Mike Ciresi leaned back in his chair in campaign office, resting his
feet on the office desk in a casual gesture blue jeans and checked
shirt could only amplify.
Ciresi, locked in a U.S. Senate DFL endorsement contest with comedian Al Franken and University of St. Thomas educator Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, projected an aura of relaxed confidence.
This state of satisfied equilibrium is perhaps a prerequisite for any successful attorney, which Ciresi certainly is. by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Mike Ciresi leaned back in his chair in campaign office, resting his feet on the office desk in a casual gesture blue jeans and checked shirt could only amplify.
Ciresi, locked in a U.S. Senate DFL endorsement contest with comedian Al Franken and University of St. Thomas educator Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, projected an aura of relaxed confidence.
This state of satisfied equilibrium is perhaps a prerequisite for any successful attorney, which Ciresi certainly is.
Or perhaps it's a benefits of having the attitude, which Ciresi says he does, that as badly as he wants to become Minnesota's next U.S. Senator - serve the people - if things don't turn out, he'll just go on to other things.
Ciresi's loss to former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton in 2000 shows that's true.
Not that Ciresi sees himself as a candidate blending with the DFL field, discernible to delegates by the gentlest of shadings.
Quite the opposite.
"I'll stack my record up - I think there's a stark contrast," said Ciresi recently of Franken, Nelson-Pallmeyer, and for that matter, Republican U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.
"And I think that's what people are going to look at. That's why I am the best candidate," he said.
Although largely keeping his critique of his main DFL opponent Franken general in tone - Ciresi did opine he's quicker on his feet than the former SNL writer, actor, political satirist - Ciresi returns to his background, his fitness for office, in drawing distinctions..
Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't solve the 2003 state budget deficit, he reasons, Mike Ciresi did.
That's because he beat Big Tobacco, Ciresi explained about the celebrated legal triumph in the 1990s.
That's how that money got there for Pawlenty to grab, he opined - lawmakers dipped into the tobacco fund for about $1 billion to help balance the listing state budget, something that still infuriates Ciresi
"The tobacco case was called one of the most significant public health developments of the second half of the 20th Century by Surgeon General Koop," said Ciresi.
"He's (Koop) a Republican," he said.
"The record between me and the others - a stark contrast," said Ciresi.
Ciresi points to other wins for consumers, his deep ties to Minnesota, his stance on the issues as compelling evidence for endorsement and eventual victory.
"I'll beat Norm Coleman. And I'll beat him on the issues," said Ciresi.
But in pondering the DFL U.S. Senate race it's possible to suddenly find yourself thinking about the Democratic presidential endorsement battle.
Sen. Hillary Clinton arguably brought to that contest - a race by no means over - practical and political experience that Sen. Barack Obama simply could not match.
Early-on Clinton assumed a been-there, done-that persona that was boiled down to a single-word message - "Ready."
Obama, of course, turned out to be Barack Obama and assumptions began to fall apart.
Candidates and pundits view the presidential race as driven by a thirst in the electorate for change.
Clinton and Obama use the word almost with reverence as if the arrangement of six letters - c-h-a-n-g-e - were key to opening vistas of human comprehension and possibilities like an Einstein equation cracks open the universe.
It's heady stuff, whatever exactly it all means.
But will this amphoras spirit of change spill over into the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota?
Franken likes to portray himself as another suburban kid from Minnesota but suburban kids from Minnesota are not commonly found on late night talk shows.
When a celebrity materials out of the ether and stands in the living room at a house party in say, Isanti County, it's different.
Maybe it's even c-h-a-n-g-e.
This is not to disparage Franken's accomplishments - to disparage either candidate's - but to simply point out that Franken and Ciresi are dissimilar.
What DFL delegates make of it remains to be seen.
Ciresi isn't breaking into a sweat.
"Am I confident of who I am and what my message is, and the fact I'm a much better candidate than the other major player - absolutely," he said.
