Capitol View: May 15, 2006 Archive

See no evil? Speak no evil? (and an obligatory West Wing moment)

Posted at 11:10 AM on May 15, 2006 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)

Some of the blogs are alive with chatter today about the words spoken at the 6th District convention on Saturday toward Michele Bachmann. One state senator referred to her as evil "the devil in the blue dress."

Patty Wetterling, the candidate Bachmann faces now says she's bad on several fronts. Here's the actual speech. (RealAudio)

Did that cross a line? If so -- and this is my West Wing political science training here -- can Wetterling's opponents seize on that without also allowing her message to be repeated? (It was the episode when someone slipped a political ad tape to Sam Seeborn and he gave it to a friend who, as it turns out, wasn't really a friend and the thing ended up running for nothing on all the news channels).

By the way, as long as we're on West Wing, I've commented here a number of times on how good the researchers were for little political drop-ins that would appear in the dialog from time to time. All of that was undone last night when -- if you saw it, this will make sense. If you didn't, it won't -- a train derailed between Exeter, New Hampshire and Haverhill, Massachusetts. The person telling the president referred to the city as HAVE her hill, which is pretty much like calling Cloquet CLOE-kett. It's pronounced HAY-vrill. And the thing is, the president -- Jeb Bartless Bartlett -- is from New Hampshire.

Reminds me of the time he stopped his Saturday morning radio address taping because the phrase "leaf peeping" was in it. He pulled off his glasses and turned to the writer to inquire what "leaf peeping" was. Right, a guy from New Hampshire -- the leaf-peeping capital of the free world -- didn't know what leaf peeping was?

It's like a president not knowing what a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread sells for.

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Hutchinson weighing in

Posted at 12:07 PM on May 15, 2006 by Bob Collins

The Hutchinson campaign is out with a new biweekly newsletter:

Minnesota is not alone. New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman thinks it will take a third party to deal with the energy crisis. A headline on a column by David Broder, Washington Post, asked rhetorically, "Who'll meet the demand for unity?" Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and John Avlon, author of "Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics," think an independent will be sent to the White House in 2008. In Oregon, Texas and Massachusetts, highly regarded leaders are abandoning traditional parties and running for governor as independents. It's beginning to look like a movement.

Gotta give Huchinson credit for catchy slogans: "Not Left. Not Right. Forward."

6th District issues

Posted at 1:48 PM on May 15, 2006 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)

I'm putting together Select A Candidate for the 6th District. How 'bout forwarding what you think are issues in the 6th that you think are -- or should be -- part of the campaign. I'm especially interested in hearing from people in the 6th.

So far...

Iraq
Iran
Health care
Abortion
Immigration
Marriage
Tax cuts or tax policy

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CQ on Wetterling-Bachmann

Posted at 9:49 PM on May 15, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

"Republicans contend that Bachmann’s strongly conservative views on both social and economic issues neatly fit the leanings of voters in the 6th, which stretches from Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs northwest to the city of St. Cloud. They note that Bush, who narrowly lost Minnesota as a whole, took 57 percent of the 6th District vote.

"Democrats, who need a net gain of 15 seats nationally to gain a House majority, argue that the 6th is eminently winnable for them. They choose to focus on Wetterling’s candidate debut as their 2004 nominee, in which she held Kennedy, already touted as a GOP rising star, to 54 percent."

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