Cohen: Voters hungry for cooperation

Jim Cohen is running against Al Franken and Mike Ciresi for the DFL’s endorsement in the 2008 U.S. Senate race.

Cohen doesn’t have the war chest or the name recognition of either Franken or Ciresi, so he said he’s burned a lot of shoe leather.

How much?

While recently visiting the Leader, Cohen discovered the heel on one of his shoes was coming unglued. “No wonder I’ve been tripping a lot,” he joked.

A ‘victory complex’
Cohen said politicians today suffer from a “victory complex.” Rather than considering what’s best for their constituents, they make decisions based on what will advance the interests of their respective parties. Under the guise of accountability, he said, they relentlessly sling mud at their enemies.

“I think, first of all, people are sick and tired of all the dividing and polarizing,” Cohen said. “People are hungry for a kind of political system and a kind of leadership … that is a politics of working together.”

Although he’s a Democrat, he hopes to reach across party lines to get things done. Cohen believes the majority of voters aren’t “red” or “blue,” just “red, white and blue.”

“We can identify those parts which unite us,” he said, “to make sure we have a better America.”

For the full story, see the Leader’s Nov. 27 print edition.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)