http://mnpublius.com Tracking Minnesota Politics Since 2005 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:30:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sarah Palin is resigning as Governor of Alaska. There are a million snarky things I could say about this, and many of them are being said around the blogosphere. I have a feeling, though, that I'd regret it once the full story comes out. Because there has to be something else ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/whats-going-on-with-sarah-palin/ One of the largest cuts Tim Pawlenty made in his unilateral slashing of the Minnesota budget was completely eliminating General Assistance Medical Care. What is GAMC? According to the Department of Human Services website, "GAMC provides medical care for a monthly average of 33,000 (FY 2007) low-income Minnesotans who don’t ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/how-will-eliminating-gamc-impact-health-care-in-minnesota/ We know that Republicans want Obama to fail. They've made that pretty clear. Which makes me wonder: Does that sentiment extend to the economy? Would they be happy to see the economic recovery fail and have us plunge into a depression? It would probably do a lot for their party's ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/do-republicans-want-the-economy-to-improve/ The rumors are getting pretty fierce about Tarryl Clark running for Governor Congress in 2010 - one might even say she's close to making an announcement.  She has been contacting key supporters and activists, and I doubt it's to chat about that cold spell we had in June. It would be ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/tarryl-clark-not-for-governor/ Al Franken got emotional at yesterday's victory rally when talking about his opportunity to serve the people of Minnesota: Franken teared up when he talked about people's concerns that the protracted Senate race was taking an emotional toil on him and his family. "What we've been through is just nothing, especially when ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/star-tribune-emotional-franken-vows-to-honor-wellstone/ Wow, that's a lot better. After some bad numbers early on, the revised health reform bill would provide near-universal coverage for a much lower cost: The plan carries a 10-year price tag of slightly over $600 billion, and would lead toward an estimated 97 percent of all Americans having coverage, according ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/adding-a-public-plan-means-drastic-savings-for-health-reform/ On behalf of Americans everywhere, I would like to thank God for some excellent advice he gave to Joe the Plumber: Asked if he has plans to run for public office, he replied, “I hope not. You know, I talked to God about that and he was like, ‘No.’” Even God is ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/thank-you-god/ Thanks to our friends in DC for sending this great picture. http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/waste-no-time/ The media keeps reporting that health reform is losing momentum, but I just don't see it. Granted, it's probably not going to be done by August, but this is major, major legislation -- getting it done within Obama's first year would be an impressive feat by any standard. Now there's ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/walmart-supports-health-reform/ The Democrats now have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate! In theory, at least. What are the chances of them actually overcoming a filibuster? I'm going to guess that they're pretty slim. Will they be able to overcome a filibuster on climate-change legislation? They'll have to convince Arlen Specter (D-PA) to ... http://mnpublius.com/2009/07/60-votes-in-the-senate-dont-count-on-it/