Hatch lost to Pawlenty in a Democratic state in a year of opportunity, even as Klobuchar was trouncing Kennedy 58%-38%. Still, I would like to see Hatch run for the Senate in 2008 over Al Franken.
Me too. I think he's learned from his campaign mistakes, but I still have doubts. I'm debating over whether Rybak would be a better candidate (obviously either would be better than Franken).
The problems with Rybak:
-He endorsed Ellison in the primary. Both Hatch and Klobuchar played it smart by ignoring the MN-5 race and when asked by their opponents' campaigns if they supported Ellison, Hatch's campaign gave a response that that was completely irrelevant to the election, while Klobuchar simply didn't respond at all. I have little doubt Coleman will just hammer on with Ellison and blame Rybak for his problems.
-Crime is up in Minneapolis. Not really his fault, but he'll get blamed.
-He's in some controversy now with trying to sack his fire chief that he appointed. She's also a lesbian, leading many to claim he appointed her out of tokenism, and didn't take her incompetance into account.
Despite all that though, he's a great guy.
I also heard from a Minnesota friend that Minneapolisites don't stand a chance in statewide politics as Minneapolis has become Minnesota's Berkeley: "ground zero for left wing loonies" - at least according to non-Minneapolisites.
I'm rooting for Betty McCollum. She at least would neutralize Coleman's standing with St. Paul voters.
The anti-Minneapolis bias didn't stop Klobuchar from winning by a massive margin.
Poll
