Polinaut: July 7, 2006 Archive

Meanwhile, in another Congressional District....

Posted at 6:52 AM on July 7, 2006 by Mike Mulcahy (2 Comments)

Most of the news today is about the driving records of the 5th District candidates. Tom Hauser over at KSTP had a good piece at 6 last night, building on what the blogs reported yesterday.

Meanwhile Meredith Salsbery from the Tim Walz campaign in the 1st District sent this from the Rochester Post Bulletin:

WASHINGTON -- House challenger Tim Walz, a Democrat from Mankato who is facing U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht this fall in the 1st Congressional District, expects to have outraised the six-term incumbent during the second quarter.

Final tallies by both campaigns are not due to the Federal Election Commission until July 15 and could change slightly. Still, Walz looks to have raised at least $198,000 over the quarter, compared to about $190,000 for Gutknecht, based on interviews with the campaigns.

Walz will continue to trail the congressman in cash on hand, however. He will have about $250,000 in the bank, said spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery, while Gutknecht, a Republican from Rochester, will have more than $800,000, his campaign manager Nels Pierson said.

Salsbery portrayed the numbers as a positive sign for Walz, who she said is attracting crossover backing from people who intend to vote for Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but are also ready for a new southern Minnesota representative. "If we are able to hold our own (with Gutknecht), then we are really excited," she said.

Pierson attributed the relatively close fundraising numbers to the congressman's schedule in Washington, especially since he limits his special-interest political action committee donations to a third of his total fundraising. PAC donations are often sought at Washington fundraisers when lawmakers are in session.

"The congressman has a full-time job in Washington, D.C.," Pierson said, and noted that Walz is on a leave of absence from his high school teaching position. He said the congressman had a "healthy" fundraising quarter.

Salsbery notes this is the second quarter in row Walz has outraised Gutknecht, but again note that cash on hand figure. MPR's Laura McCallum has an item about Walz questioning Gov. Tim Pawlenty's decision to send Minnesota Guard troops to the Mexican border.

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The daily digest

Posted at 11:16 AM on July 7, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The daily digest

I found some interesting stories scanning some of the dailies this morning that I thought you'd be interested in...

First, Charles Babbington and Shailagh Murray with the Washington Post detail the differences in the Republican Party regarding immigration.

Here's the nut graph:

"House and Senate Republicans sparred over immigration in hearings on opposite coasts Wednesday, holding firm to their starkly different viewpoints on what has become one of the most intractable and divisive issues to confront the GOP in years."

The story failed to mention that Democrats are also struggling with the immigration debate. The labor/union wing of that party isn't happy with illegal immigrants in the U.S. because they believe it takes away jobs and lowers wages for everyone. Other democrats, particularly those courting the hispanic vote, say allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens is the best option

There are also several stories regarding the battle over video games and kids. The Wall Street Journal has a story on how the video game industry is fighting a trend by local lawmakers to restrict sales of violent and explicit video games to children.

The Strib has a story saying that battle is already being fought in Minnesota. There's a court hearing scheduled for next week in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

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Cillizza: MN Senate race not intriguing.....yet

Posted at 11:33 AM on July 7, 2006 by Tom Scheck

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes in "The Fix" that Minnesota's Senate Race between Republican Mark Kennedy and Democrat Amy Klobuchar isn't that competitive...yet. He says the open seat is a tough but winnable race for Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy. He adds the two candidates are content with issuing policy statements and raising dough until the fall. No argument here. The State Fair is when this race starts to get cookin'.

Ellison: Do you mind if we change the subject?

Posted at 1:02 PM on July 7, 2006 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

Keith Ellison filed for office today and announced he was going to hold a series of town hall meetings to focus on health care. Ellison, the DFL endorsed candidate in Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, has been battling some campaign problems in recent weeks. He's been criticized for his relationship in the mid 1990s with members of the Nation of Islam and had his driver's license suspended because of unpaid parking tickets. Ellison said conservative Republicans and others were criticizing him because they disagree with this politics.

This is what he said:
"I am the progressive in the race. I know people who are right wing conservatives don't like some of the ideas that I'm talking about, and maybe some conservative democrats are threatened to, but the fact is that this is a campaign to put forward a progressive agenda that looks at the average working person."

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Today's candidate filings

Posted at 2:08 PM on July 7, 2006 by Tom Scheck

Nearly the entire statewide GOP ticket filed as a group today. Gov. Pawlenty and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau are running for re-election, as is State Auditor Pat Anderson. Congressman Mark Kennedy made his U.S. Senate bid official. State Rep. Jeff Johnson is also running for Minnesota Attorney General. Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer is running for re-election too, but she didn't join the group because she's handling the filings. The entire group says they'll hold government accountable and keep taxes low. No surprises there.

Keith Ellison, the DFL endorsed candidate in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, also filed. There's more on him below...

The battle to win the Independence Party nomination for U.S. Senate is also getting crowded. Miles Collins filed today. Stephen Williams filed yesterday. They're expected to face endorsed candidate Robert Fitzgerald in a September primary.

Poll: 7 in 10 support photo id to vote

Posted at 2:20 PM on July 7, 2006 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

Rasmussen Reports came out with a poll saying 77% of those polled agree that states should require a photo id to vote. 7 states, including Georgia, passed laws requiring the photo id to vote. Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican, supports the photo id requirement. The measure also passed the Republican controlled Minnesota House. It failed in the Minnesota Senate. Supporters of photo id say they're concerned about voter fraud. Critics call the measure voter supression and will challenge the measure in the courts.

I didn't really study the polls methodology and know some have concerns about Rasmussen. Nevertheless, it's an interesting topic to discuss over the weekend.

What do you think?

(We have to approve posted comments because of those nasty spammers so don't get frustrated if your post doesn't appear right away. I'll check my e-mail regularly over the weekend to approve them).

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