Capitol View: September 8, 2006 Archive

Chair of House Intelligence Committee will hold a fundraiser for Gil Gutknecht this weekend

Posted at 9:55 AM on September 8, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

A source told me that Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-Michigan) will be in the Twin Cities this weekend to hold a fundraiser for GOP Congressman Gil Gutknecht. DFL challenger Tim Walz is mounting a serious campaign against Gutknecht in the district that stretches across the bottom part of the state. NPR has an interesting profile on Hoekstra here.

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The Fix is in?

Posted at 10:44 AM on September 8, 2006 by Bob Collins

Chris Cizilla (The Fix) at the Washington Posts has something disguised as insight on Minnesota politics today.

15. Minnesota: We hear that Pawlenty's numbers have cratered of late. Democrats will pick their nominee on Tuesday, with state Attorney General Mike Hatch the strong frontrunner. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed Hatch ahead of Pawlenty by one point among those most likely to vote. Pawlenty's slippage, coupled with Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar's (D) comfortable lead in the Senate race, makes us think something is happening

Really? Something is happening? Want to let us in on what you think it is? Or does the future remain to be seen?

The Daily Digest: 8-8-06

Posted at 12:41 PM on September 8, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

My father's birthday leads the digest. Happy Birthday, pops!

Primary day is on Tuesday and some candidates are busy with their get out the vote efforts. There are several stories on the DFL contest in Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District. MPR, the Star Tribune, KARE-11 and the Washington Times all have stories on the race to replace retiring Congressman Martin Sabo.

Andrew Borene, the young up and comer who DFLers thought could upset GOP state Senator Geoff Michel, is dropping out of the race and will seek alcohol treatment. The Star Tribune and KARE-11 have stories.

The Washington Post's "The Fix" says the race for governor is heating up in Minnesota but doesn't say why.

Stateline.org has a story saying incumbent governors, like GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty, should worry this year.

WCCO's Pat Kessler has a story on the controversy regarding Pawlenty's ad.

Hatch was in Bemidji talking college tuition. Judi Dutcher was in St. Cloud doing the same thing.

Hatch's DFL opponent, Becky Lourey received some endorsements from northern Minnesota DFLers. .

Congressional Quarterly has a profile of the gubernatorial primary.

CQ Politics also says the candidates for U.S. Senate want to lock up the seat for a long time.

Republican Senator Norm Coleman has been named has been appointed a delegate to the United Nations.

The Rochester Post Bulletin examines the moving violation DFLer Tim Walz received in 1995. Walz is challenging GOP incumbent Gil Gutknecht in MN's 1st Congressional District.

There are other primary contests in the legislature. MPR has two stories. One looks at GOP Rep. Neil Peterson's challenge. The other focuses on GOP Rep. Mark Buesgens. The Duluth News Tribune focuses on the race to replace DFL Rep. Irv Anderson.

The St. Cloud Times also focuses on DFL Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson's primary contest.

The Brainerd Dispatch says the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage have targeted GOP Senator Paul Koering with campaign mailings. Koering, who is one of two openly gay members of the Minnesota Senate, is facing a primary challenge from Kevin Goedker. Here's a glimpse of the story:

The Minnesota Family Council literature is titled the Pro-Family News and features bold headlines noting Koering's support for same-sex unions and his refusal to sign the marriage protection pledge. Headlines in the same publication note Goedker's signing of the pledge and support for the Defense of Marriage Act.

The mailing from the Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage features a picture of five children with the headline "You must vote in the September 12th primary if you want to protect our kids." The headline on the other side of the mailing asks, "What could our kids be learning if Paul Koering is re-elected to office?" The beginning of the text reads, "From redefining marriage to indoctrinating our children, homosexual activists are hard at work trying to force us to accept their lifestyle and silence anyone who dares to disagree. Senator Paul Koering's record shows he has failed to oppose this radical homosexual agenda."

Later in the text of the MCDM literature, it states, "Kevin Goedker is a family man who supports traditional family values."

A judge dismisses a felony charge against the mayor of Waite Park.

The Twin Cities Daily Planet says there are several union members running for office in Minnesota this year.

