Point-Counterpoint: Mike Ciresi for U.S. Senate?

Editor’s Note: As a continuation of our 2008 Candidate Series, Joe Bodell and Robin Marty will continue debating the strengths and weaknesses of potential challengers to Senator Norm Coleman.  These posts should not be seen of an endorsement of any candidate.  Our previous counterpoints can be found here and here.

Marty: Mike Ciresi is a difficult candidate for me to get my head around.  I know very little about him, not having been around for his glory days of bringing down Big Tobacco.  To me, Ciresi was the spectre looming over the Senate race last year, never quite in and never quite out.  My understanding is that he was intending to enter, but by the time he had made his decision too many donors were already vocally supporting Senator-elect Klobuchar, and so he never quite made it in.

Because of this whole “getting stuck behind the front runner” issue, I not only would expect Ciresi to run, but I would expect him to begin making motions in that direction soon after the first of the year, perhaps as early as the beginning of April.  It would serve two purposes: not only would he get running before the money people pick a candidate, but he would be running while the success of Klobuchar’s campaign was still in people’s mind.  After all, one Minneapolis liberal lawyer just clobbered the GOP candidate, why not send in another to do the same thing?

Ciresi has a good name, strong liberal background, an impressive network of people to donate and some funds to finance himself if he falls too far behind.  That’s a lot of good advantages tucked under his belt. Bodell:  I’m loathe to analyze potential candidates in light of other candidates, but that’s the situation we find ourselves in with a possible primary matchup of Franken vs. Ciresi.  Liberal entertainer vs. crusading trial lawyer – smell the GOP attack ads yet?

In my mind, Ciresi represents an old-school DFLer, and not in a good way.  His candidacy as an urban trial lawyer, while the laudable product of a great legal career, would depend on the old DFL turnout model – push the base in the 4th, 5th, and 8th CDs, and hope like hell people in the suburbs don’t turn out to vote.  Playing urban, rural, and suburban areas off against one another didn’t work for Mike Hatch, and I don’t think it would work for Ciresi. 

The other factor here is money – don’t be modest on Mr. Ciresi’s behalf, Robin, he has more than some funds to finance his own campaign.  I worry that another self-funding candidate doesn’t have much incentive to do the early groundwork necessary to build a true grassroots organization and message to unite the entire state of Minnesota.  Old fundraising (personal funds plus  big donors) can yield enough money to be competitive, but drawing financial support from the grassroots in smaller increments can help a candidate and his team build rabid support where it’s necessary – at the grassroots level.