What's up in Rochester?

Posted at 12:44 PM on January 9, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I mentioned last week that there was a danger in Kelly Doran choosing now to announce his running mate, especially in the context of Mike Hatch and Tim Pawlenty rolling out a bunch of issues last week. But they got only a little traction (so far) with their announcements and here it is Monday, a relatively slow news day and Kelly Doran, who the average voter may never have heard of, is getting a fair degree of lead-story treatment for selecting a running mate, who they also may not have heard of.

Just chatting with some of the political gurus here (Mike Mulcahy, for one), Doran's choice seems to indicate he'll be forgoing the honoring of the state party endorsement and head for the September primary.

That also eliminates any possibility that his running mate, Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, can hold onto her District 30 seat should Doran's bid fail. The primary, of course, falls well after the state's filing deadline.

DFLers have done pretty well picking up and holding Senate seats lately, but getting Rochester's seat will be difficult. In the three-way race in 2002, Kiscaden bested Republican Lynn Zaffke by just 3 percent of the vote. DFLer Rich Wright was 23 percent off the pace.

Potential Republican candidates for the seat? How about former Rep. Bill Kuisle, who lost a close race to Andi Welti in 30B? Or former Rep. Carla Nelson, who lost out to Tina Liebling for the 30A House seat in 2004?

This election will be a good indication of what's going on politically in Rochester, where DFLers made remarkable strides in 2004.

As for DFL candidates. Kim Norton, who almost knocked off Fran Bradley in District 29 in 2004, would be a possibility. But Bradley is retiring and that seat is already available without having to move.

Comments (1)

We would like to endorse our daughter, Carla Nelson, for MN State Representative in 06. She has always been a hard worker in all of her endeavors. She gratuated Val Victorian of her high school class and Cum Laude from college.
Integrity tops the list of her outstanding qualities. Carla Nelson assumes responsibility and follows through to complete a specific task. You find she is very compassionate and will represenent 30A as a caring and understanding person.
Norman and Deloris Huse, Indianola, IA

Posted by Deloris Huse | October 30, 2006 10:58 AM

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