The closer we get to 2010, the more impact will be had by stories about congressional reapportionment -- the process by which seats in Congress are distributed based on population growth and decline.
Early analysis indicates that Texas will likely be the biggest winner since the prior count a decade ago, picking up three or four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and Election Data Services Inc., a political-consulting firm. Other states poised to gain at least one seat include Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Florida and Utah.
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Since the number of seats in the House is capped at 435, the gains in the South and West have to be offset by losses elsewhere.
New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts and the recession-battered industrial states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania each stand to lose a House seat. So does Louisiana, where the population still hasn't rebounded from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which displaced so many residents that census takers face a difficult task in tallying them all.
It's actually a pretty interesting piece, diving into the myriad issues faced by Census takers next year -- and surprisingly, it doesn't even mention that Michele Bachmann won't be fulfilling her duty as a citizen by filling out the whole ten-question form.
There's been plenty of discussion over what to do if Minnesota loses a seat next year -- depending on who controls the Governor's office, should Michele Bachmann or John Kline be redistricted out of office, or should the 5th and 4th districts be combined into a super-super-liberal bastion, spreading the suburban areas around the cities out amongst the surrounding districts to produce a 5-2 Republican advantage in the delegation?
Let's be fair: none of these things would be good for Minnesota. More representation -- even insane representation from Michele Bachmann or crass, uncaring representation from John Kline or whatever it is we're actually getting from Erik Paulsen -- means more federal funding for critical state projects and more influence in the House of Representatives.
That we're not on the list of states projected to lose a seat is a good thing.
The headline reads "Norm Coleman reaches out to Franken on absentee ballots." The reality is that Coleman's legal team sent a letter to Al Franken, and the press, that asks him not to fight their attempt to have all of the rejected absentee ballots re-re-inspected. Which is, of course, in direct opposition to the position they took prior to the election contest being filed.
This headline would have been appropriate if, back in November, Coleman had decided to go along with counting wrongly rejected absentee ballots. But the Coleman team didn't do that did they? No, they refused to even consider the possibility of counting such ballots. It's understandable why the Coleman position has changed so dramatically, they don't have a choice. They need to find votes somewhere.
But for the Star Tribune to cast this effort as "reaching out" is nothing more than misinformation.
Trent England of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation spreads lies and insinuations about the Minnesota Senate race in Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal today. Mr. England is from Olympia, WA and is still bitter over losing the 2004 recount in WA Governor's race.
Four years ago in Washington, Democratic Party candidate Christine Gregoire lost the first count, lost the recount, and then won a second, highly dubious recount by 133 votes. In Minnesota, where Sen. Norm Coleman is defending his seat against comedian-turned-candidate Al Franken, the first count showed Mr. Coleman up 725 votes. Today, thanks to another dubious recount, Mr. Franken is apparently in the lead.
(WSJ)
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a right wing "think tank" funded by the typical right wing sources. Read more about the Evergreen Freedom Foundation here.
Mr. England lies about lost ballots, ballot security, ACORN and Mark Ritchie. He spews some vague accusations that seem to be directed toward Ritchie. Read on for the details...
For the second year in a row, the Twin Cities region stayed at the top of MarketWatch's list of best metro areas for business, based on results from a variety of sources. While a number of other players shifted around in the standings, and a couple fell out of the top 10, Minneapolis-St. Paul lost a little bit in the scoring. But the area still outdistanced its closest competitor, Boston, by more than 20 points.
No doubt this will be touted by supporters of Gov. Tim Pawlenty as proof that his regressive tax policies are good for the business climate in Minnesota, and thus good for Minnesotans as a community. But wait -- there's more:
Many of the region's companies are home-grown and have thrived in the environment. UnitedHealth, for example, was started in 1974 and now boasts $80 billion in annual sales.
Other companies have deeper roots, such as Traveler's in St. Paul, which got its start in 1853. It's been sustained in part by a highly ranked school system and the network of higher-education providers in the region.
"It's a very educated workforce," said Andy Bessette, Traveler's chief administrative officer. "The people here, the school systems, are very good."
There are two important nuggets buried in that quote. One is that the most successful businesses in Minnesota are not recent immigrants brought here by favorable conditions instituted by the Pawlenty regime -- they're homegrown and stay here regardless of the policies of the current Governor. The second is that education is the great equalizer -- the thing that gives Minnesota the best-educated workforce in the country, and the thing that enables companies to say "well, yeah, the winters suck, but...."
That's an important "but", and it's the result of a decades-long commitment to quality public and higher education -- the same education systems that have experienced large cuts in Local Government Aid under Tim Pawlenty, resulting in painful property tax increases to pay for school levies.
Credit goes where credit's due -- and in this case, that's most definitely not Tim Pawlenty.
We'll as I looked around the Star Tribune's website today I noticed a huge lie sitting in the Shortcuts section. What is this lie? The conservative Wall Street Journal rushing to crown Tim Pawlenty hero of the middle class. Of course we know better.
Here is the bogus quote that from an editorial that appeared Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal.
"If he's looking for tips on handling Nancy Pelosi, President Bush might want to consult Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. The Republican Governor is using his veto power to good effect on policy and making himself more popular. Last month the Democrats who run the Legislature in St. Paul pushed through a big tax and spending increase in their $35 billion state budget. Last week Mr. Pawlenty responded by vetoing all six of the spending and tax bills the Democrats sent him. The usual media and interest group suspects are upset, but Mr. Pawlenty is rallying his own supporters and making himself a defender of the taxpaying middle class."
