Polinaut: March 13, 2006 Archive

Digging out

Posted at 2:53 PM on March 13, 2006 by Bob Collins

I never did get to dig into either paper today -- beyond the front page. Too much snow to blow and other things to catch up with. But, you know, I've done a lot of newspaper delivering in my life -- and still occasionally do -- and those folks deserve a big tip for getting the papers on the doorsteps today -- especially in the 'burbs. They work 7 days a week and beat the heck out of their cars and days like today are really horrible for them. So, if any of 'em are reading this -- thanks.

Didn't see much on the various RSS feeds. Apparently Rambling from the North is suspending his campaign for state auditor. There is an Edwards for Auditor Web site, but..well... it appears to be all messed up.

Tim Pawlenty was on Midday today. I'm falling farther and farther behind but I'll try to get it sliced up and put on his Campaign 2006 Web site page too.

(Update 5:14 p.m. -- This is now done)

The mystery endorsement

Posted at 8:41 PM on March 13, 2006 by Bob Collins

The Hill is reporting on a overzealous press release from the Kennedy campaign.

Minnesota The Senate campaign of Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) recently sent out a release questioning why his likely Democratic opponent this fall, Amy Klobuchar, has not touted the endorsement of retiring Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.).

Dayton’s office has a simple explanation: The senator has not officially backed Klobuchar. However, Dayton has hinted that he will eventually endorse the Democratic front-runner to claim his seat.

Heidi Frederickson, press secretary for Kennedy’s campaign, said she received the information from a Minneapolis Star Tribune article. However, the article doesn’t explicitly say that Klobuchar was endorsed.

Officials from Klobuchar’s office were not available for comment.

“Ms. Klobuchar has been silent about lots of issues during this campaign. I suppose Minnesotans shouldn’t be surprised she isn’t talking about Senator Dayton’s endorsement either,” said Frederickson in the release.

— Jessica Alaimo

Apparently the Strib article said Dayton had given his "blessing." His blessing? For what? To run for his Senate. Did she need it?
Check the campaign contributors. He's playing it coy.

His donations in this cycle:

$25,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
$2,100 to Tim Walz
$2,100 to Robert Byrd
$1,000 to Elwyn Tinklenberg
$1,000 to James Oberstar

A fair amount of Dayton money -- but not Mark's -- has been split between Ford Bell and Amy Klobuchar.

So what's Dayton waiting for? The state convention, probably. Or maybe until the job approval numbers come up.

An endorsement? It's in the bottom right-hand corner.