Not even conservative media personality Tom Hauser of KSTP could find much wrong with Alliance for a Better Minnesota's Tom Emmer ad that's been on the airwaves this week. And this is really surprising considering Hauser's boss, station owner Stan Hubbard, is a major Republican donor and activist.
Hauser concedes that his candidate Emmer would really rather have the wage issue go away, but those pesky lefties won't let it.
Hauser's main complaint about the ad is that it exaggerates. Hauser claims that Emmer hasn't proposed what he calls a "tip credit" (which is a tip penalty for the servers) and this constitutes stretching the truth. Pretty weak sauce, Hauser. Emmer hasn't proposed anything at all so far in this campaign -- it's a completely substance-free campaign up to this point.
The rest of the ad consists of statements by Minnesotans who are clearly not fans of Emmer. They're all opinions, but one might go too far.
In the ad, one woman says, "I think for Tom Emmer to attack working-class Minnesotans in the middle of a recession is just criminal." It's a stretch to say either statement. 43 states use some form of a tip credit.
Despite some exaggerations, this ad is mostly based on facts. It gets a "B" on the Truth Test.
(KSTP)
His other complaint about the ad is pretty weak, too. Reducing server wages would do a massive amount of damage to people living paycheck to paycheck. Calling it criminal is mere semantics. But he's got to find something wrong with the ad ... he is a Republican after all.
If your a fat pig it's okay to taser a 14 year old girl because your too fat too chase her. Just to be clear, this girl looks like she weighs 100 lbs., is a troubled teen, hadn't committed any crimes and was unarmed. Explain to me one more time how this cop was in danger?
Republican Stan Hubbard's KSTP TV station needs to get on the ball. Normally, they follow the instructions given to them by blogger Michael Brodkorb directly. But they're getting slow.
A lawyer for the Hubbard Broadcasting TV stations (the biggest of which is KSTP-Channel 5 of the Twin Cities) is seeking access, under the state freedom of information statutes, to all of the rejected absentee ballots from the 2008 Senate election and the outer envelopes. These ballots presumably contain flaws that caused them to go unopened and uncounted. MinnPost teammate David Brauer noted this atop today's edition of the Daily Glean.
(MinnPost)
Well, they finally followed the instructions from the blogger who has been the mouthpiece of the party regardless of whatever title he happens to have within the party right now. About time, slackers.
What's needed, is analysis! And fortunately, I'm here to help!!! So, let's take a look at domain names - taken and available and related to those considered "potential candidates" by those from the party that bows to the guy with the big cigar....
On June 12th, from KSTP:
But to get an idea of who might be thinking of running, it's helpful to check the purchase of Internet domain names.
House Minority Leader Marty Seifert also bought a domain, SeifertforGovernor.com, the same day of Pawlenty's announcement.
If KSTP viewers had read MN Progressive Project, they'd have known a full week earlier about what KSTP reported on, and a whole lot more - like who owns the domain names www.SteveSviggum.com and www.Sviggum2010.com and www.SviggumForGovernor.com
So, keep reading this blog - even if we don't get the hat-tips we ought to....
On tonight's 10 o'clock news, KSTP (channel 5) will tell you about a new poll in the Third district congressional race.
What they probably won't tell you are the details that call into question the integrity of the station's entire news-gathering operation.
A SurveyUSA poll done for KSTP will show Republican Erik Paulsen leading by 5 points, with a margin of error of about 5 points. According to sources, the poll does not take any account whatsoever of same-day registrations, which is a big deal -- assuming 2004 turnout models, same-day registrations will account for around 18% of total turnout. Assuming even greater excitement for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama in the suburbs, that number very well could be higher than 18% -- that is a potentially HUGE error in SurveyUSA's methodology.
However, the issue with KSTP is a little more nefarious -- according to sources, they pre-released the poll results to Paulsen's campaign ahead of time, and not to the campaign of Democratic candidate Ashwin Madia. The Madia campaign had to call the station directly to get the results after finding out that they had already been given to Paulsen. This is a HUGE error in judgment at KSTP, and deserves all the negative attention it should and will receive.
I haven't bought into the theory that since KSTP's owner, Stan Hubbard, donates mainly to Republican candidates, the station is a GOP shill. However, this sequence of events, so close to a huge election, has us wondering about the integrity of their news operation.
Bottom line: Watch for the presidential numbers in this poll. If they feel too close, they probably are, and the entire poll should be treated as crap until KSTP and SurveyUSA explain themselves.
