Squib
By Mitch Berg
A month ago, Chris Coleman – mayor of Saint Paul – was on a roll. He was simultaneously running his 2009 mayoral campaign and a 2010 gubernatorial bid.
And then – he stopped. He abruptly ended his goober bid five days ago.
Why? In the horde of candidates stampeding for the bid at present, he’s certainly not the longest shot.
And yet he became the first to bail.
Why?
Because he’s nervous?
What happened to put a stop to all the DFL schmooze parties where Coleman and his gubernatorial competitors have been lining up to schmooze all the prospective DFL delegates and voters?Could it have anything to do with the fact that the one, lone candidate forum between Coleman and his opponent, Eva Ng, took place about 48 hours before on Tuesday October 6th- and that Eva Ng mopped the floor with Chris Coleman?
Answer after answer, Eva Ng answered with specifics; I will freeze property taxes at their current level and then I will cut them, I will set up business zones downtown to spur entrepreneurial growth, I will hold weekly ward meetings where citizens can speak with me as their mayor and their concerns WILL be addressed.
Chris Coleman’s answers?
Chris Coleman has been in politics long enough (Ward 2 City Councilman for 2 terms, ’97-’03) to know you NEVER have to answer the question which you’re asked, and in his case, maybe it’s better in a way that he didn’t. Then he would have had to talk about his property tax increases over the last 3 years in office- 9% in ’07, 15.1% in 08, 8.6% in ’09 and a proposed increase of 6% for ‘10, as well as fee increases. Oy!
I’m not going to say “he’s scared of losing”. But Ng, by all rational accounts, trussed Coleman up like a hog at the “Forum” (not a debate) and parted out the roast, ham and bacon. She didn’t beat him, she crushed, stomped and napalmed him.
And the DFL smear machine is out in force. And as Mike Huckabee said, in perhaps his greatest contribution to American politics, “when you’re taking flak, you’re over the target”.
Can Eva Ng win this thing? Maybe. If every single Republican in Saint Paul turns out. And if each of them convinces a not-so-political neighbor that Chris Coleman and an all-DFL City Council is a screeching disaster, and that the Saint Paul School board has been so derelict in its duties that it deserves to be perp-walked out of 360 Colborne under a hail of spitballs?
Why, yes. Yes, she can.
And I can’t think of a better reason that a DFL gubernatorial front-runner, or at least not-back-runner, would abruptly bail out on the race.
