Senator big eddie?

Another talk radio host in the US Senate? Al Franken, move over...
 
After Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced Tuesday, he’d not run for re-election, he promptly called his old friend, MSNBC host and radio talker Ed Schultz, (KPTK m-f, 12-3p) urging him to run for the job. Dorgan was joined in the pleas by other ND Democratic party honchos.

The nationally syndicated Schultz, 56, would take on the likely Republican, Gov. John Hoeven, a politician with whom he’s sparred for years on his local show in Fargo.

His red hair; white, mid-western ways; and blue-collar sensibilities, fly in the face of the “liberal elite” stereotyping Republicans like to hang on progressives. He’s also well-known in his state, and has unique ability to fundraise.

When Big Eddie first hit the national scene, urban liberals were wary of him as being a little red of the neck. But he’s shown himself to be a dogged liberal of the old FDR/Truman school; vociferously and consistently advocating for single-payer healthcare, and insisting congressional Democrats remain true to their liberal base.   
 
A possible hitch:

Schultz said on his show Tuesday that he believes North Dakota law is that a candidate would have to have been a resident for the past five years to qualify. He hasn't been living in the state lately.

Schultz was an All-American in college, and had a short career in professional football before becoming a sportscaster and talk host in Fargo.
 

Comments

[sparky]

Ed needs to stay on the radio...no doubt he would be passionate about serving his constituents, but nobody else holds the congresscritters' feet to the fire like Ed does. Maybe later, but righ now, he needs to stay put.

[Duffman]

We desperately need new blood in Congress and so I say go for it Ed, you certainly can't do any worse than the 'good ol boys' (& girls) that now occupy the space.
Do your best to get things done, politics be damned.

[chunks, 1/3rd asshole]

That must be a difficult choice for this guy. He has worked a lifetime to get where he is. Granted, his ratings suck on the TeeVee and probably on the radio as well. But still, he is getting close to some goals.
At the same time, very few in the US Senate fail to find a way to get filthy rich while in office.
I hope he stays on the TeeVee. It is so much fun saying shitty things about his crappy ratings to his loyal viewers.

[Coiler]

Mmmmm Dennis Miller still on the teevee?

[salomon]

Is the talk radio available all over the world?

Or just the area in US.

[joanie]

So Rush loves "socialized health care" now?

"Based on what happened to me here, I don't think there is one thing wrong with the American health care system. It is working just fine, just dandy, and I got nothing special," Limbaugh continued.

What Limbaugh didn't realize, ... is that the Hawaiian health care system is one of America's most progressive. So progressive, in fact, that Hawaii has been exempted from some of the terms of the Senate health care bill because the current system's requirements go above and beyond the ones federal legislation would mandate.

And goddam the Obama man!

"Obama Backs Cadillac Tax as Pelosi Faces Discord on Health Bill">

"President Barack Obama is pushing U.S. House Democrats to drop their opposition to a tax on high- end insurance plans ...

Pelosi is facing resistance as she tries to resolve differences in House and Senate bills that would mark the biggest changes to U.S. health policy in 45 years. The Cadillac tax is opposed by labor unions, which are among the party’s strongest backers, and 190 House Democrats"

I hope this bill fails. Representatives are closer to the people. They know what we want. I'll never vote for a Harvard man again.

Does anybody believe in this economy, labor whould be taxed 40% on health care plans? Congress has a cadillac plan, not me.

Screw Obama. I hope this country goes into the hands of Republicans. I'll move to a trashy trailer in Birch Bay and you can pick up the pieces.

And chucks, your trophy cars will be the first to go. You wait and see. A few hundred thousand is nothing when the aristocracy takes over.

A precinct chairman I know told me angrily that he was told that two weeks before Clinton took office, Reich sat him down and told him wall street wanted it their way. And they got it. Campaign promises be damned.

Obama could have made a difference but he's a timid go-along-to-get-along. Obama had the people. I bet Dorgan and Dodd got out because they can see the end for all of us. America is becoming a third world country.

[joanie]

And I think Ed would be just fine in the senate if he could win it. I can't imagine the ads corporations would run against him.

Franken, Whitehouse, Schultz, every progressive would make a difference. We're being run into the ground by the gang of 100 who are all on the payroll of the corporations. We have become a fascist society.

And klueless and chunks, look up the word fascist before you post another stupid response.

[KS]

Ph(J)oanie - We can agree about one thing - The Obama Administration sucks !

[donnie]

easy joanie....you're gonna give yourself a heart attack!

[oda231]

And goddam the Obama man-Joanie

That being said by Joanie, it is over for obama.

[joanie]

I fear not. There are still too many who are being sucked along - the audacity of hope and all.. The lesser of two evils. We will not win until we take down Wall Street.

Nobody has any fight on the left. Not one. Except Kucinich. He took on the banks in Clevelend and won, then lost his job, but in the end was escorted back when Cleveland realized what he had gained for their city. People have to learn the hard way it seems.

Including the right. You have the most to learn.

[joanie]

BTW, it wasn't Reich that sat Clinton down for a talk about what Wall Street wanted. It was Rubin. The destroyer o City Corp.

Reich is one of us.

[Puget Sound]

My sympathies to the VP and his family on the passing of his mother.
RIP.

[Puget Sound]

I really really really hope that the Dems listen to Joanie and move further to the left.
Funny how it took so long for Joanie to catch on that the Health Care Bill was going to bite.
Howard Dean called it about 3 weeks ago.

[Coiler]

Micheal Steele to FOX News: GOP wont take back house in 2010.

[Puget Sound]

hey Coils
Super Majorities in the House and Senate and the Dims still can't pass a HealthCare Bill that isn't a love letter to the Big Ins and Big Pharma.
What gives?

[Coiler]

Hey Putz, what are y'all planning to do with your leader who sez 'we can't win'?

[isla earth]

I bet joanie hates stalkers. Doncha joanie?

[dennis the kook]

Naaa. Joanie sez: "The fatter the better!! I love the fat ones" How wide is that glut of yours Joanie?

[Puget Sound]

Hey Putz, what are y'all planning to do with your leader who sez 'we can't win'?

Posted by: Coiler | January 08, 2010 at 06:48 PM

Yep Coils,
Your party had control and couldn't get it done.

My advice to you is to get the Nutroots to push the Dem party further to the left. And go ahead, why don't you just parole Khalid Sheik Mohamed, raise taxes, and implement Cap and Trade. That's the ticket to Dem Victory.
More to the Left.
Oh yeah, don't forget to have John Conyers and Henry Waxman re-institute those War Crime Congressional Investigations into George Bush.
Yep, that's exactly what this Country needs a further descent into nutroot madness.
The Dems will go from a 50 State Strategy to a 50 County Strategy.

[KS]

Michael Steele is a mediocre head of the NRSC. In spite of him, the GOP will make significant gains in the next election. He is not the brightest bulb and has said some stupid things over the last year.

Funny thing, it would be better for Obama's future if the GOP seizes control of the House because he would be able to use them (besides Bush) as a foil.
However, if the GOP falls short of controlling the House but as expected increases their numbers in the Senate by 4-8, they will give the Prez. little wiggle room and he'll continue to wane in popularity leading up to 2012 and his chances for being reelected will go down, as opposed to if the Dems lost control of the House. So it goes...