In the race for the DFL nomination for State Auditor, MN Publius endorses Rebecca Otto over Reggie Edwards.
Our endorsement of Otto reflects just how impressed we are with her rather than any problem we might have with Reggie Edwards. On the contrary, Edwards seems well qualified for the position and we have noticed his rather strong support from the blogosphere.
Rebecca Otto, however, combines strong qualifications with a proven electoral record and an almost rock-star like reputation in Minnesota politics. Otto, you might recall, was a Member of the Forest Lake School Board when she shocked the Minnesota political scene by upsetting Matt Dean in a special election for the Minnesota House in 2003. Minnesota Democrats had been on a horrible run of special election losses and Otto was running in a solidly Republican district, but she still managed to win. Along the way, she secured the endorsement of former Republican Governor Arne Carlson, a coup to say the least. Otto also has an impressive record of environmental concern and child advocacy, which, while not of particular import to the State Auditor’s Office, says a great deal about her character and ideology.
Some will point to Otto’s vote in support of the Bachmann Amendment as a reason to support Edwards, but we believe that this vote does not reflect Otto’s true progressive ideology and we remind these critics that even Paul Wellstone voted for the Defense of Marriage Act. Moral of the story, one vote does not a bigot make.
In the House, Otto developed a record of fiscal responsibility that we believe will make her a very attractive candidate to Minnesota voters. We’ve also listened to her speak in person on several occasions and have been impressed with her knowledge and charisma on the stump.
In short, we believe that Rebecca Otto is the ideal candidate to beat Patricia Awada Anderson next fall. Given Anderson’s history of using her office for partisan gain, her defeat in 2006 ought to be of paramount concern to all Democrats, and we believe that Rebecca Otto is the best candidate for the job.
Precinct caucuses are just a week away, and since thousands of Minnesota Democrats all across our great state are making up their minds about who to support next week, Matt and I thought we would share with you who we like in the endorsement battles.
Over the next week, MN Publius with issue endorsements in five races. We are only endorsing candidates in contested primaries in statewide or federal races (so Andrew Borene and Tim Walz, who are both fantastic candidates who are heartily supported by MN Publius, don’t qualify). We’ll endorse one candidate a day, in the following order:
State Auditor: Tonight
Secretary of State: Tomorrow
Sixth Congressional District: Thursday
Governor: Friday
Senate: Monday (I know you are all on the edge of your seats waiting to see who we’ll support here!)
Finally, MN Publius would like to take this opportunity to encourage all of our readers to attend precinct caucuses next week. I’m driving up to Minnesota for the occasion (so all of you in SD 47, I’ll look forward to seeing you at Coon Rapids High). Unsure where you caucus will be held? Check out this website.
I’m a pretty trusting guy. That’s why I haven’t yet turned on user verification on my comments but if Ford Bell supporters keep up the dirty work, I might just have to do so. On Zack’s most recent post (right below this one) there is a string of comments that are conspicuously similar in their support for Bell. Well, knowing how clever ding-dong Bell supporters are, I thought maybe, just maybe, one supporter is changing his or her name in my comment field. JACK-POT! The person with the IP address 65.25.253.15 wins for being the stupidest commenter on my blog (even worse than John). Yep, one Bell supporter changed his or her name no less than 5 times in one comment string in order to make it look like Bell has support (in total (s)he’s changed names more than 10 times on this blog). Pretty pathetic that Bell needs to fake support… or maybe I’m selling him short; maybe the keyboard is just getting passed around his campaign office.
Technorati Tags: Ford Bell
Rasmussen is out with its latest poll on the Minnesota Senate race and the news is not good for “Makeover” Mark Kennedy. DFL front-runner Amy Klobuchar’s lead has grown over the past month while Kennedy’s support has remained stagnant. In fact, Kennedy’s support has been held a 42% since Rasmussen began polling this race, leading many to ask whether Kennedy has hit a ceiling.
Published by Matt 2 years, 2 months ago
in Iraq.
Yeah, who cares about women’s rights anyway:
PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota legislators approved a ban on nearly all abortions Friday, setting up a deliberate frontal assault on Roe vs. Wade at a time when some activists see the U.S. Supreme Court as more willing than ever to overturn the 33-year-old decision.
Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said he was inclined to sign the bill, which would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman’s life. The measure would make no exception in cases of rape or incest. [AP]
South Dakota: Where your personal business is everyone’s business.
From my inbox:
Watch Elwyn Tinklenberg talk about the issues, the election and our latest round of high-profile endorsements on TPT’s Almanac with Eric Eskola and Cathy Wurzer.
