Doran livens up the race

Kelly Doran's selection of Sen. Sheila Kiscaden as his running mate is either political genius or a stumble of a first-time candidate.

Either way, it is the most interesting early move in an otherwise uneventful Minnesota governor's race.

Doran is a political novice who would get little attention if not for his deep pockets. He has a big staff for so early in the campaign, and is the only candidate to erect billboards and buy commercials in any quantity.

Doran began his campaign running for U.S. Senate, but said he decided he wanted to stay in Minnesota so switched to the governor's race. (He denies the fact that Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar appears to have the nomination locked up had anything to do with the switch.)

There is practically no chance June's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party convention will endorse Doran. He is too new and too moderate for the typical liberal delegate. So his only hope is to challenge the convention-endorsed candidate in the Sept. 12 primary.

The trouble for Doran is that primary voters also tend to be liberal, leaving him with the tough job of convincing people who usually would not vote in a primary to go to the polls. His advantage over others in his position is he has plenty of his own money to spend on the task.

That task may have been made more difficult when he picked Kiscaden. She also is a moderate, a former Independence Party member and a former Republican, not things that attract liberals.

If Doran has an uphill climb, so do other DFL candidates. Steve Kelley, the Hopkins senator whose legislative specialty is education, needs to catch on quickly. To have a chance, he needs to win state convention delegates, starting at the March 7 precinct caucuses that officially launch the endorsement process.

Kelley has not been very visible in public so far, opting to concentrate on winning party delegates.

Sen. Becky Lourey of Kerrick is the newest DFL candidate, but very familiar to party activists. She lost the party's endorsement four years ago, but won the hearts of many in the party's left-most wing.

Attorney General Mike Hatch has to be considered the DFL front-runner. However, he has made so many Democrats mad over the years that he cannot take the endorsement for granted.

Hatch has made several announcements in recent weeks, an obvious effort to increase his public presence.

A second campaign Hatch appears to be running is one to make him seem more personable. If he faces Gov. Tim Pawlenty, he needs not only to compete on the policy level, but he must appeal to the public like Pawlenty does so well.

The Independence Party promises its candidate, Peter Hutchinson, will come out from under wraps yet this month. But in a campaign season that started so early and is expected to cost so much, Hutchinson has not just a hill, but a mountain, to climb.

Pawlenty himself has not officially announced he is seeking re-election, although he has said he plans to run for a second term.

In a general election contest, a well-financed Doran-Kiscaden ticket could give Pawlenty a challenge. So could the well-known Hatch. On the other hand, Lourey or Kelley could so excite liberals that Democrats would turn out in greater numbers than usual.

Watching what happens in the DFL race will be an interesting political spectator sport the next few months.

Davis is The Forum's Capitol correspondent in St. Paul. He can be reached at ddavis@forumcomm.com