By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

State Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, may have won her last few elections with upward of 60 percent of the vote. She may be one of the most liberal members of the Legislature. And Mike Griffin may not have been born when she was first elected. But no matter. Griffin told the New York Times that he might run against her next year.

In a piece that profiles young people who worked with President Obama's campaign and continued with their political activism, Griffin says he is contemplating running against Kahn:

Back in Minnesota to complete his political science degree, Mr. Griffin, 23, took a job with the post-election version of the Obama campaign, Organizing for America. Now part of the Democratic National Committee, the group aims to use the tools of the campaign — the e-mail lists, the Web sites, the loose network of activists — to mobilize support for Mr. Obama's agenda, like overhauling health care.

Though some progressives complain the group has failed to drown out attention-getting opposition "tea parties" or prevent Republicans from watering down the health care bill, Mr. Griffin is a true believer. "I've never seen people this engaged after a campaign," he said.

Mr. Griffin also has a more direct plan to keep the ball rolling. He is contemplating running for Minnesota's Legislature — against a 19-term incumbent, Representative Phyllis Kahn. Ms. Kahn is not an obvious target for the progressives Mr. Griffin hopes to rally. A Yale-educated biophysicist, she rides a bike to work and has championed the environment and — of interest to college students — later closing hours for bars.

But to Mr. Griffin, she stands for the inertia that takes hold in local politics when incumbents are re-elected by a handful of voters and rarely face primaries. She represents the district that includes his campus and is home to thousands of students who campaigned for Mr. Obama or registered to vote in that election. So he believes he can challenge her in the Democratic primary, ride Mr. Obama's coattails and take her by surprise. (h/t @s4xton)

Today's piece is not the first time Kahn's elections have appeared in the New York Times. Seven years ago, she wrote to the Times' Ethicist to ask:

I am a state legislator. This last session I had an excellent student intern. But at the end of his stint, he announced that he was running against me and had intended to for some time....Should I have been more alert to this possibility?

The answer:

What you should do now is establish an intern ethics policy.... Establishing such guidelines does more than serve an abstract good. It creates the conditions necessary for mutual trust, without which no satisfying joint endeavor is possible.