To the editor:

In the news articles about State Sen. Sharon Marko's withdrawal from the 2nd District Congressional race, I found it interesting that she chose to not support the only remaining Democrat in competition, Coleen Rowley. Why would this be?

It seems rather clear to me that Marko's non-endorsement is due to the fact that Coleen Rowley's appearance on the ballot will hurt the entire DFL ticket. Rowley's forays into radical-liberal activism (i.e. the Crawford ranch trip and Nazi photo incidents) have made her utterly unelectable in the 2nd District, and the distaste she is already leaving with voters can only hurt every other candidate sharing her party affiliation.

Apparently, Marko is not alone in this dissatisfaction with the Rowley campaign. One local Democratic blog (www.backboneminnesota.com) pointed out several reasons why many DFLers continue to search for another candidate, including, "Rowley refuses to educate herself -- refuses to work strategically to run a campaign -- [and] doesn't appear to have a political soul or core principles that drive her.î

At this point it is difficult to decide whether to describe Rowley's campaign as a slow sinking ship or a sudden train wreck. Either way, I don't think we'll be seeing Coleen Rowley in Congress any time soon.

Rob Dove
Apple Valley

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