Coleman exit creates awkward moment for Rybak

Chris Coleman waited only three hours or so after he decided against running for governor to publicly announce his move. Apparently that wasn’t enough time for the St. Paul mayor to soften an implied critique of his Minneapolis counterpart’s own guv bid.

Both big-city mayors put themselves in the awkward position of simultaneously running for re-election this year and (apparently) for governor next year. But Coleman’s rhetoric on departing the crowded field of DFL gubernatorial contenders didn’t seem couched for Rybak’s comfort.

At a hurriedly called press conference in his office yesterday, Coleman said:

As I explored a potential candidacy, I returned to two questions over and over: Is my work in St. Paul finished? And can I honestly ask the voters of St. Paul to re-elect me to another term, when the demands of running for (higher) office would keep me from fulfilling the duties of mayor? The answer to both those questions is no.

And in an interview with The UpTake, Coleman elaborated on that point:

I had as good of a shot as I was ever going to have to do that [run for governor], but I just made a commitment four years ago to the voters of St. Paul and I’m asking them to make a commitment to me again and felt that was more important at this point. … At the end of the day [candidates for governor] just got to run hard and they got to give it their all.  They got to give 110 percent to this thing because you can’t– It doesn’t do any good to do it 90 percent of the way. You got to do it 100 percent of the way.

Rybak hasn’t said for sure that he’ll run for governor. The closest he’s come was this: “I’m very likely to enter this race.”

Both mayors had RSVP’d for a gubernatorial debate in Duluth today, the first such event to be televised this election cycle. Now it appears only Rybak will make the trip north.

Here’s The UpTake’s interview with Coleman, in which the St. Paul mayor offers other advice to remaining DFL gubernatorial candidates: