Huh. That's a fun coincidence. Tonight a buddy and I were just running down the roster of announced and potential democratic candidates for President. We talked about Senator Gillibrand in that list.

I said that I would give her a fair shake in the heat of the primaries, but I thought her pressure for Senator Franken's resignation was a bit transparently opportunistic beyond pragmatic. While I think it was right for Senator Franken to resign (I'm in the camp of believing it gave the distinction in parties necessary to sufficiently ostracize Roy Moore) I think her early pressure for resignation after his call for investigation was... oddly timed. Someone had to put forward the pressure for Senator Franken to resign, so I recognize it's unfair for me to hold it against her in my long-term evaluation of her candidacy.

My buddy said that his bigger question on her candidacy is that she seems to link a lot to her perspective "as a mother." Does good policy require the perspective of being a mother or does it stand on its own? If a person doesn't share her perspective by not being a mother, it's tougher to make necessary inroads for a broad base of support.

Don't get us wrong. At the end of the day 'if a ficus plant had a (D) after its name, it would carry my vote in the general election' but in terms of candidate rankings, Senator Gillibrand wasn't in the top three preferred choices given what we know right now.