Polinaut: June 12, 2006 Archive

Klouchar on Midday

Posted at 9:23 AM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins

Amy Klobuchar, fresh off her endorsement by the DFL Friday, is on Midday today starting at 11.

Freedom or safety?

Posted at 9:35 AM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins

Word reaches us from the distant land of New York Mills that Sarah Dennison of Minneapolis has won this year's Great American Think-Off, debating the merits of freedom and safety and what choice to make when the two conflict.

According to the Web site, it'll be a couple of days before you can actually hear what she has to say.

The Melendez smackdown to Lourey, Bell

Posted at 11:52 AM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I didn't hear the interview that DFL chair Brian Melendez did with MPR's DFL convention crew -- and a copy of it is stuck in some audio system that I don't have access to, but just going through the Scheck/Pugmire story (I combined the two for online purposes), this quote really jumps out at me.

"I think the fact of the matter is Mike Hatch is running against Tim Pawlenty. Whatever goes on in the primary, Mike Hatch is going to come through it and run against Tim Pawlenty. Amy Klobuchar is running against Mark Kennedy and whatever goes on in the primary Amy Klobuchar will run against Mark Kennedy. We're not seeing primary candidates of the caliber that we've seen in past years. We've got outstanding endorsed candidates and their going to come through the primary with flying colors," he said

Huh? In 2002, The only challenger in the primary to endorsed candidate Roger Moe was Ole Savior. The only challenger to Paul Wellstone was Dick Franson.

Now to be charitable, the best thing you can say about Ole Savior and Dick Franson as candidates, is that they've adopted the names "perennial candidates."

In 2004, of course, there was no gubernatorial, nor senatorial primary. Of the 8 congressional districts, DFLers had just one primary "battle." In the 5th District, Martin Sabo withstood a challenge from -- hold onto your fedora -- Dick Franson. And in the 8th, Jim Oberstar had a challenger named Michael Johnson. Neither put up much of a fight.

Back in 2000, of course, there were a lot of DFL candidates for Senate. And the DFL endorsed candidate, Jerry Janezich, did get his rear end kicked by Mark Dayton. Mike Ciresi and Rebecca Yanisch were also in the race. Oh, and Dick Franson and Ole Savior. But, dude, that was 3 election cycles ago!

So when Melendez says -- as near as I can tell -- that Ole Savior and Dick Franson were more formidable primary opponents that Becky Lourey and Ford Bell, well, geez. Is there anything worse you can say about Becky Lourey and Ford Bell?

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So...what keeps blogs from being a legitimate source of news?

Posted at 12:24 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (30 Comments)

Bad bloggers.

OK, the title is a little -- hey! -- snarky. But the guy at Residual Forces works overtime to find conspiracies.

Here's his quote -- which I lifted from Always Right, Usually Correct -- because I deleted Residual Forces from my daily read a few weeks ago. I'm sorry, he's just too consistently wrong to be considered -- at least by me -- as a source of political insight. I can get ravings just by walking four blocks west. I have a good supply of lefties and righties -- and a few centrists -- on my daily list. Some are more logical than others on a fairly consistent basis, but all are worth reading just to see if there's something interesting on Planet Politic. There are, of course, exceptions for which waiting only prolongs the pain.

For some reason, the media sure seemed hell bent on providing full and up to the minute coverage of the DFL convention compared to their canned (pre-written) stuff for the GOP’s.

Just look at MPR’s Polinaut. He’s got multiple posts chalk full of photos, audio links, and coverage for the DFL this weekend. Granted he was not there, and he says he was not working on it, but… he still posted on it extensively. hmmmmmmm Last weekend, during the GOP convention, he was waxing his car and what not. Is this a conspiracy? No, but it is evidence of the motivation for reporting.

Bleah. The answer to the discrepancy, if anyone cares, was actually noted on Polinaut just prior to the GOP convention. I was on vacation. (The announcement of which, by the way, I had to provide after MPR called and said I needed to post something that said I'm not posting. Go figure.)

(Following part was previously invisible due to bad coding by the moron who writes on Polinaut)

Sorry to ruin a good conspiracy. Motivation? My motivation was getting the house in shape, the in-laws picked up and watch my youngest son graduated from high school. Sorry, my kid's graduation -- especially the part where they read his name and said "with honors" -- trumps whatever was happening that week and week-end and I don't care what political party was involved; I wouldn't have cared in comparison. There's real life going on out there and I decided long ago that I wouldn't miss it so I can sit inside and blog if I don't have to. Last week I didn't have to. Unfortunately, over the last weekend I didn't have a choice.

MPR's Web site is a 24/7 operation with 2 people. Do the math. We have no days off except vacation days. If I don't work on Saturday and Sunday, you don't see anything, not only on Polinaut, but anywhere else on the site. I work nights, I work early mornings, I work weekends because MPR hasn't yet sent reinforcements to the online "team." Damned right I'm taking those vacation days off.

