Tracking Minnesota Politics Since 2005
The special election for Steve Sviggum’s seat will be August 7th. A Primary Election, if necessary will be held July 24th. The AP has it here.
Three candidates have already declared their intentions to run for the seat, Republicans Jennifer Berquam of Wanamingo and Steve Drazkowski of Wabasha, as well as Democrat Jeffrey Flaten of Kenyon, who unsuccessfully challenged Sviggum twice.
We’ll keep you up to date as we work on getting one seat closer to a super-majority in the House.
MNPublius endorsed Representative Jeremy Kalin is taking the Minnesota Food Stamp Challenge, and he’s blogging about it at their website (it’s also crossposted at, his own blog, and at Minnesota Campaign Report), the food stamp challenge is when Minnesotans try to live off of approximately three dollars a day in food.
While I’m sure this would be an opportune time to point out that of all of the legislators who are taking this challenge; Representative Kalin, Representative Hosch, Representative Murphy, Representative Madore, Representative Norton, and Senator Lourey, are DFL’ers, I’ll leave that alone for now.
Representative Kalin details the joys of shopping on 21$ a week.
I shopped at the Cub Foods in Cambridge, on my way home. Unfortunately, I was quite hungry at this point - not a good idea with a very limited budget. At first, I had an easy time putting together a full basket: Romaine lettuce @ 1.29, white bread @ 1.69, rice @ 1.13 and beans @ .97, tortillas @ .99… Protein. Carbs. Greens. Good to go for several meals, at just over 6 bucks…
I added 21 oz. of spaghetti noodles for 1.00, and generic sauce for 1.59. Some peas and corn in a can for a total of .88 and I had a heavy basket for about 10 bucks. On to some meat-y protein. I grabbed two cans of tuna for 98 cents and a pound of ground beef for 2.50 (a splurge, I know, but I need real meat during these 5 days)…
I got to the register, and found myself about 65 cents over budget. I handed back the fresh lettuce. I now regret it. The fresh lettuce would go so much farther for taste and crispness than would the canned corn and peas. Bad move.
Now, what does all of this have to do with Minnesota? (I’m trying to bring this full circle, more than just saying “Oh, look, here’s a Minnesota legislator doing something!”) Not many people know this, but the annual budget for food stamps is almost wholly contained in the Ag bill winding its way through committee. And who is on that committee? Why Tim Walz is! And Colin Peterson is the Chair of the Committee!
Contact Reps. Walz and Peterson here, and tell them that they should help America’s farmers help America’s poor by increasing the Food Stamp subsidy.
And finally, just to bring even more back on home, the permanent Food Stamp program was the work of Hubert Humphrey and Orville Freeman (former Governor of Minnesota and influential Secretary of Agriculture under Kennedy, father of Mike, and considered by many to be Humphrey’s capo) and a Congresswoman from Missouri in 1964. This concludes your history lesson for the day.
Libruls, the whole lot of ‘em.
Click below the fold for the good news.
Michael “U.S. Senator Norm Coleman raised more money than Franken during the last reporting period, but I would expect Franken to beat him this quarter.”
He then goes on to rationalize about Norm doing his business being a good Senator… yadda yadda yadda. Which is kind of silly. Because it would at least imply that while racking up his million plus dollars in Q1, Norm wasn’t being a good Senator. It’s also silly, because as Norm is still surprisingly tight lipped about how he’s going to vote on cloture on the immigration reform bill, Mike Michael must also be implying that one need not be courageous to be a good Senator.
Keep an eye out as the Republicans will inevitably try to lower expectations over and over again as Norm Coleman gets outworked by a great field of DFL’ers who are ready to occupy Paul Wellstone’s Senate seat.
Stay tuned to MNPublius as the numbers come in, we’ll be sure to give you the straight dope.
Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days. I was out scouting locations for the northern headquarters of the secret liberal cabal that owns the internets. While several locations in the Duluth/Superior area were found, I can’t remember what they are now.
So, in the interest of getting you a little new content I present you a little of this, a little of that.
Naaaaaaaaahm Coleman has yet to establish whether or not he is going to vote for cloture on the illegal immigration bill. Don’t get ahead of yourself Norm, God forbid you should actually make up your mind about something and then stick to it! I’m curious how the Republican party feels about having the most weaselly guy in the Senate as its pre-decided candidate.
The DFL has a new website up. It’s pretty! It’s easy to use! It doesn’t look like it was done by a half-drunk IT undergrad using Microsoft Frontpage. The DFL website connects you to all of your DFL Representatives, has full sized photos of the official MNPublius legislative crush and in something that I think is really awesome, connects you to all of the Presidential campaigns and their local organizations. (privately to the DFL: 2 things guys, 1. So, what do you guys think about maybe putting up a blogroll? Hmmm maybe? Under ‘Media’? 2. How about unique url’s?)