It will air tonight- 7PM on TPT Channel 2. It will also re-broadcast Saturday, February 25th at 7PM on Channel 17 and Sunday, February 26th on Channel 2 at 9:30am.
Technorati Tags: El Tinklenberg
Frankly, I don’t care one ounce that a company from United Arab Emirates might be managing some of our ports. The UAE is almost as western these days as is the Czech Republic. Any objections based solely on the fact that it is an Arab nation are bordering on racism. But that’s just my humble opinion.
From the Associated Press (via the Winona Daily News):
A Minneapolis businessman who bills himself as a centrist Republican is running for the U.S. Senate.
John Uldrich is challenging U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, the prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination. One other Republican, military veteran Harold Shudlick, is also seeking the nod.
Uldrich, 69, is a former Marine and co-founder of a high-tech startup company who has never run for statewide office. He is the father of Jack Uldrich, a former state official under Gov. Jesse Ventura who entered but quickly exited the Senate race last year as an Independence Party candidate.
The elder Uldrich said the two top issues facing the country are national security and the growing federal debt.
“I wouldn’t promise anyone I wouldn’t advocate raising taxes or cutting spending, because it’s obvious that both of those factors have to be put on the table and have to be kept there until control is brought back to our deficit spending,” Uldrich told Minnesota Public Radio.
More on this as the story develops…
Ding-Dong Bell isn’t doing so well says the Strib:
Struggling to gain traction against frontrunner Amy Klobuchar, Bell said he is in the race to stay. “Although many are calling my campaign a long shot and many would like me to leave this race and clear the field for Amy Klobuchar, I cannot and will not,” [Star Tribune]
…Cannot?
Technorati Tags: Ford Bell
Not that this is particularly relevant to Minnesota politics, but I just want to publicly say that I want the Vikings to keep Daunte Culpepper. This is a guy who is only one season removed from (statistically speaking) the best performance by a Vikings quarterback ever, and this is a franchise that has some pretty impressive quarterbacks (Tarkenton, Moon in the early ’90s, Cunningham in ‘98). Sure, he sucked this past season, but lets remember that he was playing with a crappy offensive line, no running game and a receiving corps that didn’t find its stride until mid-season. Many people seem to be upset with Culpepper’s “selfish” attitude since his injury, but please remember that the guy has just suffered a catastrophic knee injury. Its seems perfectly normal for a professional athlete (or anyone for that matter) to respond rather poorly to such an injury. Daunte has, by all reports, been training religiously and his recovery is well ahead of schedule. I have no doubt that if the Vikes keep Culpepper (please, please, please!) that he’ll quickly return to 2004 form.
C’mon Zygi, have a little faith!
Amy Klobuchar was on MPR’s Midmorning this morning, Ford Bell and Mark Kennedy will be on tomorrow and March 2 respectivley. Amy fielded some tough questions (probably some republican plants), but handled herself really well in my view.
Amy was also interviewed by MyDD’s Jonathan Singer. Its a good read, particularly for those who pretend that Amy is “weak on the issues”. A couple of highlights:
On Iraq:
I opposed this war in the first place. The administration went into this war without a plan and without the help of other countries to the extent that we have seen in other wars. We sort of had a go it alone philosophy. Sadly, it just keeps going on and on and on. You just pray for our troops and that we will see success there.
On her legislative priorities:
I want to work on, one, balancing this budget - they’ve taken a $300 billion Clinton budget surplus and turned it into a $300 billion Bush budget deficit - by going back to the pay-as-you-go rules that we had during the Clinton administration, looking at cutting down on this discretionary spending so we can put the money where it counts, on our big challenges of healthcare reform and energy independence. I would like to see more money to help kids afford college and change the priorities away from the wealthiest and the healthiest for healthcare. I would like to see true energy independence. We are sitting here in Minnesota on what we consider the Saudi Arabia of energy with the wind sweeping through the prairies. Down in Southwestern Minnesota, we have many, many wind turbines, to the point that they’ve now set up a bed and breakfast there, so people can go down and spend a weekend touring the wind turbines, so if you’re interested in that, you can come down to Minnesota for a weekend.
On the 2006 campaign:
I’m running against one of the most conservative Members of Congress. He has had in for him now Frist, Card, he’s had Hastert, he’s had Cheney, he’s had George W. Bush in for a fundraiser on Air Force One, and now he’s actually going out to Washington to have an event with Karl Rove. The only celebrities we’ve had are the Gear Daddy’s Band of Austin, Minnesota who’s most famous song is “I Want to Ride the Zamboni.”
