Tracking Minnesota Politics Since 2005
Walz
Raised - $157,000
Cash on Hand - $111,000
Kline
Raised - $142,000
Cash on Hand - $103,000
Bachmann
Raised - $314,000
Cash on Hand - $224,000
That’s a pretty impressive quarter for Bachmann, and a so-so quarter for Walz and Kline. All three of these Representatives could concievably face serious challenges in 2010, but the reality is that none of them are really in any danger at this point.
I have attempted to confirm this story with the Congressman’s office, but with no luck so far. In addition to the source mentioned above, one commenter on an earlier MN Publius post claims his wife has been told by Walz staff that a decision not to run has been made.
I’ll update when/if more information becomes available.
Update by Aaron: MinnPost’s Eric Black confirms as well as Bluestem Prairie’s Sally Sorensen.
Liberals are hailing a three-way fight to lead the Congressional Progressive Caucus as a sign of the growing influence of the Democratic left on Capitol Hill…
Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) are both challenging incumbent Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.).
Looks like it might be an uphill fight for Keith, as Grijalva and Woolsey are both more senior members. If, however, Keith does succeed in winning the chair, it looks like it’ll be a pretty influential position:
But this year nine of the 13 candidates the caucus supported won election, and its membership is expected to grow to 80 members. In addition, Democrats will control both ends of the Capitol with sizable majorities, and the White House will be occupied by a Democrat with a liberal voting record.
“The progressive caucus is on the map now,” Woolsey said in an interview. “We just want to make sure our new president and vice president keep in mind who we consider to be the base of our party.”
We’re rooting for you Keith!
As for Tim Walz, he isn’t so much “attempting” to win a leadership position, he’s already won one:
Rep. Tim Walz of Mankato, fresh off his re-election to a second term, agreed to serve as a Midwest regional Democratic whip after being drafted by five committee chairmen for the post, his spokeswoman said.
Before joining the Tuesday’s meeting of Democratic lawmakers from seven states, Walz said he was not seeking any leadership post for the upcoming 111th Congress. But that was before he was urged to accept the job by the two Minnesota committee chairs, Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson of Detroit Lakes and Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar of Chisholm. They were joined by Appropriations Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin and the Michigan duo of Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell and Judiciary Chairman John Conyers.
“They felt they needed a moderate voice at the table in the whip organization,” said Meredith Salsbery, Walz’s press secretary. Walz will join the team of House Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. , third in rank under Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. They were easily re-elected by the newly expanded Democratic caucus during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
What does this mean for Walz’s gubernatorial prospects? Probably not much. You could see this as a sign that Walz plans on staying in Congress, or you could just see it as a smart move by a politician who is keeping his options open.
In other Walz news, the Congressman is apparently supporting John Dingell bid to remain Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That’s too bad. Dingell is too close to the auto industry and has been less than friendly to attempts to fight global warming.
A hat tip to Bluestem Prairie on both Walz stories.
The First Congressional District in Minnesota should, by all reasonable measures, be a tough spot for a House Dem to keep his seat. The district is right on the edge between Dem and Repub, it was represented for generations by a Republican Rep, and Walz is a first-termer — arguably the most difficult reelection of a Rep’s career. So, don’t let anyone tell you that the race in the 1st is an easy battle, it just looks that way because Tim Walz has been kicking some major butt.
Need more evidence of the butt-kicking that is happening down South? Brian Davis, Tim Walz’s Republican opponent, just released his first TV ad of the general election and it’s an attack ad. An attack ad! No bio, no introduction, no issues ad, just straight to the attack. Davis is getting his first real chance to let the district, on a broad base, know who he is and what he stands for but instead he chose to attack Walz. This is the definition of desperation.
What’s more, the ad is full of blatant lies. Davis knows the reason that Walz is kicking his butt is because Walz fits the district so danged well and has done an admirable job of representing the district’s moderate nature in his votes in Congress. So, because of this, Davis is trying to paint Walz as a liberal. Davis claims that Walz is among the most liberal in Congress, but by the National Journel’s statistics Walz has a more conservative voting record than 35.7% of Congress! Admittedly, these sort of ratings are flawed for a variety of reasons, but his record confirms. He voted against his party on the bailout twice (which I disagree with, but that’s a different story) because he felt it didn’t mesh with the 1st’s needs. He’s endorsed by the NRA and the VFW. He voted to allow the moratorium on off-shore drilling to end. Oh and he’s a friend of Minnesota’s farmers: he’s receiving the “Friend’s of Farm Bureau” award, he’s endorsed by the National Farmer’s Union, he was a champion of raising the minimum wage, and he fought hard for the new Farm Bill. Wow, what a liberal nut!
