Capitol View: June 7, 2006 Archive

Another lesson. But is it learned?

Posted at 8:46 AM on June 7, 2006 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)

The National Journal's Hotline blog has the latest from the -- in their words, not mine -- Super Midterm Tuesday -- results.

The quick analysis of the California 50th, via the Hotline. (See comments)

* Democrats lost the election despite the heavy emphasis they placed on ethics and corruption in this race, and the fact that Francine Busby ran for this seat nonstop for almost 2-1/2 years.

* Not only did National Democrats lose in a district where the right track/wrong track has plummeted in recent months, they also failed to take advantage of an environment as friendly to their "culture of corruption" argument as they are going to find: the GOP incumbent resigned and then went to jail while the Republican candidate to succeed him was a lobbyist.

* This Was a Team Effort. The NRCC spent just over $4.5 million on voter contact. The Administration was very helpful – President Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and Vice President Cheney all recorded GOTV phone calls and Vice President Cheney hosted a fundraiser. The RNC organized the Election Day GOTV operation. Senator McCain was a big help as well, hosting a fundraiser and recording both a radio ad and a GOTV phone call.

* The NRCC's Commitment to This Race Made the Difference. The NRCC spent what it took to win.

* Special Elections Are Unique. It is no surprise that this was a close race. Historically, the results of special elections do not always reflect a district's traditional profile.

In other words, Democrats, wipe that smugness off your face. Nobody's going to hand you anything just because you're not Republicans.

Update 1:01 PM - Ken Rudin at NPR analyzes yesterday's electoral results. He pretty much repeats the "GOP future is not pretty" mantra. I apparently am the only person in America not affiliated with the Republican Party that isn't ready to buy it.

I was thinking on the way in to work today that someone surely will cite high gas prices today as a bad omen for GOP prospects. I was thinking this as cars went zipping by me at I-94 at 65-75 mph. Mark my words: people are lying when they say they're concerned about high gas prices. They don't even care enough -- and apparently aren't penny-pinched enough -- to even take their foot off the gas even a little bit.

When I see them slowing down, I'll know those prices are hurting folks to the point where it could swing an election.

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The future of the DFL

Posted at 11:15 AM on June 7, 2006 by Bob Collins

There's an interesting discussion going on on Midday today with former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer and former Gov. Wendell Anderson.

Latimer says the reason politics is changing in Minnesota is because "we're more like the rest of America than we used to be." Interesting.

Anderson, says the DFL has gotten out of step with the middle of the party, citing the fact that it's been years since a DFL-endorsed candidate for governor won anything. I believe he said the last one was Perpich and he didn't even ask for the endorsement; they just gave it to him.

Audio will be archived here.

DFL Platform

Posted at 12:05 PM on June 7, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Here's the DFL platform (pre-convention version) in PDF format on the DFL site. There are presently 164 items on there. It will be interesting to see which items the endorsed candidate agrees to run on and which ones he/she/it doesn't.

At least one candidate I'm aware of opposes repealing concealed carry (item #149). Creating a cabinet-level Department of Peace (#131) might be interesting. Say, do you suppose there'd be any turf wars in the Department of Peace? Withdrawing all troops from Iraq in one year (#123) will be dicey, as is ending funding for all military activity in Iraq (#120). A statewide smoking ban (#81) will run afoul of at least one gubernatorial candidate.

Amending the Constitution to say every Minnesotan has a right to health care (#33) is a nod to Becky Lourey, who filed a bill to that effect this year that didn't get a single hearing in a DFL-controlled Senate committee.

And rejecting state funding for sports stadiums (#23) is certainly not a nod to gubernatorial candidate Steve Kelley, who carried the water in the Senate this year. In fact, that will run afoul of a whole bunch of incumbent Democrats according to MPR's Votetracker.

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Idusogie joins Senate race

Posted at 1:16 PM on June 7, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Peter Idusogie, if he's known at all, is best known for a weekly podcast of politics. Now he's jumping in the race for Senate as an independent (small "i") with his official announcement today.

His news release announcing his politics and candidacy was interesting -- at least to me -- for this line, "Peter who is reborn has disdain for partisan politics and bickering and cherishes his relationship with both democrats and republicans alike." Aside from the obvious punctuation problems, it reminded me of walking the floor of the Republican convention in New York a few years ago, talking to various delegates.

It was, shall I say, "uncomfortable," when after interviewing them, a lot -- and by that I mean almost half -- would look at me and say, "are you reborn?"

Up until recently, it's not a question that came up in political discussions.

Those days are over.

Here's the audio of his announcement.

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Bo knows Bachmann, but who knows Bo?

Posted at 5:35 PM on June 7, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The Michele Bachmann campaign put out a press release today accusing Patty Wetterling of ducking the first candidate forum.

Apparently, the first candidate forum was a Valley Access Cable TV show called "Get Down to Business with Bo", hosted by a person named Bo Bogotty.

From the release, it sounded like Bo invited Wetterling. "Wetterling failed to appear despite the advanced invitation," according to the release. No word on whether Bo invited John Binkowski (who, now that I think of it, should adopt "Bo" as a nickname. Who wouldn't like a name like Bo Binkowski? But I digress.)

Three things strike me about the release. (1) You have to admire Bachmann's campaigning ability. She'll obviously go anywhere, anytime and talk to anybody. That's not to be discounted. (2) I'm not sure missing a forum with Bo Bogotty is a big deal and (3) I really like the name Bo Bogotty.

Just for the heck of it, I Googled "Bo Bogotty." I found a Bo Boggoty as a bar owner in Forest Lake who was exonerated of theft and fraud charges in connection with charitable gambling operations. The same person is apparently a former Forest Lake City Council member. I found a case law citation where some guy sued his agent -- Bo Bogotty, oddly enough -- who turned out not to be licensed.

I also found Bo Bogotty contributed $500 -- twice -- to the Mark Kennedy campaign when he was running for Congress. (Source: Political Moneyline). And he's contributed $1,100 this cycle to Kennedy's Senate campaign. (source: Political Moneyline)

I also found four separate listings with Bogotty's contributions to the Republican National Committee in April 2005, and $250 in 2004.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that Bo Bogotty is a Republican.

I have no clue if the Republican-donatin', bar ownin', musician representin' Bo is the same guy as the cable TV show guy. Whatever.

* * *

Following up on yesterday's post, I can't imagine why press releases aren't being added to the Bachmann site. I have no link to refer you to to read the release.

BTW, shameless plug for Select A Candidate - 6th District version. Can't wait for there to be an actual forum so we can add more material.

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