editorials

Skillful politicians possess a keen sense of timing. Often, they employ it for self-advancement. That wasn't what former Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman did in deciding that he would not run for governor. To his credit, he applied his well-honed sense of timing to the needs of this state, and concluded that this isn't his year.

Coleman made the right choice for Minnesota. We come to that judgment as a page that recommended both his reelection to the Senate in 2008 and, twice, his election as mayor of St. Paul. We've admired his pragmatism, executive skills and commitment to public service -- traits that would have made him a formidable contender this year.

But his presence in the race would have turned its focus toward the past at a time when Minnesotans need to keep their eyes on the future. Had Coleman run, his opponents inevitably would have dredged up controversial aspects of his Senate and mayoral careers. He would have been hard-pressed not to defend his record.

This year, especially, that would have been a waste of the public's attention -- a finite and precious resource in any democracy. State and local governments are facing their deepest financial crisis since the 1930s. The coming campaign ought to give Minnesotans a chance for undistracted consideration of how best to dig out of the deficit ditch and rebalance the need for government services with the capacity to pay for them.

Further, Coleman has been a principal in two of the nastiest political contests this state has witnessed, the protracted 2008 Senate battle with Democrat Al Franken and the pre-plane crash 2002 campaign with the late Sen. Paul Wellstone. Those campaigns damaged, likely permanently, his ability to enlist DFLers to join him in forging solutions to state problems. Lingering partisan animosity would have weakened his hand as governor.

Indirectly, Coleman seemed to acknowledge as much Sunday. He decried the angry tone of latter-day politics, and said that he may be a more effective voice for bipartisan civility as a noncandidate than as a contestant this year.

That said, Coleman's decision leaves a void in the GOP gubernatorial field. He stands closer to the Minnesota ideological center than any of the declared GOP candidates -- and closer than most DFL contenders as well. Instead of seeking to shrink government, Coleman's emphasis has been about improving it at an affordable cost.

Especially troubling is that none of the remaining Republican candidates is as rooted in the heart of the metro area as is the former mayor of St. Paul. None has thus far exhibited much recognition that shoring up the competitive posture of the Twin Cities must be a priority for the next governor.

State government's financial squeeze in the last 10 years has pinched harder in Minneapolis and St. Paul than anywhere else. Gubernatorial candidates in all three major parties ought to be talking about how to protect urban assets from further erosion by pernicious state policy. It may be a stretch, but only a slight one, to suggest that the next governor should function as the de facto mayor of the Twin Cities.

Coleman is discovering that "there are lots of ways to serve without an official position," he said in Sunday's Facebook announcement of noncandidacy. We hope that for him, those ways include coaching the Republicans who are in the running for governor about Minnesota's needs, starting with those of Minneapolis and St. Paul.