My Mayor
When the likes of Nick Coleman and Lori Sturdevant bemoan the rise of the right in Minnesota, they frequently put their complaints in the context of complaining that in the blessed past, Minnesotans could put aside their differences for the common good.
So now that a Democrat put aside his partisan quarrel with the GOP for the common good, what do you suppose the mainstream of the DFL will say?
Randy Kelly endorsed George W. Bush yesterday. Rarely have I been happier with a local politician.
Kelly, a DFLer, replaced Norm Coleman as mayor of Saint Paul back in 2001.
St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election.
"George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies."
Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is going in the right direction. "There's no reason to believe a change of course will produce better or quicker results," he said.
And the mayor said the United States will bring the troops home from Iraq a lot sooner if "we don't try to bring in a whole new leadership team to run the show. We must stay the course."
That is an amazing bit of commonsense from any politician, much less a Minnesota DFLer.
But Kelly is no normal DFLer; he's from the Eastside wing of the St. Paul DFL - pro-union social conservatives whom a DFLer friend of mine once jokingly called "the pro-assault-rifle, pro-choice wing of the DFL", a jibe at the crypto-maoist tentencies of the city DFL's mainstream.
Governor Pawlenty and Senator Coleman praised Kelly. Predictably, the St. Paul DFL did not:
St. Paul DFL Party said Kelly "has traded the values of St. Paul for the agenda of the Republican Party's far right."
"Rather than advocating the needs of St. Paul, Mayor Kelly's decision to not support John Kerry's strategy for building our cities does the voters of St. Paul a disservice," the party said.
Well, no - it does the St. Paul DFL a disservice. But I'm not sure Kelly's worried about that.
He certainly has my support.
Posted by Mitch at
August 2, 2004 04:48 AM
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Unsurprising, though it probably kills Kelly's chances for reelection. Bill Finney's going to be a tough challenger, and let's face it, St. Paul is a DFL city. Kelly could claim DFL cred in '01 (he sought the DFL endorsement, was a DFL senator, and so forth). But even though he remains a nominal Democrat, this endorsement pretty much shreds his credibility with the unions.
Don't get me wrong--I'd vote for Kelly regardless of this endorsement (if I was still a St. Paul resident). Hell, I worked on his campaign in '01, and he's a much better mayor than Jay Benanav could dream of being. (And he openened Ayd Mill, which angers a certain brand of liberal who always has annoyed me. That alone is worth reelection).
But this endorsement will make his job harder. I don't blame him for it--this is a free country, and while I think he's wrong, he gets to endorse whomever he wants to. But I think this does effectively end his chances at reelection.
We'll see in '05, I guess.
Posted by: Jeff Fecke at August 2, 2004 12:37 AMYou always have to applaud when a politician puts principle over re-election.
Did you mean to say "pro-assault rifle, pro-choice wing"?
Posted by: rick at August 2, 2004 08:01 AMHonestly, I'm shocked. He probably just earned my vote even though I like Finney and think Randy is one goofy fellow (a case could be made for getting rid of him based on those awful golf commercials alone).
Posted by: paddy at August 2, 2004 09:42 AMI wouldn't be so quick to write Kelly off. The DFL endorsement has been the kiss of death for Mayoral candidates (as well as many other State seats) for years.
And don't forget that Kelly is an eastsider, which, if it exists in the wild at all, is the stronghold of the remaining traditional "blue-collar" Dems.
They are not aboard the gay rights train and as a former eastsider myself I can tell you that no one loves their smokey neighborhood beer joints smokier than an eastsider.
Finally, he has secured the votes of every Republican in St. Paul (me and my wife) who probably left the mayoral box blank last time.
Posted by: swiftee at August 2, 2004 01:44 PM