A strong challenger for John Kline's seat?

Now serving in Iraq, Steve Sarvi is considering run for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd district

by Leigh Pomeroy

I distinctly remember the moment when Tim Walz told me he was thinking of running for Congress against then incumbent Gil Gutknecht.

We were talking because I had been the stopgap 2004 Democratic candidate after endorsed candidate Joe Mayer (now a contributor to this site) was forced to drop out of the race because of health reasons.

We made a good effort — the grassroots supporters of change throughout the district and I — but with no money, no time and no support from the national level, our efforts were all but doomed to fail.

Then Tim told me that some people had asked him to consider running, and I knew right then he would be the perfect candidate in '06:

• A leader in the National Guard
• An award-winning teacher and coach
• An individual with extensive knowledge of and contacts with China, whose future is so entwined with ours

Tim was not a politician; rather, he was an ordinary citizen who cared. He was in his early 40s, close in age to our country's founding fathers, men of vision, energy and creativity unlike so many career politicians today. And yet I had seen him and his wife, Gwen, campaigning in '04 for John Kerry and for veterans issues. They both demonstrated a natural ability to communicate — honest and desirous to connect rather than to preach.

It is this meeting with Tim that came to mind when I read Mike McIntee's post on Steve Sarvi at Inside MN Politics. I found myself thinking, "Could this be déjà vu all over again?"

Read on and listen to Mike's interview of Steve Sarvi. Perhaps this Iraq veteran could be for Minnesota's 2nd what Tim Walz has become for Minnesota's 1st....

Possible DFL Congressional Candidate Steve Sarvi Interview

Just as it takes courage to jump out of a plane or serve in Iraq, it takes courage to leap into politics. Steve Sarvi has done both and has been mentioned as a possible DFL candidate to face Congressman John Kline (R- MN02) in 2008. Steve has been in the Army for nearly 20 years and is on track to be part of the longest deployed Minnesota National Guard unit in Iraq. He's been there since March of 2006 and is hoping to return home in late July or early August. He's also the former Mayor of Watertown, MN.

Inside Minnesota Politics has an exclusive audio interview with Steve you can listen to here. Since he's on active duty in Iraq, he really can't talk much about running for office, but we did get to talk about how he's helping local governments get started in Iraq and how the City of Victoria, Minnesota (his employer) has been very supportive of him and his family while he's been in Iraq.

The rest is here.