Doug Grow at
MinnPost has a great article about the confrontation, which shows right-wing looniness at its best. Among other things, the teabaggers showed themselves to be in desperate need of a civics lesson:
The people, who didn’t arrive in the best of moods, got even testier when they learned that McCollum was not at the office.
“We pay her salary, where is she?” demanded a woman.
“She’s at her son’s wedding,” [staffer Josh] Straka said. …
“Even if my son was being married right now, I would be at this meeting if I were a congresswoman,” yelled one woman. …
“But we weren’t even given notice you were coming,” said Straka, who explained that the only advance knowledge of the gathering came via the grapevine.
A sterling example of conservative logic. If I were McCollum, I would definitely skip my son’s wedding just in case an angry conservative mob decided to show up unannounced. After all, these days, the chances of that happening have become pretty good.
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Erik Paulsen is almost certain to face a top flight challenge in 2010. Rumor has it State Sen. Terri Bonoff is seriously considering another run. If she decides to jump in, she would the DFL frontrunner.
Paulsen, however, is not waiting to find out who his opponent will be. Filings released today reveal that Paulsen raised over $221,000 in the 1st Quarter of 2009. That’s a pretty healthy sum for the first quarter of the cycle during a recession. His cash on hand is not as impressive - only 190,000. If a Bonoff or some other DFLer gets into this race sometime in the near future, they should not have much trouble staying at financial parity with Paulsen.
In related news, 4th District Congresswoman Betty McCollum reported raising a little over $100k in the 1st quarter, she has a similar ammount on hand.
Betty McCollum spent some time to get to know Al Franken. An email to her supporters:
Dear Fourth District DFLers:
“Crisis” now describes a long list of issues facing Minnesota families
and our country. From healthcare to energy prices, the economy to
ending the Iraq war – America faces serious challenges that require
urgent action. In Washington, we need leaders who are willing to take
America in a new direction. I am proud of the work Democrats in the
U.S. House have accomplished to pass important legislation.
Unfortunately, much of our work has been stalled in the U.S. Senate by
an obstructionist Republican minority. That needs to change.
As I look forward to 2009, I want to be represented in the U.S. Senate
by two Minnesota senators who will support and vote to advance our
positive, action oriented Democratic agenda to strengthen our economy,
keep our nation secure, and invest in our country’s future. That
means in this year’s race for the U.S. Senate I will be voting for Al
Franken.
This spring I voiced concerns about material from Al’s past career. To
have remained silent when asked would have been hypocritical and
dishonest. I am confident my concerns have been heard and since then
I have watched Al’s campaign take steps to address these matters. Now,
I believe Al and his campaign are appropriately focused on building a
solid relationship with voters based on our shared Minnesota values,
ideals, and hopes for the future. Like all candidates, Al understands
that he is not only asking Minnesotans for their vote, but for their
trust. As November 4th approaches, Al Franken will earn the trust of
Minnesotans and I intend to work with him to win this election.
Fourth District DFLers, thank you for your on-going support. This
year I will continue to campaign hard to turn out the vote to elect
Barack Obama to the White House, Al Franken to the U.S. Senate, and
win my own re-election to Congress. I know we will all work together
in the 4th District to win in November and together take Minnesota and
America in a new direction.
Sincerely,
Betty McCollum
Member of Congress
This is fantastic news for the Al Franken campaign.
Editor’s note: This has been promoted from MNpublius’s new diaries section where anyone can post about anything. This is the fifth of nine articles in Jeff’s Daily Liberal Mapping Project. These articles examine Minnesota’s voting patterns precinct by precinct, with data from the 2006 election. Perhaps you missed Jeff’sanalysis of CD7, CD6, and CD5?
In this edition of the Daily Liberal Mapping Project, we look at the other central-city Congressional District, CD4. CD4 is the home of Betty McCollum, who has served the district since 2001. The district is pretty much a guaranteed Democratic vote, and it has a lot of similarities to CD5, which we discussed on Monday. However, because the 4th also encompasses a handful of suburbs to the north, it is less overwhelmingly Democratic. It still has a high Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+13.
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