Eric Black has started posting over at MinMon. Matt Martin was overheard muttering “I was on this whole blogging thing way before that guy.”
One final bit of “Never Found A Policy He Didn’t Support For The Right Audience” Norm, from the Rake, look at Norm with those gleaming store bought choppers and those saddle shoes!
“Republican Norm Coleman of Minnesota will attempt a second time to offer an amendment allowing officials of federal, state or local government entities to question individuals about their immigration status if the officials have probable cause to believe the individuals lack legal status.”
But as our military faces personnel shortages because Americans aren’t signing up to serve their country; the Pentagon has begun to press the Senate and the obstructionists in it to pass the Comprehensive Immigration bill.
“In other words, if you had come across (the border) with your parents, yet you were a minor child and have been in the U.S. school system for a number of years, then you could be eligible to enlist…”
Because the provision would have applied only to the “cream of the crop” of students who have demonstrated top aptitude, it would have been “very appealing” to the military, Carr said. “It would have been good for readiness,” he said.”
Norm Coleman needs to stop standing in the way of our Army and give them the tools they need to complete their mission.
Fuh real. I’m not kidding.
“The Bush administration, which opposes legislation to shield journalists from revealing their confidential sources, warned lawmakers Thursday that the measure’s broad definition of journalists could protect the media wings of terrorist groups.”
Keith Ellison (Scourge of the Republican Party — MN) thinks that is boobery of a most uncharming sort.
“Is it legitimate to say, ‘The terrorists are going to get us so we shouldn’t have this law’?” Ellison asked. “That strikes me as kind of hyperbole.”
In this case “hyperbole” = “booberbole”
Republicans in the Judicial Committee and William Safire, bed wetting liberal that he is (thats sarcasm for you Chris), rush to echo Keith’s sentiments, after the jump.
“…. Whereas, all political observers nationally agree that both major
political parties’ presidential nominee will be evident after the
February 5th and 12th primary and caucus contests; and,
Whereas, Minnesota Democrats will have no true impact in selecting our
national party’s presidential nominee if we meet on the March caucus
date; and….
Whereas, March 4th, 2008 will see most major Minnesota media paying no
significant attention, if any, to the precinct caucuses if held on that
date; and,
Whereas, in 2000 the Minnesota DFL Party held their precinct caucuses
on a date other than the statutory date with no negative statutory
consequences; therefore,
Be It Resolved, it is the intent of the Minnesota DFL Party’s State
Executive Committee to present a resolution for consideration at the
next State Central Committee meeting that would move the date of the
DFL Precinct Caucuses in 2008 to the first Tuesday in February; and,
Be It Further Resolved, that the Minnesota DFL Party invites the
Republican, Independence, and Green Parties of Minnesota to join with
it in making February 5th a day that all Minnesotans can impact who
will be our country’s political parties’ respective presidential
nominees.”
As the resolution establishes there will be one more step before the DFL moves its caucuses to Feb. 5th, the endorsement of the DFL State Central Committee. With DFL’ers it’s never a done deal, but I doubt that this resolution would receive anything other than the Central Committee’s support.
So, I guess that this means special session or not, the DFL at least, is going to have it’s caucuses on February 5th.
There are a lot of arguments swirling around the front loading of primaries and caucuses, and I personally feel that it’s bad to have all of these caucuses so early in the season. But I also understand and appreciate why Minnesota’s political leaders would need to defend a place of importance in the Presidential race.
Note: I am a member of the DFL Executive Committee, I was not at the DFL Executive Committee Meeting this last weekend, where this resolution passed because of a personal conflict. I would have voted for this resolution had I been there.
Peter Agre, speculative candidate for Paul Wellstone’s Senate seat met with Joe Trippi last week where he received advice and encouragement from the super-star politico who was best known for his work on the Howard Dean campaign.
I don’t know, and doubt there will be any professional relationship between the two since Trippi is working working for John Edwards, but it is interesting that Agre would have the connections to get a meeting with Trippi.
I would hazard a guess that to become a Nobel Laureate you don’t rest on your laurels, and with the connections it seems Agre has, if he is going to put the same intellect and hard work into this bid for the Senate we have our 3rd solid contender. And it is worth noting that he has connections to a largely untapped donor base with lots and lots of bank — the medical community.
If Peter Agre gets on the scene he’s going to be a formidable candidate and I think if you marginalize him you do so at your own risk.
Ben Stein — former speech writer for Richard Nixon, has long been held as one of the few shining stars of Republican celebrities (because lets face it Scott Baio and Shannon Doherty don’t carry much cache, but the “Beuller?… Beuller?” guy is rocking it) has this to say about Al Franken…
“Al is a close friend and one of the smartest people I have ever met.”
