While I have been in court all morning at the Feeding Our Future Fraud trial, my phone has blown up with news that Minnesota Senator Tina Smith will not stand for reelection. I would be surprised if you have heard of her. She is a complete and utter nonentity appointed by then Governor Mark Dayton to fill the seat vacated by Al Franken.
Whatever happened to Baby Al? You may recall that Franken left his dream job at the insistence of Chuck Schumer so that Democrat Doug Jones would have a clear shot at Republican Roy Moore in the 2017 Alabama Senate special election. Franken was thought at the time to compromise the Democrats’ claim to stand for the protection of women. Those were the days, my friend.
Since Smith announced her withdrawal this morning, both Governor Tim Walz and “light-skineed Native woman” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagn have reportedly expressed interest in the seat. That is a catfight in waiting. Now Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig have expressed interest as well. That takes the intraparty competition beyond the realm of a catfight into something more like a cage match.
My cousin Dean may look like the honest Democrats’ alternative before too long — assuming there is a constituency for honesty in the party. One thing Dean may have proved in his campaign against Joe Biden is that, if there is one, it is vanishingly small.
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