Many rooting for Walz in his new job

11/15/2006

He’s carved a path from the classroom and Army barracks to the halls of Congress.

Bob Von Sternberg,
Star Tribune
Last update: November 14, 2006 – 10:54 PM

WABASHA, MINN.—Late last week, at one stop on a 10-city victory lap of the First Congressional District, one of Tim Walz’s triumphant supporters handed him a cartoon of a winged pig.

“That’s me, she told me,” he said with a giggle, “Yep, I get to Congress when pigs fly.”

Not that long ago, the prospect that Walz, 42, could knock off a well-funded, six-term Republican incumbent in a district that had sent only one other Democrat to Congress since 1900 indeed seemed about as likely as the day pigs take wing.

But now that Walz has defeated Rep. Gil Gutknecht, the circumstances of Walz’s victory and his résumé could raise his profile above that of a typical congressional freshman. Walz was one of 28 Democrats who beat a Republican incumbent—in this case someone untarnished by the GOP ethical woes.

And he spent 24 years in the National Guard, rising to the rank of sergeant major.

“Those things will give him a little star power among his colleagues,” said former Republican Rep. Vin Weber. “He should have more prominence than a lot of freshmen.”

‘The only true moderate’

And, says former Rep. Tim Penny, who once held the seat as a Democrat, Walz could eventually emerge as a force in the delegation alongside the better known but more polarizing newcomers Keith Ellison and Michele Bachmann.

“Of the three, Walz is the only true moderate and will be more interesting to watch because he’s not as partisan,” Penny said. “There’ll be no surprise with what Bachmann says because she’s a down-the- line conservative. And there’s no surprise about Keith Ellison, because he’ll be among the most liberal and outspoken members there. Walz is a different kind of Democrat.”

Walz pulled off his win, observers say, by combining tireless marathon campaigning, a set of issues that resonated among voters, an opponent’s failure to take him seriously and an appealing “everyman” persona.

“Walz has never made a big thing out of his service, but it gives him broader perspective and credibility on national security,” Penny said. For his part, Walz prefers the labels “moderate,"pragmatic" and “centrist” and is fully aware of his potential built-in advantages.

“Folks in the party have been calling me, telling me they see some movers out there, and that I could be one of them,” he said.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean singled out Walz by name last weekend as one of the party’s “strong Democratic veterans.”

Walz’s victory “was surprising because Gutknecht had been there 12 years and easily survived other challengers,” said Kathryn Pearson, a political science professor from the University of Minnesota who specializes in Congress.

Democratic trend

In retrospect, Weber said he was less surprised, explaining that the eastern parts of the district around Rochester have been trending Democratic for a few elections. The western portion, he said, is conservative but populist, which makes them “love to kick whoever is in. ... It wasn’t a reliable bedrock district for Gil.”

Penny, who informally advised Walz, said, “There was something special about this guy. When I first met him, I didn’t want to be impressed. But when you meet him, you like him. He’s an aw-shucks guy who doesn’t think in sound bites, and that just adds to his appeal.”

That was abundantly evident last week as Walz met and thanked hundreds of his supporters across the district, which spans the southern tier of the state.

They reeled off issues they want him to tackle in Washington. Among them: the war, education, ethics reform and health care financing. But more often than not, they said they’re heartened by the kind of person he is.

“I just want him to be the sergeant major he already is, a representative who’s not going to be part of the party machine,” Ken Williams said as he waited for the Walz bus to arrive in Rochester. “Lots of these guys get overwhelmed by the power of the establishment, but Tim won’t.”

Earlier, in Wabasha, Catherine Speer talked about the candidate she met two years ago and how “I’ve watched this man grow and expand as he went along. It’s not just issues—it’s his values that reflect the people of this district.”

Walz bounded off his red, white and blue tour bus and bear-hugged Speer, who ran his campaign in Wabasha County. “You did it!” she shrieked.

“No, we did it,” Walz replied, a mantra he constantly repeated across the district from election night on.

Modestly ambitious

For his part, Walz is approaching his new job with a combination of modesty and ambition. He’s hoping for a seat on the committees for agriculture (reflecting the importance of farming to his district), education (as befits his background as a teacher) and veterans affairs (ditto for his military background).

At the same time, he’s considering a run for president of the House freshman class. “He’s already stood out with the way he managed to win,” Pearson said. “He’d make a lot of sense as class president because he really represents the new blood in Congress.”

Walz said he has no intention of wallowing in red-meat partisan politics. “I don’t want to see us do what the Republicans did in ‘94,” he said. “It’s that kind of lockstep rigidness that got us into this mess.”

His career as a high school geography teacher is on hold, as he has taken a five-year leave from the Mankato School District. During an orientation session earlier this week, freshmen members of Congress were told they were probably taking a pay cut; Walz joked that his congressional salary of $165,200 will be four times bigger than he has ever made as a teacher.

His wife, Gwen, will stay home in Mankato with their 5-year-old daughter, Hope, and son, Gus, who was born less than a month before the election.

“I’ll probably sleep on a couch in my office for a while, but I’ll be home on the weekends to change his diapers,” Walz said.