Polinaut: September 19, 2006 Archive

This just in.... some people are just plain ignorant

Posted at 9:28 AM on September 19, 2006 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

Yeah, I know. Pretty harsh on the old title. But I just saw this press release from findlaw.com and I can't think of another adjective to describe people who don't know the basics of what's in the Constitution.

Would it kill people to....oh, I don't know...read the thing?

Are Americans Right About Their Constitutional Rights?

New FindLaw.com Survey Finds Some Hits & Misses in Constitutional Knowledge

EAGAN, Minn., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Most Americans can correctly identify most of the basic individual rights contained in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, according to a new survey conducted by the legal Web site FindLaw.com. But Americans also have some mistaken beliefs when it comes to constitutional rights. The national survey was conducted in honor of Constitution Day, the annual celebration that marks the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

More than eight out of 10 Americans can correctly identify that freedom of speech, freedom of the press, right to free exercise of religion, right to a fair and speedy jury trial in criminal cases and the right to peaceably assemble are rights explicitly granted by the Constitution and its amendments.

However, the survey found that many Americans identified certain rights as being explicitly granted by the Constitution and its amendments when, in fact, they are not. For example, 78 percent of Americans believe that the right to vote is guaranteed by the Constitution. Although the Constitution and its amendments contain provisions for the direct election of members of Congress and protections against voting discrimination, there is no explicit or all-encompassing constitutional right to vote.

Sixty-eight percent of Americans believe the pursuit of happiness is a constitutionally protected right. In fact, it is the Declaration of Independence that discussed certain unalienable rights, including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." However, the pursuit of happiness is
neither mentioned nor protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Similarly, 28 percent of Americans believe there is a right to public education in the Constitution, while 12 percent believe there is a constitutional right to housing and a right to health care.

"The survey shows that Americans have a great belief in the power of our Constitution and understand that it remains an important protector of our freedoms," said Arthur Miller, Bruce Bromley Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. "Thus, perhaps they can be forgiven for believing that it guarantees us more than even the authors of the Constitution and Bill of Rights intended to cover when they wrote them more than 200 years ago."

The survey was conducted for FindLaw.com by Harris Interactive, using a demographically balanced sample of 1,000 American adults, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent.

More information on the U.S. Constitution, including the complete text of the document, commentary by leading legal scholars on constitutional issues, and links to U.S. Constitution resources at the National Archives, Library of Congress and National Constitution Center can be found at http://public.findlaw.com/constitution-day.

The following is the percentage of American adults who correctly identified rights that are contained in the Constitution and its amendments:

93% Freedom of speech
89% Right to free expression of religion
86% Freedom of press
83% Right to fair and speedy jury trial in criminal cases
83% Freedom of assembly

The percentage of American adults who believe the following rights are
contained in the Constitution and its amendments:

78% Right to vote
64% Right to pursuit of happiness
28% Right to public education
12% Right to housing
12% Right to health care

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The Daily Digest : 9-19-06

Posted at 9:34 AM on September 19, 2006 by Tom Scheck

The digest is late today because I have to work cover the Senate debate at 8 pm. The AARP and Twin Cities Public Television is sponsoring the debate between DFLer Amy Klobuchar, Republican Mark Kennedy and Robert Fitzgerald with the Independence Party.

Mud flaps, rain gear and goggles lead the digest this morning. Why, you ask? Because things are getting a bit negative on the campaign front. Mark Kennedy is out with a few radio spots criticizing Amy Klobuchar. Maybe the Kennedy campaign is a bit worried about the latest poll numbers. AP's Pat Condon says the low numbers could harm his campaign whether he agrees with the polling methodology or not.

The DFL Party also released a tv ad criticizing Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty.

The race to replace Mark Kennedy’s seat in Congress is also heating up. Survey USA has a new poll out saying Republican Michele Bachmann is leading DFLer Patty Wetterling and Independence Party member John Binkowski. The three candidates also met in a debate last night in St. Cloud. KSTP, the Star Tribune , MPR and the St. Cloud Times all have stories on the debate.

Two Star Tribune columnists wrote (I know I'm late getting to this one) about the Fifth District race between DFLer Keith Ellison, Republican Alan Fine and Independence Party member Tammy Lee over the past couple of days. Doug Grow wonders if Lee will gain from the other two candidates problems. Katherine Kersten keeps up the GOP line of attack on Ellison.

Finally, the three candidates for attorney general are talking the death penalty. MPR and the AP have stories.

Hatch's new ad

Posted at 1:18 PM on September 19, 2006 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

I was just watching Mike Hatch's new TV ad and I guess it said something about him running for governor, but my attention was grabbed, instead by the three actors (or maybe they're not actors) portraying the students in college.

It's been awhile since I've been on a public college campus (OK, it's been 30 years not including the Lyle Lovett concert I went to at Northrop once), but these don't look like a typical cross section of college students.

Of course, the ad isn't aimed at the college vote, it's aimed at the parents' vote, because they're the people who (a) vote (don't give me any sass, college kids, you made a lot of noise in 2004 but didn't turn out in very strong numbers), and (b) pay the tuition.

Or do they?

According to a 2005 story that Art Hughes wrote, "a survey released this year by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system found a full three-quarters of students say their parents don't help them with the cost of their education."

So it's hard to say who this ad will resonate with. If it's the kids, I think you might want to get a better cross-section, and lose the stuff about paying for it with a rollback of offshore corporate breaks. College kids don't care how you're going to do it, just do it.

To the ad itself, he says "tuition has gone up 50% in four years." True, although Art's story says the number is 75% at the U between 1995 and 2003.

Heck, Pawlenty could come back and say "I've slowed the increase in tuition" (pulling something out of the playbook that the Minneapolis cops used yesterday by noting the 26-percent increase in crime through August was still better than the 60-percent in January).

And, of course, much of that increase is due to a decline in federal college aid, something a governor has little control over.

But those are just details.

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A look inside the Washington offices

Posted at 3:19 PM on September 19, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

If you're one of those people who likes to find out how much other people make, you'll love this Web site. LegiStorm lists the congressional staff salaries for every rep and senator in Washington.

Here's Minnesota.

And you can click on each employee and see a list of salary breakdowns.

It's got to be a very popular Web site in each Washington office, I imagine.

I particularly enjoy the Google ads that come up when you check on a specific candidate. Betty Boop?

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Select A Candidate - Attorney General

Posted at 5:36 PM on September 19, 2006 by Bob Collins

I've only got 6 questions in there so far (most based on last week's debate but also on today's Tim Pugmire story), but I've trotted out a Select A Candidate for the attorney general's race.

I'll add to it as we go along.

BTW, so far, this is the race I'm enjoying most. The candidates are very intelligent, very mature, and very much focused on issues. They're to be commended for giving politics a good name.

Poligone

Posted at 6:02 PM on September 19, 2006 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

I'll be out tomorrow getting some gizmo put in my head to -- I hope -- solve the vertigo problem and allow me fly an airplane again.

Back on Thursday.

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Entenza won't be fined for inadequate spending reports

Posted at 6:29 PM on September 19, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

ST. PAUL (AP) - State Representative Matt Entenza won't be fined for failing to be upfront about all 2005 campaign spending while he was gearing up to run for attorney general.
The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board decided against punishing Entenza. The Democratic candidate dropped out of the attorney general's race in July amid reports that he secretly commissioned opposition research on current D-F-L Attorney General Mike Hatch.
The campaign board says a complaint by Republicans became moot when Entenza filed an amended report this month documenting more than 70-thousand dollars in previously undisclosed spending.
An attorney for Entenza said the former House D-F-L leader felt vindicated by the board's decision.

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