Rybak mulls options for governor's race

Source: KARE 11

By John Croman

Minneapolis, MN -- There was never much suspense over the outcome of the mayoral election in this city Tuesday. The media focused on the new methodology -- ranked choice voting -- but when the polls opened there was no doubt voters would hand Mayor R.T. Rybak a third term.

He claimed 73 percent of the 45,000 votes cast, while 10 other candidates combined for the remaining share of the ballots. Even before the polls closed political journalists had already started to pepper Rybak with questions about his next move.

Will he run for governor? And how soon will he make it official? What does he make of his chances? Has he been running all along?

They were all questions he politely brushed aside out of respect for the campaign workers and supporters who had gathered at the Graves Hotel downtown to celebrate his re-election victory.

"One of the things we laid out a year ago is that I would be prepared to run for mayor and I would be prepared to run for Governor," Rybak told reporters, "And I've done all the preparations I should. And I'm in good shape on that."

Rybak said he would let the dust settle on the campaign that ended Tuesday night and get back to work on city issues in the short term.

"I'll be talking to people, and announcing my intentions in a couple of weeks."

For those who suggested Rybak risked his political capital by running for mayor while keeping his eyes on higher office, at least two political experts say it's not a factor in the Rybak equation.

"Many Minneapolis voters knew he was thinking about this," Larry Jacobs of the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs at the U of M told KARE, "He's been pretty open about his interest in running for governor, and my hunch is he probably won't be damaged too much."

Hamline University's Dave Schultz said Rybak's commanding margin of victory in the mayoral race should put to rest any notion that his core supporters harbored any ill will about his dual focus.

"The question will be if campaigning for governor keeps him from solving any big issues inside the city of Minneapolis, and becomes the type of distraction that affects his job performance."

For Rybak, or anyone who wants to enter the wide open race for Governor in 2010, there's a risk of waiting too long to make a move. The election time clock has been accelerated by the DFL party's decision to hold its endorsing convention in April instead of June.

A dozen Democrats are already actively campaigning or considering a run, for the seat that Governor Tim Pawlenty will vacate in January of 2011. Schultz said that's one of the reasons Rybak kept the door open during his run for mayor.

"By getting those feelers out earlier, perhaps what he does is send a signal to supporters and donors not to commit to somebody else, because he may enter the race."

Jacobs pointed out that Rybak, at least on the face of it, will be starting behind.

"After all, his main competitors have been at this for months," Jacobs said, "They've got statewide organizations, quite a bit of money in the bank, and they're well prepared for the Democratic party's endorsement process which begins shortly."

Some of Rybak's critics point out he criticized Governor Tim Pawlenty for campaigning for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign and traveling frequently to raise his own presidential profile. How is that different, they ask, from what Rybak will be doing on the state level.

But Schultz points out Rybak's complaints about Pawlenty are that his national aspirations have impaired his ability to solve the state's structural budget problems.

"Mayor Rybak isn't complaining about the governor running for President," Schultz explained, "He going after him for what he sees as dereliction of duty."

If Rybak were to run, and win, it would break a long dry spell for Twin Cities Democrats in the governor's office. The last one elected was Wendell Anderson, who won in 1970 and again in 1974.

Jacobs concedes metropolitan mayors traditionally haven't found it easy to attract support in the state's more rural areas, and there are already two Iron Range lawmakers in the field of candidates. But, on the other hand, the state's demographic shifts toward urban areas given the Twin Cities metro added weight in a statwide race.

"There's much greater concentration of voters in this region," Jacobs remarked, "If Mayor Rybak can lock down the core of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and the ring suburbs it will give him a tremendous advantage."