So we need help from the blogosphere. We need help from progressives across this country to stand up and help me with this race. I’ve done everything that I can. We’ve built a huge grassroots network. We’re in the process of adding more and more volunteers every day. Jeff Blodgett, who was Paul Wellstone’s campaign manager, has been helping me extensively. I’ve raised money from my kitchen table, from the Internet - I always joke that I’ve even raised $15,000 from ex-boyfriends, and as my husband notes, that’s not an expanding base.”
Another Hennepin County Prosecutor has spoken out about the whole AFSCME-flap in the form of a letter to the editor in today’s Star Tribune:
As a member of Local 2938 of the Association of State, Federal, County and Municipal Employees (ASFCME), I was shocked to read the statements by president James Appleby (Star Tribune, Feb. 19). I know that our membership never saw, never endorsed and never voted to authorize this letter.
The only “strong feelings” voiced in this letter are those of its author.
I have served as a criminal prosecutor for 16 years in Hennepin County. Appleby’s claim that Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar’s only dedication is to her “self-promotion” is solely his opinion.
I have had a number of cases where Amy Klobuchar has attended — including plea hearings and sentencing hearings and an appellate court argument. Did I think she was trying to “take credit”? Absolutely not! She was supporting her staff, crime victims and connecting with the community — fulfilling her fundamental responsibility as the elected county attorney.
In my experience, her commitment to meeting with every city council and police department in Hennepin County to improve communications with our office has been appreciated by law enforcement — not criticized. Our office has effectively served the community interests under the leadership of Hennepin County Attorney Klobuchar.
I will be requesting that our local union establish a procedure that assures that any political endorsement or opposition to endorsement voiced by our union shall only occur after a vote of the membership has been taken and approved by a majority of its members, something that did not happen in this case.
BEVERLY BENSON, PLYMOUTH
I know he likes hockey f*cking tons, but the mullet look is getting a little out of control for Tim Pawlenty… business up front, party in the back.
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Published by Matt 2 years, 2 months ago
in Iraq.
I was reading a story written by Andrew Sullivan in an old The New Republic today and it struck me as important enough to share. Unfortunately, the story necessitates a subscription to read on the website but I think it is an important enough article to take my chances with TNR’s lawyers, so here’s a pdf of the article. The following excerpts struck me as particularly poignant:
No one should ever underestimate the profound impact that the conduct of American troops in World War II had on the citizens of the eventually defeated Axis powers. Germans saw the difference between being liberated by the Anglo-Americans and being liberated by the Red Army. If you saw an American or British uniform, you were safe. If you didn’t, the terror would continue in different ways. Ask any German or Japanese of the generation that built democracy in those countries, and they will remind you of American values–not trumpeted by presidents in front of handpicked audiences, but demonstrated by the conduct of the U.S. military during occupation. I grew up in Great Britain, a country with similar memories. In the dark days of the cold war, I was taught that America, for all its faults, was still America. And that America did not, and constitutively could not, torture anyone.
If American conduct was important in Japan and Germany, how much more important is it in Iraq and Afghanistan. The entire point of the war on terrorism, according to the president, is to advance freedom and democracy in the Arab world. In Iraq, we had a chance not just to tell but to show the Iraqi people how a democracy acts. And, tragically, in one critical respect, we failed. That failure undoubtedly contributed to the increased legitimacy of the insurgency and illegitimacy of the occupation, and it made collaboration between informed Sunnis and U.S. forces far less likely. What minuscule intelligence we might have plausibly gained from torturing and abusing detainees is vastly outweighed by the intelligence we have forfeited by alienating many otherwise sympathetic Iraqis and Afghans, by deepening the divide between the democracies, and by sullying the West’s reputation in the Middle East. Ask yourself: Why does Al Qaeda tell its detainees to claim torture regardless of what happens to them in U.S. custody? Because Al Qaeda knows that one of America’s greatest weapons in this war is its reputation as a repository of freedom and decency. Our policy of permissible torture has handed Al Qaeda this weapon–to use against us. It is not just a moral tragedy. It is a pragmatic disaster. Why compound these crimes and errors by subsequently legalizing them, as Krauthammer (explicitly) and the president (implicitly) are proposing? [Andrew Sullivan, "The Abolition of Torture" The New Republic, December 7, 2005]
This is an issue that goes to the very heart of American democracy. To compromise on torture is to compromise the American experiment. No other President in the history of our nation ever approved of torture as a legitimate method of interrogation from Washington to Lincoln to FDR because they all understood that the Declaration of Independence did not endow unalienable rights only to Americans but to the entire human race.
Technorati Tags: George Bush, Iraq, torture
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