's possible,'' Rybak said, "but I'm not a traditional politician. I'm a person who loves being mayor of Minneapolis.''
Yet the mayor gave evidence Tuesday in a speech on education issues that he's thinking more than locally.
"As the world becomes flatter, as China and India educate far more engineers and other skilled workers, our ability to get this next generation ready for new careers becomes even more important,'' he told a crowd at Roosevelt High School.
It's an example of his growing involvement at the higher political realms, where he says he'll continue to battle for education, the environment and higher incomes for the poor.
It makes no sense for Rybak to say he's interested in the Senate at this point, of course, because that would diminish his effectiveness as mayor. But a bid closer to 2008 might not be
troublesome.
"I can't imagine a groundswell of hostility toward him he if he did that,'' Schier said.
Yet Rybak would not have easy sledding beyond the Twin Cities, DFL and GOP politicos agree. He is not well-known outside the metro area and bears the political burden of coming from the most liberal part of the state.
"I think it's going to be very easy to make the case that he's out of touch with the rest of the state, and he's pretty liberal,'' said Mark Drake, spokesman for the Republican Party.
Coleman, however, demonstrated that a Twin Cities mayor who is an energetic campaigner could draw well in the rest of the state. Rybak, recently dubbed America's fittest mayor by Men's Fitness magazine, shares the label of energetic.
"He's a fighter,'' Jacobs said. "He's not fainthearted.''
Erich Mische, Coleman's chief of staff, said it's too soon to comment on a possible Rybak bid.
But if Rybak happened to run and win, the victory would come exactly 60 years after a Minneapolis mayor jumped to the Senate. The mayor that time was Hubert Humphrey.
Source: Pioneer Press, February 3, 2006
##
Politicos handicap Rybak for Senate run
Mayor leaves door ajar to Coleman challenge in 2008
He's smooth, feisty and one of the strongest vote-getters in Minneapolis since the city's first mayoral race in 1867, so political black belts are pondering whether DFL Mayor R.T. Rybak will take on Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008.
A Minneapolis mayor versus a former St. Paul mayor. Political savants think the race would have a nice ring to it.
Rybak says he intends to finish his new four-year mayoral term, precluding a run at Coleman, but allows that ardent supporters could push him to change his mind. That hint caused election watchers to praise his chances.
"I think he would be a strong candidate for the nomination — a front-runner, if not the front-runner,'' said Steven Schier, a Carleton College political scientist.
"Success breeds success,'' said Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "He's kind of a natural.''
To be sure, there will be others who'll attempt to dethrone Coleman, a Republican who won his seat in 2002. They're led most notably by author and talk-show host Al Franken, a
Minnesota native who recently took up residence here for a possible Senate bid.
Other potential DFL Party contenders, Schier and Jacobs said, might include 4th District U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson and Minneapolis attorney Mike Ciresi.
The pool also could comprise Attorney General Mike Hatch, if his gubernatorial bid fails this year, and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, if her try this year for Minnesota's other U.S. Senate seat falls short.
So why Rybak?
For one thing, he surprised many experts with his huge margin of victory — 61 percent to 37 percent — in last fall's mayoral race against fellow DFLer Peter McLaughlin, a well-known Hennepin County commissioner. For another, Rybak doesn't sound like traditional DFL candidates, making him appealing to the politically unaligned.
"He took a tough line on spending and took on some of the unions — not the usual DFL approach,'' Jacobs said. "It cost him politically but won him admiration from some of the independent voters. R.T. is a different DFLer, and that's what it takes to win.''
Coincidence? Rybak hired John Blackshaw to run his re-election campaign — the same Blackshaw who was a manager of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's first Senate campaign. He also hired as his new chief of staff Tina Smith, a DFL strategist who ran the 2002 U.S. Senate campaign of Walter Mondale and the 1998 gubernatorial campaign of Ted Mondale.
Coincidence? Rybak has spent quite a bit of time at civic gatherings in St. Paul recently, sometimes in conjunction with appearances by Mayor Chris Coleman. Could he be trying to expand his constituency?
Although Rybak diverges from the party mainstream sometimes, he shored up his Democratic credentials in 2002 by co-chairing the Howard Dean presidential campaign in Minnesota and then stumping for Sen. John Kerry when Dean dropped out of the race.
But a run against Coleman in 2008 would mean Rybak would need to campaign during his current mayoral term and then head to Washington a year before the term is over, should he win. He said he won't do that.
"I will absolutely finish my four-year term,'' Rybak said. "I may run for something when I'm done being mayor, but I was just re-elected to the job that I wanted all my life, and I want to make sure I do it well and finish the job.''
But would he consider a run against Coleman if backers pushed him to do it?
"It's possible,'' Rybak said, "but I'm not a traditional politician. I'm a person who loves being mayor of Minneapolis.''
Yet the mayor gave evidence Tuesday in a speech on education issues that he's thinking more than locally.
"As the world becomes flatter, as China and India educate far more engineers and other skilled workers, our ability to get this next generation ready for new careers becomes even more important,'' he told a crowd at Roosevelt High School.
It's an example of his growing involvement at the higher political realms, where he says he'll continue to battle for education, the environment and higher incomes for the poor.
It makes no sense for Rybak to say he's interested in the Senate at this point, of course, because that would diminish his effectiveness as mayor. But a bid closer to 2008 might not be
troublesome.
"I can't imagine a groundswell of hostility toward him he if he did that,'' Schier said.
Yet Rybak would not have easy sledding beyond the Twin Cities, DFL and GOP politicos agree. He is not well-known outside the metro area and bears the political burden of coming from the most liberal part of the state.
"I think it's going to be very easy to make the case that he's out of touch with the rest of the state, and he's pretty liberal,'' said Mark Drake, spokesman for the Republican Party.
Coleman, however, demonstrated that a Twin Cities mayor who is an energetic campaigner could draw well in the rest of the state. Rybak, recently dubbed America's fittest mayor by Men's Fitness magazine, shares the label of energetic.
"He's a fighter,'' Jacobs said. "He's not fainthearted.''
Erich Mische, Coleman's chief of staff, said it's too soon to comment on a possible Rybak bid.
But if Rybak happened to run and win, the victory would come exactly 60 years after a Minneapolis mayor jumped to the Senate. The mayor that time was Hubert Humphrey.
Source: Pioneer Press, February 3, 2006
Tags: R.T. Rybak
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