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The Daily Digest: 8-4-06

Posted at 10:04 AM on August 4, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

People in Minnesota can yell “They like us! They really like us!” now that the national leaders with both major parties stopped by the Northstar state this week. If you don’t know by now, the Republican National Committee is holding its summer meeting in Bloomington. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi was in Minnesota on Wednesday and Thursday.

Bill Salisbury with the Pi Press offers a long look into the GOP meeting:

In brief opening remarks to the committee Thursday, Mehlman said party leaders picked Minnesota as the site for the meeting in part because it is a battleground state, one of only three with competitive races for governor and a U.S. Senate and House seat. The latter was a reference to the 6th District seat being vacated by Kennedy. Pennsylvania and Ohio are the other states with competitive races for those three offices.

GOP leaders are also here to check out the Twin Cities as a possible site for the 2008 Republican National Convention. Governor Pawlenty drew big laughs when he joked about it in his opening remarks when he said to the party faithful:

“Welcome to the home of the 2008 Republican National Convention.”

Martiga Lohn with the Associated Press had this to say about the first day of the event:

Party leaders acknowledged the difficulties at the Republican National Committee's three-day summer meeting. But they said tried-and-true efforts to get GOP voters to the polls on Election Day will help, and they emphasized their differences with Democrats.  "Defining the Difference" is the RNC's slogan this year.

Fox News also has a story on the GOP event. Here’s the link. I didn’t watch the story because I didn’t want to download the video player.

The national GOP may need to have a talk with the nation’s business leaders. The Wall Street Journal writes (subscription required) that national business groups see the GOP as vulnerable this year:

“It is likely that Republicans lose control of the House,” says Bernadette Budde of Business-Industry Political Action Committee. The biggest danger for Republicans: “clumps” of defeats in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, submerging incumbents who don’t now appear vulnerable.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce election drive — dogged by controversy over accuracy of TV ads — visits Connecticut this weekend to shore up vulnerable Republican Reps. Simmons, Shays and Johnson. Democrats fret a Lieberman defeat in next week’s Senate primary there could imperil House races, since his possible independent candidacy could lift November turnout by moderate Republicans.

Governor Pawlenty is in the headlines today in plenty of places. He made an appearance at the RNC meeting, he called for the FDA to approve generic insulin and the Star Tribune’s Dane Smith (a day where Dane Smith and Bill Salisbury have stories in the paper is like mana from heaven) writes he’s next in line to head the National Governor’s Association:

When Gov. Tim Pawlenty returns from the National Governors Association meeting in Charleston, S.C., early next week, he will be the group's new vice chairman and in line to become chairman of the influential 50-member club next summer.
He would be only the second Minnesota governor, and the first since Republican Harold Stassen in 1941, to head the group in its 100-year history.

Many NGA chairpersons in the past 25 years have gone on to national leadership positions, and the job typically brings a lot of national media exposure. The list of ex-chairpersons includes former President Bill Clinton, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and a half-dozen other present and former Cabinet secretaries.

"This is a wonderful opportunity," Pawlenty said. "We have so many things that are on the cutting edge here in Minnesota, and we can use this as a platform to showcase Minnesota ideas and bring them national ... I'm really looking forward to it."

But before Pawlenty can take the helm, he needs to win a certain election this November. Democrats are working hard to make sure Attorney General Mike Hatch takes the state’s top job. While the GOP meeting is called “Defining the Difference,” MPR reports that Democrats are also working to highlight their differences. Congressman Martin Sabo told the audience that President Bush and Republicans in control of Congress mismanaged the federal government:

Wherever you turn, things have gone wrong, and the Congress, controlled by Republicans who have the power of subpoena, is docile," said Sabo. "That is an opportunity for our leaders and Democrats this year.

Sabo, who is retiring this year, made those comments at an event with Nancy Pelosi (side note – Sabo’s former chief of staff Mike Erlandson was at the event. Erlandson, who is running in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, was talking with Sabo and Pelosi). Pelosi gave their six point plan for the upcoming election:

"All of these issues are the kitchen table issues," said Pelosi. "Hubert Humphrey talked about them. Democrats have talked about them for a long time, and we talk about them here. They're what people are concerned about. They're relevant to the lives of the American people and these are deliverables that we can guarantee within the first few days of a new Congress."

It helps the Democrats and hurts the GOP that some rural newspapers (West Central Tribune and St. Cloud Times) are writing stories about higher gas prices…

It looks like North Dakota’s hunting laws are constitutional, much to the displeasure of out of state hunters. Attorney General Mike Hatch, who is running for governor, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Minnesota.

The Independence Party’s endorsed candidate for governor, Peter Hutchinson, released his transportation plan. KARE11, The Star Tribune and ECI all say Hutchinson supports an increase to the gas tax and doesn’t like on dumb driving

The progressive blogs are on fire about the latest Rasmussen poll in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race. Kos (which everyone is linking to) says Amy Klobuchar, a DFLer, is up 12 percentage points over Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy. Rasmussen hasn't released the poll to the general public yet.

Kennedy is scheduled to speak at the RNC meeting around noon.

Amy Klobuchar doesn’t have much on the schedule. It looks like she’s visiting Walker on Monday for some brats, beans and politicking….

President Bush nominated Rachel Paulose as U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota.

Minnesota Senators Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton head to China.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the passage of the pension relief bill, much to the delight of Nortwest Airlines:

Its core provisions seek to close the $313 billion funding gap in the nation's employer-sponsored pension plans and make it more difficult for companies to make pension promises they can't keep. The legislation would boost employer contributions to many pension plans and require that all plans have 100% of assets to cover their liabilities within seven years.
Airlines are promised extra time and relief, and final enactment now is timely for two troubled carriers: Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines also stands to receive major relief from the package, but both it and Continental Airlines are bargaining for further concessions this fall.

The bill now heads to President Bush.

The Star Tribune also has an interesting article on whether a Christian night club is a church:

In the hottest nightlife district in Minneapolis, Club Three Degrees features a three-level, 18,000-square-foot venue with live bands, a state-of-the-art sound system and a concert hot line. But its owners say the Christian-based nightspot is best described as a church.

If the Minneapolis City Council agrees with Club Three Degrees today, that means the council can prevent the opening of Divas Gentleman's Club, a nearby establishment where dancers would strip totally nude.

Governor Pawlenty talks ethanol today. The Philadelphia Inquirer questions the promise of the corn based biofuel.

Finally, The Washington Post has an obituary of Margaret Anne Cargill:

Miss Cargill, one of eight heirs to the Cargill Inc. agribusiness fortune, was a major donor to the American Red Cross, the Nature Conservancy and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, according to a family spokeswoman.

She gave away more than $200 million, much of it since 1990, and always on the condition of anonymity. Even the recipients of her largest donations often did not know who gave the money, a spokeswoman for her trustees said.

Comments (2)

Tom:

Thanks for writing more on the RNC meeting. Bloggers need the material.

Posted by Noah Kunin | August 4, 2006 10:36 AM

I found this morning's remarks of Ken Mehlman (found here: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=70291) to be particularly interesting. He appears to be betting success in this fall's election on the public continuing to buy up their line about saving freedom from terrorism. I wonder if this message will have traction with Minnesota and/or national voters? Seems to me like they're running out of credibility on this issue.

Posted by bsimon | August 4, 2006 1:23 PM

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