Free Republic

Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton, a first-term Democrat atop the Republicans' 2006 target list, said Wednesday his party could field a stronger candidate and that he would not run for re-election. "I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead the party to victory next year," Dayton told reporters. "I cannot stand to do the constant fund raising necessary to wage a successful campaign, and I cannot be an effective senator while also being a nearly full-time candidate."

BOSTON — Humorist Garrison Keillor, former Vice President Walter Mondale and U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton kicked off the Minnesota doings at the Democratic National Convention on Monday morning, with a combination of patriotic uplift and partisan humor.

The first rule of testifying before Committees of Congress, which I’ve done on several occasions, is this: Be polite to the Members of Congress. Last week during the testimony of Dr. David Kay, former Chief Weapons Inspector for Iraq, before the Senate Armed Forces Committee, at least four instances cried out for an exception to that rule. The worst such example arose at the end of the questioning by Senator Mark Dayton, D-Minn. First, he asked Dr. Kay “How many nations have WMD capabilities?” Kay answered that “about fifty countries have such capacities.” Dayton then mused that the United States...