Sometimes it’s good to be “not hot”
Politics in Minnesota does their latest at a glance of the Minnesota 2010 governor’s race, with a hot or not snapshot of both parties.
Not hot, according to PIM? Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher. And, with such a flattering write-up, that may not be such a bad thing:
WHO’S NOT
DFL: Margaret Anderson Kelliher
A few months ago, there were many at the Capitol who thought Kelliher could claim the DFL endorsement without breaking a sweat. We’ve been a little shocked at the vehemence with which her role in the end-of-session dynamics at the Legislature this year has been condemned by people in and around the gubernatorial race. To hear some of them tell it, her failed tactical judgment–and her lack of composure when the unallotment bomb was first dropped–have damaged her not-yet-announced candidacy past repair.
As the lone candidate from DFL legislative leadership, she’s bound to take that heat. But we would argue that if Kelliher’s stock was artificially inflated before the end of the legislative session, it’s artificially depressed now. She’s still a leading endorsement contender for several reasons. Kelliher is one of the most visible, connected, and publicly liked people in the Legislature. As a farm girl who now represents one of the toniest districts in the Twin Cities, she sports a personal biography that straddles the town-and-country divide, and her style reflects that. As a woman who is very popular with female pols and organizations, she has built enormous goodwill and fundraising potential in advance of a race in which many Democrats want to see a woman running. (Susan Gaertner, the other DFL woman in the field, appears to have far less traction on this front.)
If this is the “not” I can’t wait to see what people write about her when she’s on the “hot” list.