The fact of the matter is that Tim Walz is a moderate who fits his district, which is probably why he’s so popular there. To try to undermine this strength, Brian Davis has released a desperate ad full of lies. But, the reality is that lies and all, this ad is airing in the 1st and people will see it. So how about we help Tim fight back; I think it serves all Minnesotans well to have this guy around for a while.
Walz is going to win in a landslide in CD1. More commentary on this ad from Ollie Ox.
Gov. Rep. Tim Walz announced today that he had raised nearly 250K since July 1st.
Today, the Walz campaign announced that Congressman Tim Walz has raised almost $250,000 in the pre-primary reporting period (July 1-August 20). So far, over 7,500 individual donors have contributed to Tim’s campaign.
Given the paltry 100 grand from millionaire Dr. Brian Davis, and (probably) less from Dick Day, Tim Walz is in a great position to coast to victory this year.
But all the same, years from now when one of your kids asks you what you ever did for Tim Walz (who will by then have joined Humphrey, Mondale and Wellstone in the DFL firmament) you could say you donated to him waaay back when he was just a freshman legislator — or that you even went and volunteered for him.
A solid spot by Tim Walz on energy. Walz co-sponsored the DRILL act. He voted for the Clean Energy Act. He’s brought forth legislation to expand wind power. He’s fought for lower gas prices. The ad isn’t just rhetoric — it reflects the kind of positions Walz has taken in Congress and why we need to keep him in Washington.
[via]
Just saw a press release from Congressman Walz in my inbox and thought this is pretty cool:
The National Geographic Education Foundation announced today that four key Congressional leaders have won its “Geography Legislator of the Year” award for 2008. Recognized for their commitment to promoting improved geographic literacy among American K-12 students are Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).
…
Walz, a former high school geography teacher in Mankato, Minn., and a member of the Minnesota Geographic Alliance, has fostered practical, hands-on global education for students, including promoting people-to-people ties between the United States and China. He has been effective in building broad support for the TGIF bill, introduced as H.R. 1228 in the House, personally collecting over a dozen co-sponsorships from his colleagues.
Boy, he sure is great on education issues; I wonder what he could do if put in a position where he could have more of a direct affect. But most education is funded at the state level… shucks.
Today, Congressman Tim Walz’s campaign released estimates of its fundraising numbers for the second quarter of 2008. Walz had his strongest quarter yet, with more than 2,500 individual contributors and raising more than $430,000, bringing cash on hand for the cycle to $1.2 million.
GOP endorsed candidate Brian Davis raised $290,000 in the second quarter and loaned himself an additional $100,000. That means that even if you include the six figure loan, Walz outraised Davis by at least $40k. His cash on hand lead is even more impressive - $1.2 million for Walz vs. $376k for Davis. Thats a 3-1 lead.
Davis’ primary challenger, Dick Day, has yet to report his fundraising totals, but I’d guess he’ll fall well below Davis’ totals. In fact, despite promising to do so just last week, Day has yet to file for office and some are speculating that he won’t (though to be fair, Davis and Walz have yet to file as well).
Bottom line: Davis’ fundraising is impressive, but its just not enough to make this a competitive race in such a DFL year.
Davis raised 268k from individuals, got another 20k from party units and PACs and put in 2k himself. Not bad.
The big news, if I am reading this report correctly, is that Davis loaned his campaign an adittional 100k. Thats on top of the loans he made earlier in the cycle.
Davis has $376,000 cash on hand. That’s a good sum for a challenger. Too bad he’ll have to spend a lot of it fighting Dick Day in the primary. Oh, and don’t forget that Tim Walz had a million dollars in the bank as of April.
The Congressman is neutral in this race, he is focused doing his job for the people of Southern Minnesota, he is not encouraging Ciresi to get in and he is not playing a role in this race at all.
Walz - 60%
Davis - 20%
Walz - 57%
Day - 22%
No big surprise here, Walz is going to blow these guys out of the water.
People Are Shouting
RSS