Senator Ed Schultz? Not likely…
Politico’s Andy Barr and Michael Calderone write about Ed Schultz being asked to run for the North Dakota Senate seat Byron Dorgan is vacating…
North Dakota Democrats are actively pursuing liberal MSNBC talk show host Ed Schultz as a candidate to replace Sen. Byron Dorgan, who announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection.
State House Minority Leader Merle Boucher told POLITICO he made an official overture to Schultz late Tuesday night about launching a campaign and said he believes the TV commentator is “intrigued by the idea.”
“We have to find someone that has a high profile and a national fundraising base, and I can’t think of anyone better than Ed Schultz in that regard,” said Boucher. “He certainly didn’t say no to me by any means,” he added.
Schultz won’t run and Schultz won’t run because he knows he can’t win. This isn’t Minnesota where Norm Coleman’s numbers were soft to say the least and Al Franken was able to take advantage of the situation. This is an open seat and Schultz will have to compete against someone who doesn’t have the baked in problems Coleman had. Schultz’s past bomb throwing rhetoric – “the Republicans want to see you dead” for example – might play well with the base but will hurt him with everyone else.
ICN predicts a few months of Chris Matthews like cat and mouse from Schultz before he decides not to run…
January 6, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Spud, you’re right about Ed not running for Senate in North Dakota. There’s no way he can win so why run: even if would be a big help to ND Democrats.
But he might consider running for the now open Governor’s seat. He thought about running for Governor in 2004 but decided against it.
I think he will wait to see how that race shakes out and if Dorgan is interested in running for Governor.
I pretty sure MSNBC would not be too distressed to see him leave as his ratings are weak and (I assume) his contract is large & long.
January 6, 2010 at 2:02 pm
In my previous comment I suggested Ed Schultz might run for Governor. Unfortunately he doesn’t meet the 5 year residency requirement for state office. He can still run for Senator. Sorry for the error.
January 6, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Schultz can’t win unless the Dems have a ACORN like operation that can “find” ballots in the trunk of a car like they did for Franken.
January 6, 2010 at 2:40 pm
ICN predicts a few months of Chris Matthews like cat and mouse from Schultz before he decides not to run…
Yep.
Didn’t really work for Matthews, though. His ratings are shocking.
Matthews needs more white tribalists to watch his show. Oy.
January 6, 2010 at 2:54 pm
“Schultz can’t win unless the Dems have a ACORN like operation that can “find” ballots in the trunk of a car like they did for Franken.”
LOL. You guys crack me up!
January 6, 2010 at 4:13 pm
LOL. You guys crack me up!
You do know that really did happen don’t you?
January 7, 2010 at 9:03 am
If polling indicates Schultz has a better shot than anyone else at winning – I think he’ll run.
But I think the “final answer” will happen before the end of the month. There is money to be raised and campaigning to be done.
Though if no one else emerges in the next week or two, maybe Ed just uses his microphone to campaign until its fish or cut bait time.
I think his priorities would be 1) getting a Dem in that seat 2) boosting audience for his shows.
January 7, 2010 at 9:07 am
I think his priorities would be 1) getting a Dem in that seat 2) boosting audience for his shows.
Ed would not be allowed to remain as host on his shows if he announced himself a candidate for the senate seat.
January 7, 2010 at 9:50 am
This is MSNBC we’re talking about. When have the conventional conflict-of-interest rules applied?