I've stopped listening to and watching Ed Schultz in recent months because of his "my way is the only way" stance on the Health Care Debate. My plan was to give it about a year, and see calm the waters were before wading back in.
But now this matter of Sen. Byron Dorgan's (D-ND) retirement has come up, an since Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) isn't going to run, Ed's name has come up as a possible candidate for the Senate Seat.
And I think he's seriously considering it.
Here's the deal. Byron Dorgan was a bit of an odd political duck. He was a Liberal Senator, from a blood red state, that routinely whupped his opposition by 30-60 points an election. Now that Dorgan is retiring (and don't be surprised if he's not the first name on the list for any cabinet vacancies in the Obama Administration) the current and popular Republican governor of North Dakota, John Hoeven, would look to be a shoo-in. So Ed has got to know that he might be the only shot the Democrats have at holding the seat...short of Dorgan changing his mind.
Now, Ed's got a fairly popular MSNBC Show...even though I've deleted it from my DVR. It's taken him a long time to get where he is. To give the Ed Show up (which he'll have to do) in order to run for a seat he might not win has got to be weighing on him. But I also know for a fact that he loathes Hoeven, in much the same way Al Franken despised Norm Coleman. Ed might want to stay in TV, but I know he'd love to take a shot at Hoeven. It's almost more important to him than holding the seat.
So, the long and the short of it is, I don't know what he's going to do. Ed is couching his language veeeerrry carefully. He's not ruling it in...but he's sure as hell not ruling it out. If you asked me for a prediction, I think he might do it.
I must warn you that my predictions are worthless at this stage. I thought Ken Salazar was going to run for Governor of Colorado, and ten seconds after I had that thought...this appeared.
Also, Dad reminded me this morning, if nothing else, Ed's running might demonstrate to show progressives that their way does not always command 50%.
We'll see. More on this as it comes.
