True North

Based on DFL gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza's FB statement, it's safe to say that he thinks higher of himself than Minnesotans do. It's also accurate to say that he's proud of raising taxes in 2005:

Apparently I'm quite a burr under the governor's saddle. My guess is it goes back to 2005, when then-Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson and I helped force him to raise a tobacco tax in spite of his 'no new taxes' pledge. We saved health care for hard-working families who can't afford it and made sure our schools didn't endure further gut-wrenching cuts. We felt a little bad for the governor, so we allowed him to call the increase a 'fee,' but whatever you call it, it was the right thing to do for Minnesota.

Political veterans have seen candidates say alot of stupid things during campaigns. It's another thing to say that political veterans, like myself, have seen candidates commit unforced errors like Mr. Entenza did in that statement.

Admitting that you've teamed with Dean 'Shave-The-Truth' Johnson to force a highly regressive tax increase on taxpayers at a time when people think that it's more important to cut spending than to raise taxes isn't the brightest political strategy I've ever seen. Still, that's precisely what Mr. Entenza did.

The move makes sense from the standpoint that Mr. Entenza did something to prevent himself from becoming the DFL's forgotten man. Entenza has plenty of money to spend but he's been hurt by his dismal showing in last Tuesday's DFL Straw Poll:

Kelliher and Rybak have clearly emerged as favorites on the DFL side, but the field remains a bit more muddied. State Sen. John Marty led the second tier of candidates with support from 9.6 percent of caucus participants. State Reps. Tom Rukavina and Paul Thissen each registered support from 7.2 percent of straw poll participants. They were followed by former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza (6.7 percent), state Sen. Tom Bakk (6.3 percent), former state Sen. Steve Kelley (4.1 percent) and Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner (2.1 percent).

In all honesty, finishing that far behind the DFL's frontrunners puts Entenza towards the bottom of the DFL's bottom tier. I suspect that the DFL powers-that-be will start exerting pressure on Entenza, Bakk and Gaertner to get out of the race. Sen. Kelley didn't waste time before dropping out right after the precinct caucuses.

The good news for Matt Entenza doesn't have a self-esteem deficit. The bad news for Mr. Entenza is that he's got a drastic support deficit, one that he isn't likely to recover from.

FINAL QUESTION: Is it likely that a popular governor would think of a soon-to-be has been gubernatorial candidate as "a burr under the governor's saddle"? I'm betting otherwise.

Comments welcome at LFR.