Today we get the news that former Sen. Mark Dayton is going to run for governor in 2010. Well, that should strike terror into the hearts of Republicans.
Dayton is a nice, smart guy, but he is not a great politician. Just doesn't have the charisma and people skills that a successful politician needs, in my opinion. The candidacy of state Rep. Paul Thissen is one I'm watching.
I was dissapointed with Gov. Tim Pawlenty's State of the State speech last week. This speech was not expected to be heavy on details about his plans to deal with the nearly $5 billion state budget deficit, but what he did say left me troubled. For one thing, it's clear that he's likely to make massive cuts in state health programs, yet he barely gave health care issues a mention in the speech, aside from noting that costs are going up at an unsustainable rate. Well, he's been saying that for years. What's he going to do about it?
We don't know for sure, but based on his speech's suggestions for dealing with the deficit--tax cuts, tax breaks, tax credits--we can expect thousands and thousands of Minnesotans to be thrown out of their state health insurance plans.
I believe Pawlenty is sincere in his anti-tax philosophy. But we have had six years of his leadership, and we are deeper in the hole than ever. Maybe this tax cut, tax break, tax credit approach to governing isn't the answer. In a time of change, Pawlenty needs to remember his tradition of being a saavy, adaptable politician and shed some of these ideas that clearly aren't working.
On a related note, I heard a radio interview recently about the meltdown on Wall Street and the banking industry, and a Republican spokesman voiced concerns about calls to increase regulation, despite the evidence that the anti-regulation approach of the last eight years is a major part of what got us into this mess. But he was sticking to his guns.
"You don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg," he said.
That's the problem with Republicans. They can't tell gold from goose shit.
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