Saint Paul Mayor supports Bush for re-election

The Democratic mayor of Saint Paul, Randy Kelly, announced today that he is supporting Bush this year. He says he remains a Democrat, however.

I'm at a loss to explain this. It has often been pointed out that Kelly's predecessor, Norm Coleman, also left his Democratic roots and changed to the Republican party. Kelly remains a Democrat for now, so it is unclear whether he is going to completely follow Coleman's path. Should he do so, however, he is not likely to repeat Coleman's success, who is now a U.S. Senator. While Coleman was likeable, Kelly by and large is not. Even though he remains a Democrat, the fact that he doesn't have a lot of goodwill with the rank and file in the city means that he is going to face a lot more anger at this decision than Coleman did for switching parties.

Is he expecting to be appointed to some high-ranking post if Bush wins? Who knows. If Bush loses, however, it seems certain that Kelly will go down with him. Switching sides in politics is bad enough, but switching to the losing side is a sure recipe for disaster.