Over the last few months we've focused a lot, rightfully, on the governor's race. It's the most important thing on the ballot this coming November.
But there's also a big race underway in my home congressional district, currently "represented" by so-called Moderate Republican Erik Paulsen. In the 3rd District we have two DFL candidates vying for the party's endorsement. They've participated in three debates, at nine Senate District conventions so far, and have spent the last few months campaigning hard for every delegate they've earned.
But only one candidate has proven they have what it takes to win. My endorsement to follow after the break.
MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty addressed a meeting in Naples, FL, of the Forum Club of Southwest Florida, this morning. He's talked to them before, back in December, I believe. He's raising money for the Republican Governors Association in Orlando on Monday, and will presumably spend his time until then privately trolling for money and support among redneck Floridians.
TBag likes to pretend he's running his own office lean and mean, by using staff that technically work for other departments, and therefore appear on someone else's books. Here's an article.
This post includes a list of prominent MN contributors to Gutshot's Freedom First PAC.
(Managerial note: we're staying out of the intramural race between Maureen Hackett and Jim Meffert. I got the same email and found it pretty humorous, but MPP will support anyone who ends up with a shot at retiring Erik Paulsen. - promoted by Joe Bodell)
Submitted by TwoPuttTommy on January 28, 2008 - 9:45am.
Folks, you just can't make this up - Erik Paulsen claiming to have, and I quote from his press release: "...years of working in bipartisan fashion, across the aisle, to get results in the business world and in the Minnesota legislature."
ROFLMAO!!!!!
Just who does Erik Paulsen think he's kidding??!?
ERIK PAULSEN, working in a "bipartisan fashion"??!? Those two belong together the same way "George W. Bush" and "articulate" do. Well, more like: "don't."
The whole thing is worth re-reading, as is this one.
So, what reminded me of what I wrote, last cycle? Go below the fold!!!
The following senate district conventions are coming up this weekend:
SD33
SD34
SD44
SD45
SD50
SD52
SD54
SD55
SD67
These conventions will elect a total of 161 delegates to the DFL state convention, to bring the overall total up to 1131 and leave just 69 left to elect next weekend.
I'm also pleased to report that the Delegate Tracker now includes every single convention held to date -- that means all 970 delegates elected so far are accounted for even if our results from all those conventions aren't quite complete.
I've added in a big block of county units that held their conventions and elected a total of 57 delegates -- I've coded those totals accordingly. You'll see when I post the tracker over the weekend. Of those 970, we're tracking 904.5 (93.25%) of them, so I feel pretty good about our numbers. With that additional block added in, Margaret Anderson Kelliher is holding an extremely slim two-delegate lead over R.T. Rybak, 145.5 to 143.5.
Of course, "Uncommitted" still leads the way with 414, but we've been through that topic a few times before.
If there are any conventions this weekend that are not listed above, let us know and I'll add them in. We're in the home-stretch here, so if you're attending any of these conventions, make sure to report in with complete results!
As always, thanks for your help with this project. It's kind of a big deal. Otherwise, treat this as an open thread for anything at all.
The first hit came in blogvirgin's diary here but there is definitely more room to break down the results of Rasmussen's poll in the gubernatorial race.
First, standard caveats apply: Rasmussen is a Republican pollster with a generally solid reputation but a 5-point house effect this cycle so far. That doesn't mean they're wrong, but it means their reading of the electorate skews a greater-than-the-margin-of-error distance toward the GOP.
Dayton now leads the GOP's Emmer 38% to 35% and trails Seifert by a statistically insignificant 39% to 38% margin.
Minneapolis' Democratic Mayor R.T. Rybak is equally competitive, also leading Emmer 38% to 35% and tied with Seifert at 38% apiece.
Margaret Anderson Kelliher, speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, runs nearly as well against the two Republicans. She trails Emmer 37% to 34% and Seifert 39% to 35%.
Emmer and Seifert do equally well against three other announced Democratic candidates, leading them all by seven to nine points.
The two Republicans earn 36% to 39% of the vote against former state House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, State Senator Tom Bakk and State Representative Tom Rukavina. These three Democrats, in turn, pick up 28% to 30% of the vote.
