Capitol View: January 30, 2006 Archive

Briefing - Monday January 30, 2006

Posted at 7:16 AM on January 30, 2006 by Bob Collins

Wikipedia is fast becoming the research tool of choice on the Internet, which is too bad because if you don't like the history that is there, you can change it. Apparently that's what Rep. Marty Meehan did according to the Lowell Sun newspaper.

On Sunday Rasmussen released a poll on the governor's race in Minnesota shows Tim Pawlenty leading Mike Hatch in a two-way contest, with a wider lead against DFLer Steve Kelley. Keep in mind these are two-way races, throw in the Independence Party (Peter Hutchinson) and one can imagine a more comfortable position for the governor.

In the Senate race, according to Rasmussen, Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Mark Kennedy are in a statistical dead heat. But Kennedy bests Ford Bell, which has to be comforting to the GOP since a Zogby poll a week and half ago showed Bell giving Kennedy a run.

As we get deeper into the campaign, look for how many media outlets require a candidate to get at least X percentage of a vote in a poll to qualify for the debate. Then ask yourself, "how are they supposed to get X percent when their names aren't even mentioned in the questions being asked of the respondents?"

From the blogs today, Centrisity has an open letter to the "fringe on the left."

Minnesota Democrats Exposed is on Hatch's case about missing a forum in Martin County. (Hey, did anyone attend the Stonewall event over the weekend?)

MN Publius launches one against Mark Kennedy over a fundraising letter.

Cindy Sheehan and Hugo Chavez were arm-in-arm over the weekend. So if you're a Republican running against a Democrat who was arm-in-arm with Cindy Sheehan in the last year...well....they said that algebra class wouldn't pay off.

The tally

Posted at 11:27 AM on January 30, 2006 by Bob Collins

With Rep. Andy Westerberg deciding not to run for re-election, here's the updated list of soon-to-be-open seats.

SENATE (7)
Mark Ourada (R)* - Buffalo
Dave Kleis (R)* - St. Cloud
David Gaither (R)* - Plymouth
Sen. Bob Kierlin (R) - Winona
Sen. John Hottinger (D) - Mankato
Sen. Sharon Marko (D) - Cottage Grove
Sen. Jane Ranum (D) - Minneapolis

HOUSE (8)
Rep. Joe Opatz (D) - St. Cloud
Rep. Matt Entenza (D) - St. Paul
Rep. Jeff Johnson (R) - Plymouth
Rep. Jerry Dempsey (R) - Red Wing
Rep. Ruth Johnson (D) - St. Paul
Rep. Scott Newman (R) - Hutchinson
Rep. Fran Bradley (R) - Rochester
Rep. Andy Westerberg (R) - Blaine

The money chase

Posted at 1:44 PM on January 30, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Tuesday is the day for candidates to file their year-end campaign finance reports with the Federal Elections Commission. I'm updating the individual candidates pages in the Campaign 2006 section.

In the 1st District, Gil Gutknecht holds a substantial advantage over DFLer Tim Walz, $473,267 to $118, 136.

Second District Rep. John Kline is sitting on a pot of cash, having raised $659,693 to date. DFLer Coleen Rowley has not yet filed.

No wonder Rep. Jim Ramstad has no opposition in the 3rd District (OK, there are a lot of reasons, but this is one). He's sitting on $1.1 million.

In the 4th, Betty McCollum had a modest quarter of fundraising and has garnered about $188,000 to date. Her opponent, Republican Obi Sium, has not yet filed.

Martin Sabo, in the 5th District, is currently unopposed and has raised $249,510.50.

In the 6th District race, Phil Krinkie and Michele Bachmann are VERY close in fundraising. Jim Knoblach and Elwyn Tinklenberg and Jay Esmay have not yet filed.

In the 7th District, incumbent DFLer Colin Peterson has raised $318,958.35. Opponent Michael Barrett has yet to file his inaugural statement with the FEC.

And in the 8th District, incumbent Jim Oberstar reports $481,411.57 in total contributions at year's end. He is unopposed.

In the Senate race, none of the candidates has yet filed a report (or at least it's not available yet from the FEC), but Mark Kennedy has issued a release saying he has $2.65 million on hand and raised $1,529,461 in the last quarter, with a total of $3.65 million during the year.

Comment on this post