DFLers will find crowded ballot

07/26/2006

BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press

Democrats will likely have to wade through a multiple-choice test as they choose their attorney general candidate in September’s primary election.

All the high-profile DFL candidates — state Sen. Steve Kelley, former U.S. Rep. Bill Luther and state Solicitor General Lori Swanson — said Wednesday they plan to continue their campaigns for attorney general beyond today, the last day to get their names dropped from ballot consideration.

All three rushed to declare their candidacies Tuesday, the last day to do so, after the DFL-endorsed attorney general candidate, state Rep. Matt Entenza of St. Paul, dropped out of the race amid a swirl of controversy.

Democrats might not even have their Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s seal of approval to help them with their decision. Although the state central committee will meet in a few weeks to choose among the candidates, some in the party might move to just let the voters decide who will advance to the November general election.

The DFL attorney general primary ballot also may include the names of two lesser-known candidates.

St. Paul attorney Jennifer Mattson, an unsuccessful 1998 candidate for secretary of state, filed her candidacy Monday, before Entenza quit the race.

“I am not considering withdrawal,” Mattson said Wednesday. Like the other candidates now in the race, she said she has not received any pressure to remove her name from voters’ consideration.

Part-time Dakota County public defender Patrick Cotter joined the race Tuesday and wasn’t sure Wednesday whether he would withdraw today.

The candidates have all begun preparing for the statewide race.

“Now, that I’m in, I’m in,” said Swanson, of Eagan, who has long been encouraged by Attorney General Mike Hatch to run for the office. She said she spent Wednesday talking to supporters, raising money and starting a Web site. “It has kind of been a whirlwind.”

Luther, who was nicknamed “Dollar Bill” during his congressional days for his prodigious fundraising ability, said he, too, has been getting his campaign going. He said it “will not be a problem” to gather the $400,000 or so that public subsidies limit attorney general candidates to spend on their campaigns.

Luther, an Eden Prairie resident whom Hatch also encouraged to run for attorney general, said he hoped to talk to the other DFL candidates soon but added he is “sure not planning to” withdraw his own name from consideration.

Hatch said he is not going to involve himself with the race anymore.

“Have at it. I’m running for governor,” he said in an interview.

Kelley, who ran for the DFL endorsement for governor and dropped out when Hatch won the party’s nod, said he gave up his chance to keep his Hopkins-based Senate seat in order to run for attorney general. That’s something he hopes will not be lost on members of the DFL Central Committee when they meet, likely Aug.12.

“I am confident I can get the endorsement of the state central committee,” said Kelley, who was seen as graceful in defeat at the party’s endorsing convention last month.

That’s a confidence that’s well-placed, according to Rick Stafford, Democratic National Committee member.

“My sense is that Kelley would get the party’s endorsement pretty much on a walk,” Stafford said.

But Kelley might not have that opportunity.

Both Stafford and DFL state Chairman Brian Melendez said some committee members might move to simply let Democratic voters decide how to winnow the list of candidates. The primary is set for Sept. 12.

That’s something Hatch favors.

“I think it’s important for these candidates to be vetted, not by 600 people at a central committee but to go out to the debates,” Hatch said. “I think it’s a bad form to be forcing these people to be sitting on phones for the next three weeks calling delegates. I think they should be out … going through that give-and-take that’s part of the process.”

Labor and other groups may similarly decide to pass on endorsing DFL candidates before the primary.

Meanwhile, the candidates might have their first opportunity to size each other up today.

Swanson, Kelley and state Rep. Jeff Johnson of Plymouth, the Republican-endorsed candidate for attorney general, will appear together this afternoon at a health law conference sponsored by the Gray Plant Mooty law firm of Minneapolis. Luther said late Wednesday he hadn’t decided whether he will attend.