Minnesota Lawyer Blog

It's been a pretty fun primary season to watch so far. And I love it when the pollsters and pundits turn out to be completely wrong, as they were last night.

Figuring there was no better place to witness democracy in action than an Irish pub, I watched the results come in over at O'Gara's in St. Paul. I was amazed at how many people -- particularly young folks -- were there to cheer on their favorite candidate. There was a table full of folks with Barack Obama campaign signs who apparently had the audacity of hope. A group of folks cheered when John McCain gave his victory speech. Another group clapped when the results came in showing Hillary Clinton was in the lead. The air was filled with the same energy and enthusiasm that might have been present at a major sporting event.

It's good to see so much excitement over an election. Even if your favorite candidate doesn't win, it's good to be engaged in the process. That said, I glad I'm not a political pollster. I think 99.9997 percent of them have some explaining to do today.

Right or wrong, people tend to presume that most political candidates are or were lawyers. That’s probably because most of the presidential candidates in both parties have a current or past legal practice.

But what about at the more grass-roots level of city council candidacy? A look at the 30 candidates vying for the 14 open council seats in various Ramsey County wards next Tuesday shows only one attorney: Kennedy & Graven shareholder Chuck Long, who’s running in Falcon Heights.

The rest of the candidates come from a wide variety of industries, with a lot of small-business owners included in the mix. The council level of politics still seems to be the domain of the concerned citizen, regardless of his or her professional background.

Does this mean lawyers tend not to become interested in running for office until the stakes get a little – or a lot – higher?

An article posted by the Star Tribune pegs the net worth of Mike Ciresi at about $26.7 million. The Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi attorney has successfully handled a number of massive cases -- including the state's suit against big tobacco -- so his wealth should be no surprise. (Although that's a lot of cigarette money!)

The money could come in handy for his senatorial bid. Ciresi is vying with Al Franken (nothing funny about that) for the DFL nomination and right to square off against incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman.

Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, has a great quote in the Strib piece. Comparing Franken and Ciresi, he says: "Money is the big Ciresi advantage. He is not a comedian."

Hmmm. So its Funny vs. Money. If Franken wants to win, he'd better start laughing all the way to the bank.