McGovern Dinner headliners portend divisions
The state Democrats scored a nice keynote speaker for their April 20 McGovern Dinner. It’s Heidi Heitkamp, the North Dakota senator who helped stomp out GOP dreams of winning majority control of the Senate last year.
But wait! Who else is headlining the event? It’s Tim Johnson.
It’s natural that Johnson would be a headliner … after all, he’s the Chingachgook of the statewide Democrats.
But there is, perhaps, something more to all of this. Heitkamp’s chief of staff is Stephanie Herseth Sandlin’s former chief of staff. Thus, one could see Herseth Sandlin, a potential Senate candidate, gaining in exposure from Heitkamp’s appearance. I’m taking bets on who introduces Heitkamp. And I’m betting on Herseth Sandlin.
So Camp Johnson needs exposure at the big event in the event Brendan Johnson also runs for Senate. Perhaps he’ll introduce his father at the event. By then, we will expect Sen. Johnson to have announced his retirement.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll also already have two announced Democrats to replace him by April 20.