Finally, one of northern Minnesota's longest serving judges is retiring.

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The medium is the massage

Posted at 3:00 PM on September 8, 2006 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

The Hutchinson campaign is out with a release today saying that because Tim Pawlenty wouldn't participate, "the Minnesota Hospital Association and Minnesota Health and Housing Alliance today rescinded their invitation to present the three major party-endorsed candidates at their annual meeting in Brainerd on September 22. "

As I said at a Policy and a Pint forum in July, I personally think that candidates should be required to participate in X number of debates in exchange for getting their name on the ballot in the first place and I don't really quite understand why groups bow to the campaigns and let them stir the drink.

Maybe this wasn't a "premier debate" or maybe it was. I don't know. It's odd, when you get right down to it, that on the one hand any candidate would blow off spending limits so that he or she can buy more TV time to get more exposure, and at the same time, bags out of a debate in which, presumably, he'd get more exposure.

Yeah, yeah, I know. The candidates are trying to control the message. But frankly, when groups cancel entire debates because one candidate won't show up, they play right into the candidate's hand.

Have the debate anyway. And if the TV stations and radio stations have any interest at all in being courageous dispensers of the truth, they'll broadcast it anyway. And all during the debate, mention why not all the candidates are there. How's that for exposure?

To me, it's like when someone responds to a question before I do a story (or before I did a story when I was a working journalist) with a "no comment." They used to think if they didn't comment, I wouldn't run the story. Crazy.

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Get ready for some nasty ads in October

Posted at 3:53 PM on September 8, 2006 by Tom Scheck

I stopped by WCCO-TV on Thursday to take a look at their public file. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have bought a total of $1.36 million dollars in ad time on WCCO alone.

The groups will run a total of 946 ads on WCCO-TV between October third through election day. The groups won't say which races they're targeting but it's safe to say the DSCC will run ads on behalf of Amy Klobuchar, the DCCC will probably run ads on behalf of Patty Wetterling and the NRCC will run ads on behalf of Michele Bachmann. Bachmann and Wetterling are running for Congress in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District.

Remember that the campaigns can pull the ad buy and put the money elsewhere. The parties may move the money to other more competitive races if their candidate is well ahead or well behind in the polls. Noticeably absent from the file was the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who is either waiting to place a buy or is expecting Mark Kennedy to fend for himself in his race with Klobuchar. Here's the rundown:

The National Republican Congressional Committee will run 396 ads on WCCO between October third and election day at a cost of $579,100.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will run a total of 271 ads on WCCO between October tenth and election day at a cost of $403,425.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will run a total of 279 spots on WCCO between October tenth and election day at a cost of $379,925.

Why do I say the ads will be nasty? Take a look at this ad by the DCCC and this one by the DSCC. The NRCC also gets dirty as you can see in this 2004 MPR story.

Candidates for state auditor will be on Almanac tonight

Posted at 4:56 PM on September 8, 2006 by Tom Scheck

Republican State Auditor Pat Anderson, DFLer Rebecca Otto, Independence Party member Lucy Gerold and Green Party candidate Dave Berger will debate numbers and stuff on Public TV's Almanac program this evening. The race for Minnesota Auditor has gotten a bit nasty over the summer with Anderson and Otto debating, well, numbers and stuff.

Some candidates will pull ads on 9/11, others won't

Posted at 5:07 PM on September 8, 2006 by Tom Scheck

From the Associated Press:

ST. PAUL (AP) - Minnesota's two top candidates for governor will pull their T-V ads on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on Monday, one day before the primary election. A spokesman for Governor Pawlenty's campaign says all stations except one in the Fargo area agreed not to run his ad that day. A spokeswoman for Democratic candidate Mike Hatch says the anniversary is a good day for a break from politics. The hottest primary race is for the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District in Minneapolis. Candidates Ember Reichgott Junge and Paul Ostrow will run their ads. Plans for the other candidates weren't clear. Reichgott Junge spokesman John Wodele says the ads will run because they are positive. In the U-S Senate race, Republican Mark Kennedy is going ahead with his ads. A spokeswoman for Democrat Amy Klobuchar didn't return a phone message.