Star Trib: State's Senate candidates: Big names, little experience

The Star Tribune had an article on Tuesday about the current DFL'ers running for the DFL nomination to go against Norm Coleman in our 2008 US Senate race. The article mentions three of the men running for the nomination, Al Franken, Mike Ciresi, and Peter Agre and talks about their extensive resumes and their experiences yet points out not a single one of them has ever served a day in political office and only one, Ciresi, has ever even run before.

That is a valid point and yes, it worries me as it worries the Minnesotans who want to see Coleman gone. But the list of US Senators from Minnesota who have never served in political office is as follows, Paul Wellstone, Rudy Boschwitz, Mondoale was appointed Attorny General so he wasnt a running candidate and I won't bother going past 1950's. While I would love to have someone with some political experience running, I feel that having political experience, while being a great asset, is not a deal breaker.

I am a bit dissapointed that the article doesn't mention Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. The Star Tribune is giving more publicity to Peter Agre, a guy who doesn't even officially live in Minnesota again yet and then there is JNP, a guy who has lived here all his life and has done a lot for the progressive community in Minneapolis. He has been all over the world working with the poor and disadvantaged, has written 13 books and novels, and is an Associate Professor at the University of St. Thomas in the Justice and Peace Studies Department and they don't include him in the list of DFL'ers with immense amounts of experiene but none of it being as an elected official? JNP got cheated.

The article can be found here, http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1255558.html