Posted: 12/08/09 14:15
by Dave Mindeman
Well...it looks like John Kline may have a new challenger for his Congressional seat. There have been rumors floating around and I got confirmation yesterday that former State Representative Shelley Madore of Apple Valley is about to throw her hat into the 2nd District ring.
She would join Dan Powers, Burnsville, as a candidate for the DFL endorsement for the 2nd District Congressional seat.
Democrat Madore broke a long standing Republican stranglehold of the District 37A legislative seat in 2006. In fact, she broke a lot of barriers for Democrats in the South Metro, finding a way to win in a perceived conservative district. She lost her bid for re-election in 2008, by a narrow margin, to a heavily financed challenger, Tara Mack.
When she was elected in 2006, she quickly became a driving force for transportation issues in the south metro area....something that may run as a strong campaign theme in her 2010 bid.
Congressman Kline has received a lot of criticism for his refusal to bring needed projects to the 2nd District making the claim that they are simply pork barrel projects. County Commissioners just call them necessities.
Not to take anything away from Dan Powers, but Madore is a proven vote getter in her legislative district. And she is an established progressive voice as well.
A Congressional run will be a big challenge for Madore but there are plenty of signs for enthusiastic support already.
Game on.
I still live here and I'm really disappointed in the state of our district. The only chance anyone has of unseating Kline is to find a real leader that can rally both the progressives and the few moderates around. In my limited experience with Madore she's a divider, not a uniter. The sentiment on my block is that this is bad news for our neighborhood and a nice Christmas gift for John Kline.