Pre-Vacation Grab Bag

Pre-Vacation Grab Bag

Several items today as I pack:

Off for yet another vacation to Wisconsin. I'm the only son home for Thanksgiving so I get all of Mom's "You've lost so much weight! Have a turkey sandwich" attention. This will have to be fought off with Dad's exercise bike. Fortunately the folks are wired these days so you my gentle readers will get updates. Whatever that's worth.

The soundtrack to the drive north will likely be the new U2 which, in keeping with a long tradition (do the words Unforgettable Fire mean anything to you?) I picked up on release day yesterday. The weird part was I actually BOUGHT it and didn't BURN it. I may be inspired to a full review later...

Looks like I got linked to a REAL blog, From The Roots, run by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. That puts the pressure on to write some actual content. Hence:

Sally Pederson is NOT going to run for governor, it says here. I'll be honest. I've never been a big Pederson fan. She's tried to make up for it, but it always bugged me that she was donating to Republican campaigns six months before Vilsack nominated her for Lieutenant Governor. It was a symbol of her thin party credentials. (A lot like Ann Hutchinson switching parties in 2002 to run against Jim Nussle. It hurt her credibility, caused hard feeling among the Party hacks who were with Dave Nagle in the primary, and she would up losing her mayoral re-election in 2003.)

Pederson did some great disability work before, and she's tried to build a base in the party. A role for her was a good thing but heir apparant was a poor fit. Of course, I'm a capital P Party hack, and my perspective is much more party-as-an-organization based that normal people.

My gut instinct is that this, combined with Vilsack bowing out of the DNC chair race, means that sometime late in 2005 the governor will feel a draft and opt for a third term. Barring that, Chet Culver looks like the frontrunner at the moment - but he's got a bit of a gravitas gap that needs closing. Ed Fallon has been up and running for at least a year but that's hard to envision.

With the election of appointee Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, Iowa and Mississippi (Mississippi? EEK!) are I believe the only two states that have never elected a woman either to Congress or as governor. And Iowa is the ONLY state that has elected only white males to these jobs. I still don't think Sally Pederson was the right woman, but this is a big problem and potentially a big opportunity for someone.