But — who cares about a simple endorsement from Ben Stein? What really gets Republicans tut-tutting and harumphing around is the thousand smackers he gave to Franken.
Saint Paul at Fraters Libertas has this to say…
“One of the finest writers around on politics, economics, and culture, as demonstrated in this listing. In particular, he’s one the most articulate and persuasive speakers advocating the pro-life stance in the country.
And he’s giving money to Al Bleeping Franken? A guy who’s never found a liberal position on abortion he didn’t like (as shown by the $5,000 contribution he also received from something called Washington Women for Choice.) How in the world can Ben Stein be supporting Al Franken?….
…if we wake up on November 5, 2008 to the reality of Senator Al Franken, we have Ben Stein’s money to thank for it.”
It’s alright dude — you’ll always have Jim Nabors to fall back on.
But sometimes Norm Coleman makes me go hmmm.
The oddest bedfellows in Washington, Utah and Washington DC, got one more ally today in Norm Coleman who voted to give DC representation in the House of Representatives.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led by Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., passed historic legislation on Wednesday to give citizens of the District of Columbia a voting seat in the House of Representatives. The bill was reported out of the Committee 9-1, with the support of six Democrats and three Republicans, and was met with an eruption of audience applause.
The sole dissenter was John Warner (R- Liz Taylor’s 7th Husband, VA).
The argument over DC’s representation is a convoluted one with more aspects than you can shake a stick at, but most Republicans who don’t stand to gain outright from this (i.e. ones in Utah) are all pretty firm in the idea that DC shouldn’t have elected voting Representation as it’s not, and legally cannot be a state.
Can anyone shed any insight onto Norm’s vote over this?
Disclaimer: I swear I read something other than the Washington Post.
In this mornings Washington Post, I saw a headline that made me chuckle: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Funny Senator
Maybe the funniest part of the article is the Senator talking about her husbands role in the Senate Spouses organization.
Claire McCaskill and I were driving out of the Senate one day and we looked out the window and we see my husband. And he’s carrying this pink box. And she said, ‘Isn’t that your husband?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know what he’s doing here.’ We called him over and it’s a baby present. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘Well I’m here for a Senate Spouse event. It’s Jim Webb’s wife’s baby shower.
That has comic gold written all over it. John Bessler as the only male in a room full of women at a baby shower. Ripe for sit-com material.
Needless to say, if you’re a fan of Richard Pryor you will find little in the article funny, but it’s always clutch to see our Junior Senator getting some MSM love. Video here.
And finally — more to posts up later.
Congratulations Senator Coleman, you did the right thing today. (it should be noted that Senator Klobuchar did as well.)
Under Alberto Gonzales the Justice Department has been an impediment to the fair and equitable rule of law, and Senator Coleman did the right thing today.
Hey — even a busted clock is right twice a day.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the recipient of a confidence vote in the Senate this afternoon.
Arlen Spector (R-PA, One of my favorite Senators as well) had this to say about our AG;
“If you ask Arlen Specter, do I have confidence in Attorney General Gonzales, the answer is a resounding no,” Specter said during a news conference in Philadelphia. “I’m going to vote that I have no confidence in Attorney General Gonzales.”
What’s worth noting, and worth a post, is that after letting several other Republican Senators come out and call for Gonzales’ resignation Senator Nahm Coleman called for his resignation as well.
Clearly “Leader of the Pack” isn’t going to be Normy’s theme song anytime soon.
But, back to the topic at hand.
After calling for Gonzales’ resignation, is Norm going to continue to stand up for fair government and transparency, or in the face of this administration’s unmatched boobery is Norm going to slink back to being Republican lapdog the he was for the first four years of his term?
Update: This is what I get for not checking my email before scrounging up a post. Flip the fold for more DoJ shenanigans from this morning’s WaPo:
Continue reading ‘Resolve in Defence of Boobery is no Virtue.’
Dear Jack:
Hi, my name is Sean, this is just an FYI, when I saw your announcement that you were “exploring” a run for the Senate and that you had set up a website (www.mostimportantdecade.com) the first thing that I thought was…
“Sounds like a book by Tom Brokaw.”
But thats beside the point. Just gonna throw this out there, pallmeyer.org/palmeyer.org/pallmayer.org/palmayer.org are all available and will probably make a much more memorable website. Because no one is going to be caucusing for the most important decade evar! They’re going to be caucus for well… you buddy! Just sayin’ man. Branding.
Keep it real.
Hugs and Kisses,
Sean
For everyone other than Jack, a little more after the fold.
Continue reading ‘Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer: Really Long Website Name’
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