The mystery endorsement

Posted at 8:41 PM on March 13, 2006 by Bob Collins

The Hill is reporting on a overzealous press release from the Kennedy campaign.

Minnesota The Senate campaign of Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) recently sent out a release questioning why his likely Democratic opponent this fall, Amy Klobuchar, has not touted the endorsement of retiring Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.).

Dayton’s office has a simple explanation: The senator has not officially backed Klobuchar. However, Dayton has hinted that he will eventually endorse the Democratic front-runner to claim his seat.

Heidi Frederickson, press secretary for Kennedy’s campaign, said she received the information from a Minneapolis Star Tribune article. However, the article doesn’t explicitly say that Klobuchar was endorsed.

Officials from Klobuchar’s office were not available for comment.

“Ms. Klobuchar has been silent about lots of issues during this campaign. I suppose Minnesotans shouldn’t be surprised she isn’t talking about Senator Dayton’s endorsement either,” said Frederickson in the release.

— Jessica Alaimo

Apparently the Strib article said Dayton had given his "blessing." His blessing? For what? To run for his Senate. Did she need it?
Check the campaign contributors. He's playing it coy.

His donations in this cycle:

$25,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
$2,100 to Tim Walz
$2,100 to Robert Byrd
$1,000 to Elwyn Tinklenberg
$1,000 to James Oberstar

A fair amount of Dayton money -- but not Mark's -- has been split between Ford Bell and Amy Klobuchar.

So what's Dayton waiting for? The state convention, probably. Or maybe until the job approval numbers come up.

An endorsement? It's in the bottom right-hand corner.

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