Much Ado - The Democrats

Much Ado - The Democrats are playing Rebecca Otto's victory like VE Day.

"What we saw last night was a political earthquake," said House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, evoking the memory of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone and the sweeping DFL defeats last November.

Accompanied by Tuesday's victorious candidate, Rebecca Otto, and smiling colleagues, Entenza argued that Minnesotans now are not only engaged with the mammoth state government budget deficit, but also are fearful of Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's resolve to balance it with cuts only and no tax increases.

I think this is good news in disguise for Republicans.

Think about it - Otto won (with 22 percent turnout, no less) in a suburban, "soccer-mom"-heavy district where the GOP is deeply split between conservatives and RINOs. It was dicey for the GOP going into the special election.

Otto, aided by a wad of out-of-district DFL money and a dirty campaign, won. We know this.

But I think it shows how far the DFL needs to go to find something it can spin as good news. The only other material it has - budget cuts, unallotment, Auditor Awada's cutting of aid to local governments - is negative, and (it has to know) transient; a good economic upturn and it will all be forgotten, as the deficit most likely will be by 2006. Otto's victory is the only bit of positive news the DFL has to lean on - and the DFL has to be nervous about that.

My prediction; by 2006, Tim Pawlenty will be able to brag about the turnaround on his watch. Minnesotans will be better off; it'll be nearly unavoidable, the recession will be over no matter who is in office.

My predictions are notoriously inaccurate. But I have a good feeling about this one.

By the way - the other special election, to replace Dan MacElroy in Burnsville, went almost un-covered by the local media. Duke Powell - a long-time friend of Shot in the Dark - won. Congrats, Duke!

Posted by Mitch at February 13, 2003 10:34 AM