Polinaut: August 17, 2006 Archive

Mark Kennedy's strategy

Posted at 7:01 AM on August 17, 2006 by Mike Mulcahy

MPR's Mark Zdechlik has a piece today.

Here are some of the quotes. Norman Ornstein with the American Enterprise Institute says this about Kennedy's TV ad about working across party lines:

"You've got to almost laugh out loud when you see this coming from somebody who was so proud at saying that he was there as a loyal Republican with the president, and who's voted with his leadership in Congress consistently over all this time. For anybody who's followed this process at all, the notion of this really independent guy is kind of amusing. But let's face it, a lot of people don't follow this process all of the time, so it might work."

Kennedy's campaign manager Pat Pat Shortridge says this about the charge that Kennedy is distancing himself from the president.

"Just because Mark doesn't share the Democrats' sort of strange obsession with the president, just because he doesn't seem to want to talk about the president 24/7, doesn't mean we're running from anybody."

And:

"We're going to talk about Mark's record, we're going to talk about Mark's vision, we're going to talk about Mark's values. Call us old-fashioned, but in a race where Mark Kennedy's name is on the ballot, I think voters are going to expect that we're going to talk about exactly that -- Mark Kennedy."

New poll shows Lieberman ahead

Posted at 7:45 AM on August 17, 2006 by Mike Mulcahy

For anyone around here still paying attention:

Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, running as an independent, gets 53 percent of likely voters, with 41 percent for Democratic primary winner Ned Lamont and 4 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

The morning shows

Posted at 9:12 AM on August 17, 2006 by Tom Scheck

Peter Hutchinson, the Independence Party's endorsed candidate for governor, is on MPR's Midmorning at 9. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf sits down with Kerri Miller at 10 AM. Becky Lourey, who is challenging Mike Hatch in the DFL Primary for governor, is on Midday at 11.

The Daily Digest: 8-17-06

Posted at 11:31 AM on August 17, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

Minnesota's U.S. Senate race leads the digest today. Republican Mark Kennedy continues his statewide tour. He's stopping in St. Cloud, Grand Rapids and Duluth today. You can see write up from yesterday's tour here, here and here.

MPR's Mark Zdechlik takes a look at Kennedy's campaign. The Washington Post's David Broder mentions Kennedy in his column foreshadowing electoral problems for the GOP.

DFL Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar releases her plans to increase homeland defense today along with getting endorsed by police and fire fighter organizations.

The Wall Street Journal has a story (subscription required) on Pennsylvania's Senate race and the problems plaguing the GOP.

The Star Tribune wonders if President Bush's visit next week will make GOP candidates camera shy.

The Star Tribune has a story on the efforts by GOP Congressman Gil Gutknecht's campaign's efforts to scrub his profile on Wikipedia and put a different profile up.

Vos Verax reports on their blog that Gutknecht and DFL challenger Tim Walz will debate the issues at the Steele County Fair on Saturday.

The National Review projects that Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty will probably be elected but faces a tough challenge from Mike Hatch. Those guys are soothsayers. Check this out:

Just to demonstrate how idiosyncratic these races can be, a major issue in the first public debate between Pawlenty, Hatch, Green Party candidate Ken Pentel, and Peter Hutchison of the Independence Party (think Ventura) was whether state or local government should be responsible for regulating and promoting livestock agriculture. Uh, okay.

Uh, okay. Maybe you should mention the debate was at Farmfest and focused on ag issues. Sigh.

The Pi Press has a story saying a judge says Attorney General Mike Hatch threatened him.

The MN GOP will have a news conference to react to this this afternoon.

Former attorney general candidate Matt Entenza faces a campaign fine.

GOP state Representative Greg Davids was cleared of wrongdoing by the Campaign Finance Board.

DFL Congressman Jim Oberstar praises a decision that delayed rules permitting foreigners to exert greater control over U.S. airlines.

Finally, a group called Americans United unveiled a large inflatable gorilla that will follow Republican Senator Rick Santorum. The group has a Minnesota Chapter that hasn't brought out any inflatable props just yet.