Meanwhile, the only other online editor at MPR was updating the site with GOP material on Friday and Saturday, adding all the audio as it came in, adding pictures too. And Midday did give the GOP endorsed candidate an hour the following Monday. And let's not forget that live podium feed from both conventions. MPR provided the same resources and spent roughly the same budget to cover the GOP convention.

But -- and I know this is the part that kills -- there's only one person writing Polinaut. So, move along, there's nothing to see here. Go back to your homes. And remember to recycle the aluminum foil

As long as there's an open thread, nice job by Kennedy vs. The Machine today in fact-checking Klobuchar's appearance on Midday.

So there you go. One example on each end of the spectrum of blog usefulness.

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Hatch on Midday Tuesday

Posted at 1:01 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Mike Hatch will be on Midday, Tuesday at 11. Now, before you Republicans trot out the "but you only had Pawlenty on after the Republican convention. You didn't have the Senate endorsee on," let make clear that MPR -- in the words of Midday's producer, "we invited, begged, cajoled, and offered him (Mark Kennedy) a FULL WEEK of MIDDAYS."

He declined them all.

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The Zarqawi bounce

Posted at 1:58 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Last week I asked about the political fallout from the killing of Zarqawi. I missed this on Friday, but it appears to be worth 5 points in the approval ratings.

If nothing were to change between now and November, does that change anything?

On Sunday, Ralph Hallow, writing in the Washington Times, quotes Sen. John McCain's strategist as suggesting a short-term bounce.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Iraq figures to be a campaign issue not only this November, but November 2008 and into the term of the next president.

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Blog burp: Convention recap

Posted at 2:46 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The bloggers at the DFL convention have wrapped up their work with some nice analysis.

MN Publius has the story of how the Carpenters Union endorsement may have stopped Steve Kelley's momentum cold.

Minnesota Campaign Report has a "winner and losers" post that is quite substantial.

Power Liberal also has a winners-and-losers segment.

Minnesota Democrats Exposed, who was also at the convention, promises his "final thoughts" later tonight in a post, he says, "may surprise you."

Meanwhile, Minntellect is looking ahead at what faces each of the major candidates now.

I'm not aware of other folks who were at the convention who've posted analysis but let me know if I'm forgetting someone and I'll add it here.

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Requests

Posted at 3:34 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

Jeff at Bachmann vs. Wetterling asks if I had a copy of Patty Wetterling's speech at the DFL state convention. I dug around a bit and with Midday's help, found a raw feed on DAT, and encoded it. Here it is. Also added it to her page on Campaign 2006.

Speaking of Bachmann, VP Dick Cheney is coming to town to raise some cash for her according to the Associated Press.

Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser on Bachmann's behalf on June 26 in Excelsior, according to an invitation to the event obtained by The Associated Press.

Excelsior? That's in the 3rd District.

I also stumbled across a speech given Saturday at the convention by Tim Walz, who's running against Gil Gutknecht. And I encoded that also. Here.

And I also found Keith Ellison's speech and that's here. Interesting note: in introducing Ellison and announcing how Ellison has unified the party, DFL party boss Brian Melendez said "there are a few exceptions, but we'll take care of them."

By the way, I didn't hear any reference to Collin Peterson while I was monitoring things. Maybe some of you reading this were there. Are they still treating him like poison?

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Let the record show...

Posted at 5:44 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins

Robert Byrd today became the longest-serving U.S. senator ever --17,327 days, breaking the mark previously held by Strom Thurmond.

The Zarqawi Bounce II

Posted at 11:14 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Short-lived, indeed. CBS is out with a poll that shows Bush's job approval rating down slightly from a month ago. It also shows folks -- about 80+ percent of them -- don't think the death of Zarqawi will make any difference.

Anticipating the "well, it is CBS afterall," reaction, has anyone see any polls that say something different. If so, please post. And thanks.

Now, as for where people's heads are right now (don't say it!), the Election 2006 polling report keeps track of the latest polls and generally the numbers seem to be around mid-30s (percent) favoring the GOP in congressional races, to mid to, perhaps, upper 40s (percent) for Democrats.

The thing is: those numbers don't seem to be moving much one way or the other, in some cases, since last fall. Now granted the numbers aren't particularly good for the GOP, but if there really is a growing realization that the country is on the wrong track, wouldn't those numbers be changing and becoming even worse for the GOP.

I'm not saying the numbers are right. I'm not saying the numbers are wrong. I'm saying I don't know.

I do know that driving home today, folks were driving closer to my 55 mph-movin' Chevy Cavalier. I notice gas hit $2.95 today. Anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but folks were zipping by at breakneck speeds when it was $2.75. So we may be heading into territory where people really are concerned about gas prices and are ready to take a swing at someone. Up until now, they weren't even willing to lift their foot off the gas.

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