Dayton

This AP story discusses Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota:

Asked to describe his attitude in his last few months in office, Sen. Mark Dayton cited a line from the 1960s song "Me and Bobby McGee." "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," he says.

The first-term Minnesota Democrat is not seeking re-election and, these days, sounds very much like a politician with little to lose.

In February, upset about a plan by a South Dakota railroad to run coal trains close to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Dayton said the clinic "is worth a hell of a lot more than the whole state of South Dakota."

He later apologized for the remark.

The following month, he called fellow Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold's proposal to censure President Bush over a warrantless surveillance program "an overreaching step by someone who is grandstanding and running for president at the expense of his own party and his own country."

Dayton did not apologize for that.

He even told a Minnesota high school group he'd give himself an "F" if he had to grade his accomplishments in the Senate.