Politics in Minnesota (published by long-time Republican media operative and consultant Sarah Janecek) names Democrat Secretary of State Mark Ritchie as "2008 Minnesota Politician of the Year"

Thanks to the dozens of our subscribers who made thoughtful nominations. The person who received the most nominations is also the person we've had in our minds for weeks.

First, the nominations. Several were for GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty. He may not have been chosen to be John McCain's running mate, however, Pawlenty made the short list and traveled further in national politics than any Minnesota Republican before him. A second nominee was U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN 3), who, much to our surprise, overrode the DFL wave and beat DFL endorsee Ashwin Madia by a stunning 7.6 percent of the vote to replace former GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad. Another nomination was for DFL Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Wrote the nominator, "He's [Rybak] finally settled into the mayor's job, rebuilt the bridge, kind of hosted the RNC without getting people pi$$ed at him and the candidate he backed from more than the start became President of the U.S." A final worthy contender was U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN 1), who has now twice won his seat in a conservative part of the state. Wrote one reader about Walz, "school teacher, veteran, common person...what more can I say?"

On to our winner. The 2008 Politics in Minnesota Politician of the Year is DFL Sec. of State Mark Ritchie.


Your GOP publisher trusts some of her GOP friends will be apoplectic about this choice. Isn't Ritchie a highly partisan Democrat? You bet. His resume includes a rich, long history of leftie causes, including founding and running ag trade groups and most partisanly, founding and running National Voice, which ran a national media campaign, "November 2," designed to turn out more voters -- voters who would likely vote Democrat. Ritchie also got into a bit of hot water when his office channeled a few email lists obtained on state time into lists to be used for campaign purposes (although no laws were found to be broken). But many times in politics, as in life, it's the mistakes you make that make the person.

Ritchie has done an extraordinary job running the U.S. Senate recount. Sure, there are bones to be picked about what the State Canvassing Board did. Bones that will be now be picked, in a court of law. But the administrative process Ritchie ran was the process we have on the books, the process that had to be followed. Those were long, long canvassing board meetings that Ritchie ran and as chair, he made the motion on each ballot. Lost on many was how meticulously and consistently Ritchie made the motions. He offered the same motion on each ballot, but then, if that motion was rejected, offered the follow-up motion that made sense given the discussion that had just occurred on that particular ballot. A methodical, consistent process.  For most Minnesotans who tuned in for part or all of the recount, Ritchie was the face of it.

Ritchie also became a terrific spokesperson for our process. If he said it once, he said it a million times, Minnesota's election system has been "under the microscope." At every juncture in the process since the election, Ritchie has held "press availabilities" almost ad nauseum. At every one of those press conferences and in every media appearance we saw or heard, Ritchie spoke to the process, not to the party. He made Minnesota proud in national media.

Finally, Ritchie actually took a much-deserved shot at his own party. Last week U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the Minnesota contest was over and that the Senate should seat Franken. When asked about that by MPR Midday's host Gary Eichten, Ritchie wonderfully and rightly said what Reid was calling for was "horse puckey." That was Ritchie speaking to the process. 

We dare anyone to find one public statement made by Ritchie during the recount that was partisan in favor of Franken. It cannot be done, because Ritchie didn't do it, and we -- and many others -- were carefully looking for one. Our historically partisan Democrat Secretary of State proved to be a nonpartisan statesman. 

[The Norm Coleman campaign has alleged that certain members of Ritchie's staff gave directives and made decisions that favored Al Franken. But even the Coleman team has acknowledged that those bad staff decisions were not authorized by Ritchie. All the details will see the light of day in the litigation.]

2008 was the year of the recount, and "Recount Ritchie" is our Pol of the Year.