"I don't think there's any comparison," said Ciresi.
Ciresi, locked in a U.S. Senate DFL endorsement contest with comedian Al Franken and University of St. Thomas educator Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, projected an aura of relaxed confidence.
This state of satisfied equilibrium is perhaps a prerequisite for any successful attorney, which Ciresi certainly is. by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Mike Ciresi leaned back in his chair in campaign office, resting his feet on the office desk in a casual gesture blue jeans and checked shirt could only amplify.
Ciresi, locked in a U.S. Senate DFL endorsement contest with comedian Al Franken and University of St. Thomas educator Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, projected an aura of relaxed confidence.
This state of satisfied equilibrium is perhaps a prerequisite for any successful attorney, which Ciresi certainly is.
Or perhaps it's a benefits of having the attitude, which Ciresi says he does, that as badly as he wants to become Minnesota's next U.S. Senator - serve the people - if things don't turn out, he'll just go on to other things.
Ciresi's loss to former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton in 2000 shows that's true.
Not that Ciresi sees himself as a candidate blending with the DFL field, discernible to delegates by the gentlest of shadings.
Quite the opposite.
"I'll stack my record up - I think there's a stark contrast," said Ciresi recently of Franken, Nelson-Pallmeyer, and for that matter, Republican U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.
"And I think that's what people are going to look at. That's why I am the best candidate," he said.
Although largely keeping his critique of his main DFL opponent Franken general in tone - Ciresi did opine he's quicker on his feet than the former SNL writer, actor, political satirist - Ciresi returns to his background, his fitness for office, in drawing distinctions..
Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't solve the 2003 state budget deficit, he reasons, Mike Ciresi did.
That's because he beat Big Tobacco, Ciresi explained about the celebrated legal triumph in the 1990s.
That's how that money got there for Pawlenty to grab, he opined - lawmakers dipped into the tobacco fund for about $1 billion to help balance the listing state budget, something that still infuriates Ciresi
"The tobacco case was called one of the most significant public health developments of the second half of the 20th Century by Surgeon General Koop," said Ciresi.
"He's (Koop) a Republican," he said.
"The record between me and the others - a stark contrast," said Ciresi.
Ciresi points to other wins for consumers, his deep ties to Minnesota, his stance on the issues as compelling evidence for endorsement and eventual victory.
"I'll beat Norm Coleman. And I'll beat him on the issues," said Ciresi.
But in pondering the DFL U.S. Senate race it's possible to suddenly find yourself thinking about the Democratic presidential endorsement battle.
Sen. Hillary Clinton arguably brought to that contest - a race by no means over - practical and political experience that Sen. Barack Obama simply could not match.
Early-on Clinton assumed a been-there, done-that persona that was boiled down to a single-word message - "Ready."
Obama, of course, turned out to be Barack Obama and assumptions began to fall apart.
Candidates and pundits view the presidential race as driven by a thirst in the electorate for change.
Clinton and Obama use the word almost with reverence as if the arrangement of six letters - c-h-a-n-g-e - were key to opening vistas of human comprehension and possibilities like an Einstein equation cracks open the universe.
It's heady stuff, whatever exactly it all means.
But will this amphoras spirit of change spill over into the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota?
Franken likes to portray himself as another suburban kid from Minnesota but suburban kids from Minnesota are not commonly found on late night talk shows.
When a celebrity materials out of the ether and stands in the living room at a house party in say, Isanti County, it's different.
Maybe it's even c-h-a-n-g-e.
This is not to disparage Franken's accomplishments - to disparage either candidate's - but to simply point out that Franken and Ciresi are dissimilar.
What DFL delegates make of it remains to be seen.
Ciresi isn't breaking into a sweat.
"Am I confident of who I am and what my message is, and the fact I'm a much better candidate than the other major player - absolutely," he said.
"I don't think there's any comparison," said Ciresi.
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