This poll is still more about name recognition than anything else -- the lack of variance in the two Republicans' numbers (ranging from 36 to 39 percent against all opponents) probably means that's the statewide GOP base this year. The fact that the three best-known DFL candidates -- a former U.S. Senator, the Mayor of the state's largest city, and the Speaker of the State House -- perform best follows from those name recognition levels.
And again, don't forget that Rasmussen doesn't have a clue how the state's political system works. Note the incorrect use of the term "seeking their party's nomination" rather than the correct "seeking their party's endorsement" -- it's tough for outside pollsters to come in and get an accurate feel for a race in which the endorsement and the nomination are two separate things.
Numbers are good, but we should probably hold off on prognosticating too much about them until after the major party endorsements.
"I made Sen. Leahy late for a Judiciary Committee meeting," Franni Franken began. Franni is Sen. Al Franken's wife. "At Christmas during the healthcare debates and Snowmageddon, I brought in my pumpkin bread and freshly baked bread. Everybody really liked it."
Al said 'wait 'til you have her pie' so I recently brought a few in," she continued. "They were all so focused on eating they forgot about the time and they were all late for the Judiciary Committee meeting."
"I'm curious, I can't wait to see it," Franni replied. "I've heard that they've done other comics of politicians, a lot of them. I will say that they never consulted me. I hope they portray him as the hero that I see him as."
Of course, we had to talk about healthcare reform. Franni has always been confident that we'd pass something. I've never shared her faith we'd get anything, I'm way too cynical. While we both agree that we're not going to get a perfect bill, she had this to say:
"I think that once we get healthcare reform passed, everybody will see how great it is."
We agree that once we get something passed, no Republican would dare oppose it like only a few (like Bachmann) would call for repealing Social Security and Medicare.
"I'm just hoping they get it done by recess," she said. "It's the end of March covering Passover and Easter. It'll be nice to have a week off and then a week back in Minnesota."
- Juan Cole on Joe Biden's Mideast visit. His analysis isn't positive. I link Cole a lot because he does the best stuff I know of on South Asia and the Mideast.
While US mass media did not cover the demonstrations in any detail (much reporting from Israel in US media is by dual citizens or by reporters who have served or have children serving in the Israeli Army), they are a big story in the Middle East, and the creeping Israeli expulsion of Palestinians from East Jerusalem is guaranteed to enrage the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and result in violence.
Welcome back to the Sixth District of Minnesota, the place that makes the Twilight Zone look like an island of sanity.
Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent just ran this story today.
Rep. Michele Bachmann told Tea Party activists on Wednesday to "take the town halls to Washington, DC" to defeat the health care bill. Bachmann suggested that passing the health reform bill would be a slam against freedom - and the troops in Afghanistan...
..."The men and women today who are bleeding for us in Afghanistan," she said. "We need to think about them, what they gave to us, and recognize if this goes down in the United States, where does anyone go for freedom? Where do we go for freedom?"
"We the people are going to roll them out," said Bachmann, "and when we roll them out we're going to roll this bill back... Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes.
Birkey thinks the money quote is Bachmann's invocation of "the whites of their eyes," the revolutionary call not to shoot your opponents until they get real, real close. (Bachmann's done a lot of bloodthirsty imagery this year.)
Me, I think the heart this story is the logic of claiming that "supporting the Democratic health care bill equals a betrayal of our troops in Afghanistan."
A close second is Bachmann's suggestion that if this bill goes through, there won't be any freedom left anywhere in the world (Britain, France, Canada, and Germany et al. are too socialist for her taste to be called "free.")
She's said stuff like that before, long before HCR became the top priority of the Obama administration. She's told conservatives we're in the grip of "gangster government" and that there are no other bastions of freedom left in the world if Barack Obama (who is "practicing tyranny" according to Bachmann) isn't stopped. So that's why she's urging supporters to look "for the whites of their eyes."
(Great coverage and comment from the community -- more of the same please! - promoted by Joe Bodell)
Over the last three days, I attended three hearings on sulfide mining and SF2349, a bill that would have strengthened Minnesota's "damage deposit" regulations on sulfide mining operations. After nearly 12 hours of testimony from the DNR, industry representatives, citizens, environmental groups, and elected officials, Sen. Carlson (D-Eagan) withdrew his bill without any recorded vote. This may seem like a defeat for environmental groups that have pushed for this bill for the last two sessions. However, the fact that a group of elected officials finally heard a perspective on sulfide mining that was not from an industry group or a supportive legislator was a victory in and of itself. After the fold - three things we know for sure about this debate after these hearings.
