Late on the day in which state senator Jeremy Miller announced that he would not run against four-term congressman Tim Walz, a ghost of a headline remains in google: "Mike Benson to run for Congress against Walz."
We've taken a screenshot, which also includes a link to bare-bones Mike Benson for Congress website.
The ghost leads to an error message on the Post Bulletin site, but the existence of the website suggests that the two term Rochester-area Republican is exploring a bid.
This strikes Bluestem as odd, since the Minnesota House is up for re-election in 2014, and the swing Rochester area is fairly volatile in terms of the electorate. Benson has also proposed cigarette tax increases in the past; now that the tax was raised in the last session, the Republican caucuses are citing it as an example of DFL tax mania.
Apparently, it's another pass at a "Rochester Run" strategy, since the med city is the largest population center in the district. Walz defeated Rochester six-term representative Gil Gutknecht in 2006, trounced Rochester doctor Brian Davis in 2008, beat Hayfield Republican Randy Demmer in a close race in the 2010 Republican banner year, and handily defeated perennial candidate Allen Quist in 2012.
Benson's record is singularly undistinguished in the Minnesota house, favoring such things as the voter id and marriage amendments. He works as a professor at Crossroads College, a tiny former bible college in Rochester; there's a bio on his website but little else, not even a disclaimer with the campaign's committee name.
The Republican lawmaker endorsed Emo Senator Mike Parry's bid in 2012; Parry lost the primary to Quist.
Image: The ghost in google.
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