Mark Dayton will not run in 2006

There's goes the power of incumbency in Minnesota:

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., said today that he will not run for re-election in 2006.

Dayton made the announcement this afternoon in a telephone conference call with reporters.

"I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead the DFL Party to victory next year,'' Dayton said.

The senator made a brief statement and took no questions.

He called it "a tremendous honor to serve Minnesota in the past four years." He said he wanted to keep the seat in Democratic hands and said he cannot do the necessary fundraising to run an effective campaign.

To be quite honest, I call this one a wash. Republicans were already gearing up their assualt on Dayton and they were amped to bring him down. If the Democrats can't field a strong candidate in his place, however, this one may be lost before it's begun.

*UPDATE* A run down of potential Democratic candidates:

All of the most likely suspects among DFLers refrained from outright announcements of even "exploratory" candidacies, citing respect for Dayton.

But a consensus emerged that among the most willing and most viable candidates were trial lawyer Mike Ciresi and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. Mark Rotenberg, a lawyer for the University of Minnesota, a newcomer, said Wednesday he was very likely to run.

Somewhat more tentative were a number of other DFLers, including: Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, state Rep. Tom Rukavina and state Sen. Steve Kelley. State Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, who always makes the list of possibles, could not be reached for comment.

Ciresi, the lead attorney in a lawsuit against tobacco companies that brought a multibillion dollar settlement for Minnesota, and who nearly won party endorsement for the Senate seat in 2000, told a Capitol Hill newspaper recently that he would be in the race in a "nanosecond" if Dayton dropped out.

On Wednesday, Ciresi said he will "very seriously consider" a run.

Klobuchar, like Ciresi a popular speaker at DFL gatherings, has never run for statewide office, but activists say she's one of their hottest prospects. She too, said she is "seriously considering it. ... People are concerned about the direction our country is going and if I can make a difference, it's something I'd like to do."

McCollum said she was taken by surprise and needed time to think. "I'm not in, I'm not out ... . In other words, I'm exploring every option that's out there."