OK, I admit it - I often read AAA's blog, Residual Forces. Andy can flat-out be a funny guy; just as often, he's simply flat-out wrong. Like today. Here's what Andy wrote, in response to last night's radio show:
"I guess former conservative / former Republican / former Independence party Governor candidate Joe Repya was on a bankrupt radio station that used to siphon money away from Boys and Girls Clubs or something with a liberal stalkerazzi hack last night..."
Say, Andy? AM950 KTNF is doing fine. Never been bankrupt. Never took money away from Boys and Girls Clubs. But, hey - since when did facts ever get in the way of a good ol' AAA rant??!?
Now, earlier today, I said this, about GOPer Sheila Kihne:
Now, first I'd like to say that I've met Sheila; and I find her to be a very bright, intelligent, and passionate individual devoted to her cause: "conservatism."
Now, I've met AAA too; and I say the exact same about Andy that I said about Sheila - except for the "very bright" and "intelligent" part.
Sheila Kihne is currently the Vice Chair of the GOP's 3rd CD; she has a seat on the Executive Committee. She also runs a blog - "The Activist Next Door" - where she's taken shots at the DFL Endorsed Candidate for State Senate (Ron Case) - first here and then here.
Now, first I'd like to say that I've met Sheila; and I find her to be a very bright, intelligent, and passionate individual devoted to her cause: "conservatism." And this is not - NOT - an attempt to smear nor discredit Sheila as a person; as a person, I happen to like her.
That said, this is simply another example of pointing out, once again:
"Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP"
OK, first with the "then":
Sheila is highly active in GOP SD42 politics. SD42 is the home to GOP endorsed Mayor Phil Young and Council Member Brad Aho (well, Council Member Jon Duckstad too, but Duckstand doesn't have a candidate website that I can find).
And if you go to those old candidate websites, of those two GOPers, you'll see (and I took screenshots of 'em, in case they scrub - or dump - those old websites) a few pictures of those then-candidates posing for pictures in and/or in front of government (read=taxpayer paid) facilities.
In other words, back then, GOPers posed, and used, taxpayer paid facilities for PUBLIC gain - to win elections. Now, astute readers will note "public" is capitalized; with what elected officials put in their pockets for doing their elected duties, no one can claim elected officials are doing it for PERSONAL gain; there simply isn't enough in the check to compensate for the time spent our elected officials spend.
OK, does anybody really expect that Sheila Kihne objected to those GOPers doing that, then?
Of course not.
Fast forward to "now" - and Sheila going off on DFL Candidate Ron Case:
Although his election was the very definition of "squeaker," Sen. Franken has managed to thread another needle since taking office: he's demonstrated a commitment to working hard on behalf of all Minnesotans while also being a strong advocate for the progressive policies in which he believes.
And now he'll be the closing keynote speaker at this year's Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas.
The event will, as it has for several years now, bring together basically the entire progressive netroots for several days of panel discussions, trainings, and networking over four days in July.
From the release published by the Netroots Nation team this morning:
Sen. Franken and interested observers saw firsthand what democracy and fair elections are all about last year when his Senate race was the subject of a state-wide comprehensive recount. Since his swearing in, Sen. Franken has been a strong advocate for progressive policies, speaking out in favor of a public option, cutting oil subsidies and slashing interest rates for student loans.
"Even during the recount, we knew Sen. Franken would be a fighter," said Raven Brooks, executive director of Netroots Nation. "Whether he's fighting for health care or education, he's shown that he represents American families and isn't afraid to stand up for strong progressive values."
Organizers say that's why they chose Sen. Franken to close out the fifth annual convention.
Some of you may remember last year's Netroots Minnesota conference, which we put together in conjunction with the Netroots Nation organization. The national conference is due back in the Midwest in 2011, and it would be downright grand if our junior Senator were on hand to help announce that the Big Kahuna is coming to Minnesota next year. But that may be getting ahead of ourselves -- who's up for a Vegas trip this July?
MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty 
