Not so long ago, one Norman Bertram Coleman was, well, kind of a big deal.  You may remember him:

• From 1994-2002, he was a GOP mayor of Minnesota’s second largest city, a DFL stronghold.
• He was the GOP nominee for Minnesota Governor in 1998.
• He was MInnesota’s United States Senator from 2003-2009.
• He came up in national veepstakes conversations.
• He had perhaps the best name recognition of any Minnesota Republican.
• He was one of the most talented Minnesota pols of his generation.
• He was arguably the best political fundraiser in the state.
• He was the only reasonably prominent Republican who was thinking about running against current DFL Governor Mark Dayton.

But yesterday, when Senator Coleman announced to his followers via Twitter that he has decided not to run for Governor in 2014, his political obituary got the political equivalent of crickets in the Star Tribune —  three column inches on the very back page of the Local section, imbedded in the weather coverage. Continue reading →