Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)

[carrowsboy]

I'm sure he is great, but boy does he need to work on his public speaking. Is he extremely nervous?

[La_Serpiente]

1. He is either really nervous

or that is just the way he normally speaks. I don't know him though, so I can't answer really.

He's kind of hot though :-)

[SaveElmer]

2. That's the way he speaks

Very bad public speaker...good guy though !

[carrowsboy]

3. I agree

He is making a lot of good points, but it is hard to take it all in when he speaks in such staccato sentences.

[Lefta Dissenter]

4. I've never seen him before

But I sure like him! He just reeks of compassion. (can compassion reek?)

We in the upper Midwest sure know how to elect Senators, don't we???

:pals:

[maggiemay]

13. :pals:

Amen!

[mndemocrat_29]

5. I think it's nervousness

He's much more at home speaking to smaller groups.

However, he's a great senator, like so many Midwestern senators (Dorgan, Conrad, Johnson, Kohl, Feingold, Harkin, Durbin, and Daschle).

[northernsoul]

10. no, he's bad in front of small groups too

He gave a talk at a pro-choice fundraiser I was at this summer, and he still had a tough time enought with a small, friendly audience.

He's about as good and decent a human being as you can expect from a U.S. Senator these days, though.

I think he just gets too flustered by speaking, almost no matter what the context.

[maggiemay]

14. Don't forget

Tim Johnson!

[DRoseDARs]

6. I feel bad for him...

...Public speaking is hard enough. Speaking in front of a legislative body is worse. Speaking in front of a Republican-controlled Congress that's out for your blood has got to be a bit much for most people.

At least he's doing his part to fight.

[Ficus]

7. That's why

he's one of my top 5 favorites in the Senate. I think he makes some of the most intelligent points I've heard recently. Did anyone watch him last night during the marathon? It was about 12:30 or so CST, and he was great. His style is different, but it makes me pay closer attention, and it makes you think he's really a believer and not just a slick pol with a pre-written speech.

[northernsoul]

8. very good man, very atrocious public speaker

Senator Dayton is a very good, decent man of the type they don't make too much of any more.
Unfortunately, he might be one of the worst public speakers ever to hold high office. He has a hard time making it through a sentence even in front of a friendly audience. He better get a speech coach or I'm going to be mighty nervous about 2006 here in Minnesota.

[Ficus]

9. could it get worse

than that turncoat Norm Coleman?

[northernsoul]

12. unfortunately, yes

Norm is a rodent of the first order, however he's not really a neocon TRUE BELIEVER. Norm's only true ideology is Norm.

This guy Brian Sullivan who tried to get the GOP nod for Gov. in 2002 and was just barely nudged out of the endorsement by (*gag*puke*) Tim Pawlenty. Friends, this guy is crazier than a box of frogs (he made Pawlenty look like a Moderate), he's a good looking smooth talker and he's gots several million dollars just burning a hole in his pocket. Rumor has it he's next in line in the Minnesota GOP. I'm afraid, friends.

[0007]

20. Norm Coleman is already in the GOP

Do you mean after his term in up in the senate Norm will be running for the governorship?

GOP = Grand Old Party

[0007]

19. Norm Coleman has always been like the way he is,

what are you talking about?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. If it's any consolation...

he's much improved over his first Senate run. Then he not only was a nervous public speaker but appeared to be an uppity young kid against the calm, arrogant Republican Dave Durenberger.

Then as now, though, his heart was definitely in the right place.

[nannygoat]

15. All I gotta say is can you imagine if * had to do this?

Mark Dayton would mop the floor with Chimpy McCokespoon.

[MnFats]

16. Senate race was his first run for public office.

if i recall...he dumped the truly malodorous Rod Grams from office. Grams was another one of the TV talking heads who falsely imagined he had a brain. Fortunately, Grams was weighed down with a number of scandals, including an affair with his chief of staff and a repeat-felon son, and was primed to be taken down.
Dayton, as all agree, is a great man. He will have a family fortune to draw upon in the next campaign but the R's are sure to target him and pour mungogungilian dollars into the race.
Hope he joins Toastmasters before the campaign.

[dflprincess]

17. Actually no,

he ran for the senate in 1980 or 1982 and was narrowly defeated by Durenberger. And, wasn't he state auditor for a while?

[0007]

18. Something was wrong Senator Dayton!

I've never seen him like that before.