Mark Dayton Should Drop out of MN DFL Gubernatorial Race for the Good of the DFL Party

Mark Dayton

Mark Dayton said in 2006 that he was not the best candidate to lead the DFL party to victory in the Senate race. So why does he think he is now? Nothing has changed between then and now. He still carries the same baggage.

As far as his candidacy, Mark Dayton’s problem is that he is his own worst enemy, and because of that, the Republicans have a 7-inch file of things they will use against him in November. It’s called baggage. Dayton has a lot of it. While I like him very much as a person, and I was going to vote for him for that reason, I always knew that he’s not the best candidate to lead the DFL party to victory. He can win the Primary because of his high name recognition all over the state. Many voters only vote for a name they recognize. However, if he is the DFL candidate in November, he will lose. He has a history of not using good judgement in the things he says. He’s got the closing of his Senate office due to a terroristic threat going against him. I agree with his decision to close it, but that was the reason why his popularity dropped so much and he decided not to run for reelection for the Senate.

Time Magazine said he was one of the 5 worst Senators. He can’t get away from that stigma. He gave himself an F as Senator, and he can’t get away from that either. Most DFLers would vote for him if he was the DFL candidate on the ticket in November. However, there is no way he would be able to get the Independent Party vote or the vote of the independent and swing voters. Most of this stuff isn’t his fault, but his bad press goes everywhere, and the Republicans will use it all against him. The thing is, none of it is lies. It all actually happened. He doesn’t use good judgement when he talks to the press. Also, he shouldn’t have been so open to his constituents in all his Christmas letters every year where he talked about his two divorces and his struggle with depression and alcoholism.

Most active DFLers know that Mark Dayton will not be a good candidate for the DFL ticket in November because he has very little chance of winning.

Mark is a great person on a personal level. I don’t want anything to disparge his character, which is of very high quality. But he won’t win the November election.

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