Congressman Ron Kind has opted out of the race for the Democratic nomination for governor.

But he hasn't opted out of playing politics.

That was obvious when the La Crosse Democrat claimed that, while he sure would like to be governor, he had important work to do in Washington.

"(My) first responsibility must be to get affordable and accessible health care reform passed this year for all Wisconsin families," Kind said Thursday, when he scrapped his potential candidacy. "That is why I cannot run for governor. I have a responsibility and duty to the people of Wisconsin to continue work on the health care reform agenda ahead of us."

The truth of why Kind opted out of the race, as is so often the case when it comes to political announcements of this sort, was not to be found in the formal statement. Kind is not an inconsequential congressman but he is a bit less than a pivotal player in the health care debate.

Unlike Wausau Congressman Dave Obey, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, or Madison Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, who sits in a key position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Kind is not setting the agenda on reform.

Nor is Kind thought of as a particularly big thinker or doer with regard to health care policy. He's a key congressional ally of the corporate-friendly Democratic Leadership Council, which has been stealthily promoting compromises that do more to maintain the status quo than to initiate anything akin to real reform.

So why did Kind really give up on the gubernatorial contest? The explanation came down to three things:

1. If he ran for governor, he would have opened up a House seat that would have been extremely vulnerable to a Republican pickup. That was unacceptable to Obey, the most powerful Democrat in Wisconsin. Without Obey, Kind's statewide prospects would have been dismal, as Obey's blessing carries with it both fundraising and organizational benefits that are essential in a race of this sort.

2. Kind's votes in favor of the Bush administration's positions on the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, and trade and economic policies made him an unappealing prospect for Democratic primary voters. In a party that reveres U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's maverick progressivism, Kind would have had a hard time running as the candidate who said "Russ was wrong and Dick Cheney was right" on the most fundamental issues of the past eight years.

3. Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton may still have some work to do when it comes to convincing Democratic insiders in Madison and Milwaukee that she is the right candidate for the state's top job. But she has won significant support in the rural and small-town stretches of the state where a Democrat must compete in order to get elected. Those are precisely the areas where Kind would have claimed his support was coming from. But in the few days before Kind dropped out, Lawton was securing endorsements from out-state Democrats such as state Sen. Jim Holperin, D-Eagle River, and several northern Wisconsin mayors.

The embrace of Lawton's candidacy by Holperin, whose Senate district overlaps with Obey's congressional district, was especially important. A veteran legislator who has represented the north on and off since the early 1980s, Holperin also served as a Doyle administration Cabinet member (he was secretary of tourism from 2003 to 2007) and is well liked within the party and across a key swing region of the state.

So it mattered when he declared early last week, "I'm proud to offer my full support to Barbara Lawton to be Wisconsin's next governor. Lt. Gov. Lawton has shown time and again she has the experience as well as the leadership capabilities to be our next governor. From her years of work promoting community economic development to her positions on veterans and outdoor issues, this endorsement was an easy one for me."

Any gubernatorial candidate would go out of his or her way to get Holperin's backing. And the fact that he gave it to Lawton so enthusiastically provided an insight regarding the strength of her candidacy - just as it provided a signal to Kind that he could not count on unified support from rural northern and western Wisconsin in a Democratic primary.

It would be silly to suggest that Kind quit the race because of a single endorsement.

But it would be equally silly to suggest that Kind, a meticulous political observer and player, failed to notice that Lawton's campaign has been gathering stream.

Despite Kind's exit, there will probably still be a Democratic primary.

Lawton, a determined reformer who was willing to tangle with Gov. Jim Doyle even as she served as his lieutenant governor, won't get an easy embrace from those who see the Democratic Party as an insider's club rather than a movement.

But Kind's exit benefits Lawton, as does the endorsement she picked up Thursday from Milwaukee County Democratic Party Chair Martha Love, a veteran labor leader with strong union, political and neighborhood connections in the state's largest city. Love's endorsement will be read as another indicator that the lieutenant governor's strongest potential primary foe, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, is leaning against making the race.

Unlike Kind, Barrett would be a reasonably good fit with Democratic primary voters. There is no question that he would be a serious competitor.

If Barrett chooses not to run, Lawton's front-runner status will be confirmed - as will the prospect that Wisconsin's Democratic Party might offer a real alternative to politics as usual in 2010.

John Nichols is the associate editor of The Capital Times. jnichols@madison.com

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