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MN Supreme Court schedules hearing on Gutknecht and Kiffmeyer ballot challenges on Tuesday

Posted at 2:02 PM on August 17, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The Minnesota Supreme Court says they will hear arguments on a lawsuit challenging GOP Congressman to Gil Gutknecht's right to remain on the ballot on Tuesday at 9 AM. A D-F-L lawsuit says Gutknecht should be removed from the ballot because they say most of the petition signatures he presented in place of the filing fee were gathered before the period specified by the state. You can read more of the story here.

The court will also hear Brian Smith's petition to get on the September primary ballot on Tuesday. Smith, an Independence Party candidate for a legislative seat, says Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer should have told him he was filing in the wrong place. Smith filed at the Secretary of State's office instead of the Hennepin County Government Center. You can read more about the story here...

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Kline sends out flier saying voters shouldn't trust Rowley's judgment

Posted at 3:32 PM on August 17, 2006 by Tom Scheck (5 Comments)

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Coleen Rowley's congressional campaign is considering whether to keep an unpaid staffer who had called for decriminalizing drugs on his personal Web site.
The campaign planned to meet Thursday evening to discuss the staffer, David Bailey, according to Walter Winger, Rowley's policy director.
"No decision has been made as to the fate of David Bailey and his relationship with the campaign," Winger said.
Rowley, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Kline, R-Minn.
Kline's campaign highlighted Bailey's writings in a campaign flier headlined, "Legalizing drugs is the TOP PRIORITY for one of Coleen Rowley's key advisers," adding, "We can't trust Coleen Rowley's judgment." The flier includes syringes in the background.
Bailey is Rowley's unpaid director of earned media, where he works to build her exposure through the media, including blogs.
Bailey, a 38-year-old software developer from Eagan, had written on his Web site three years ago, "If I could change only one policy in this country, I would decriminalize drug use. Regulate drugs the same way we regulate alcohol and tobacco.
"This one change would be a great economic stimulus, allow us to use the billions we throw away each year for the 'war on drugs' more productively, and yank the funding out from organized crime. It's a no-brainer."
Winger said Rowley does not support legalizing drugs, and that she worked to prosecute the war on drugs during her 24 years with the FBI. He said Rowley had not been aware of Bailey's views on the subject.
Kline's campaign flier said that Bailey believes "meth should be treated the same as a glass of wine."
Bailey described the writings on his Web site as "idle musings," adding, "They in no way relate to what I do for her campaign and her position on the issue."
He said the point he was trying to make was that the use of drugs should be decriminalized - so that users get treatment, rather than jail time. He said it should be up to the federal government to regulate the sale of drugs.
"So crack cocaine, I'm guessing, wouldn't be approved," Bailey said.
"In the 1920s, Prohibition gave rise to bathtub gin and Al Capone," he said. "Meth labs are an outgrowth of the fact that drug use is criminalized. So I put forth on my personal Web site the possibility that decriminalization is a better solution - and I still believe that."
Still, he suggested that Kline had hit below the belt.
"This is the most vicious, vile kind of smear, and he's doing this not against Coleen, but against an unpaid staffer," he said.
"It really bothers me that a sitting member of Congress, a retired Marine colonel, sends something like this without any regard for what it's going to do to me," he added. "My son is starting kindergarten in the fall. What's going to happen to him if the other kids think his daddy supports meth use?"
Kline campaign spokesman Marcus Esmay said that Bailey had opened himself up to the criticism.
"He can't have it both ways," Esmay said. "You can't put things out there and not take responsibility."
He noted that a blog on Rowley's Web site, called "The Blotter," features mostly posts from Bailey.
"By featuring David Bailey's positions as a prominent part of her campaign, she has made his views relevant," Esmay said.
This is the second time in two weeks that Kline's campaign has set its sights on Bailey.
Last week, the campaign called Bailey a "double-agent" in a separate mailing, saying he tried to make an illegal campaign contribution and infiltrate Kline's re-election campaign. Rowley's campaign denied the allegations.
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On the Net:
Kline campaign: http://www.klineforcongress.com/
Rowley campaign: http://www.coleenrowley.com/
Bailey: http://www2.bitstream.net/ 7/8jenandav/Dave/Politics/index.htm

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