Polinaut: October 6, 2006 Archive

The Daily Digest: 10-6-06

Posted at 11:09 AM on October 6, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

The debate for governor leads the digest today. The candidates met in a Rochester Chamber of Commerce debate on Thursday. MPR, AP, the Star Tribune, KARE-11, the Pi Press, KIMT and KTTC also have stories. AP also has some debate snippets.

The three major party candidates for governor (Republican Tim Pawlenty, DFLer Mike Hatch and the Independence Party's Peter Hutchinson) are all meeting in a Forum Communications editorial board meeting this morning. Don Davis, with Forum Communications, says he may post audio of the meeting later. I'll link to it if he does.

Two of the Senate candidates, Republican Mark Kennedy and DFLer Amy Klobuchar make the same appearance this afternoon.

Pawlenty will also meet with Ainsworth Lumber Company officials and will hold a conference call with reporters after it.

Several DFL lawmakers will also meet with company officials. DFL Senator Tom Saxhaug says Minnesota needs cheaper wood.

Apparently, Pawlenty is a fan of the "creative class" and Richard Florida. What the DEED Commissioner failed to mention is that Richard Florida ripped candidates, like Pawlenty, who want to ban gay marriage.

The Star Tribune's Dennis Anderson writes that Minnesota's waters need improvement and is urging Pawlenty to take greater action.

MPR has a story on where the U.S. Senate candidates stand on health care. What a kawinkidink, the Star Tribune also has an overview of the issue and where the candidates stand on it (is that how you spell kawinkidink?).

The AP has a story on Kennedy's suggested areas of savings for disaster assistance.

I forgot to mention this story in the Hill yesterday. It mentions Klobuchar and the blog incident.

The blog, Almost on the Range, has links to the NRA ads running on behalf of Kennedy and Pawlenty. Major kudos and points to you.

Patty Wetterling continues to dominate the discussion in the 6th Congressional District. The Washington Post focuses on Wetterling and the 6th in its story suggesting the GOP may be losing its grip on the Evangelical vote. Martiga Lohn, with the AP, has a national story on the race.

Eric Black with the Star Tribune, and WCCO's Pat Kessler have fact checks the latest Wetterling ad that focuses on the Foley incident.

Rahm Emanuel says Wetterling ran the ad on her own.

The Star Tribune also has a story saying 6th District voters are repulsed but it may not change their votes. There may greater attention on the debate between Wetterling and Republican Michele Bachman and the I-P's John Binkowski on Saturday.

Wetterling will record her national radio address today at 1 pm.

A National Review column says the GOP may lose the security moms because of the Foley scandal:

Unlike the discussions about the war, this is a very simple story to understand. Most of us don't know what to do about Iraq or Iran or North Korea. There can be plenty of debate about how to handle these enormous challenges. But we do know how we should act if we were told about someone sending inappropriate messages to a teenager and we were in a position to do something about it. We would ask many more, and tougher, questions than these Congressmen say they did.

The Star Tribune says Minnesota pages report nothing but positive experiences from the program.

The LA Times has a story focusing on how difficult the climate is for gay Republicans. It mentions State Senator Paul Koering (he's a senator not a representative like the LA Times says) who has this quote:

"Obviously, the far right has kind of got a stranglehold on the Republican Party," said Minnesota state Rep. Paul Koering, a Republican who came out publicly last year. "The very first time I ran, I literally almost made myself sick worrying about somebody finding out I was gay."

The Star Tribunes' Rochelle Olson rolls in plenty of coverage about the 5th Congressional District into one story. Look to an earlier post to see what Congressman Sabo's aide said about Tammy Lee's use of Sabo's photo.

The Star Tribune reports that DFLer Coleen Rowley cuts links to an anti John Kline blog.

The Marshall Independent has a profile of Republican Attorney General candidate Jeff Johnson. I don't really like to tell journalists how to do their job but do you think it might have been wise to mention Johnson's opponents in the story?

The Star Tribune, the Pi Press and KARE-11 have stories on complaints against a medical transportation company.

There's an attempt to get the MVST measure off of the ballot. The Strib and AP have stories.

The Mankato Free Press has a story on a debate by the legislative candidates. MPR has a profile on the Mankato legislative races. I'm not so sure a Republican pick-up here will determine control of the Minnesota Senate like this report suggest.

The Bemidji Pioneer has two stories on debates up north. One story focuses on the House race. The other on the Senate seat.

Several candidates, top and bottom of the ticket, will attend the walkabout in Cannon Falls this weekend.

Finally, how do we explain this one to teenagers?

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I can't stop myself from reading it...

Posted at 12:03 PM on October 6, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Electoral Vote Predictor swings the Senate to the Dems (sort of). The "predictor"? That one still gets me.

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On local races

Posted at 12:59 PM on October 6, 2006 by Bob Collins

My esteemed colleagues in MPR's Public Insight Journalism unit have sent out a request to their PIJ "network," asking for information -- insight, if you will -- on local races that are out there. I don't have any particular interesting race to give them -- I think Woodbury Mayor Bill Hargis is probably going to cruise to re-election again, since he appears to have the good sense his predecessor did not (it was our little Foley afffair). And I don't know who's running for City Council although I've seen a few signs around and in Woodbury, it doesn't much matter anyway unless you want to build a building that is distinctive and doesn't look like every other building in town, in which case I guess it's a big deal at the City Council. But I don't have cable TV anymore so I no longer sit on the edge of my seat as the Council discusses plot plans and setbacks and council members occasionally long for the fine-dining options that only a subsequent string of chains can satiate.

So....

Maybe you have a more interesting life in your corner of this fine state and if, so, we'd like to hear from you because otherwise we'll probably be forced to do a story on why a daycare center has to get rid of its purple roof in Woodbury.

So go here and give us something really good!

Using "The Simpsons" to make a point

Posted at 1:42 PM on October 6, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

Robert Fitzgerald posted this item on YouTube to define his U.S. Senate opponents. Fitzgerald is running as a member of the Independence Party against DFLer Amy Klobuchar and Republican Mark Kennedy. I think he's trying to say that Klobuchar and Kennedy don't get along.

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Rasmussen out

Posted at 1:45 PM on October 6, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

16-percent lead in Rasmussen for Klobuchar. The news there appears to be that there's almost no undecideds.

It has Hatch over Pawlenty. At first blush, it looks within or darned close to the margin of error.

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Kennedy touts his"tax fighter award."

Posted at 3:16 PM on October 6, 2006 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

Republican Mark Kennedy held a news conference with someone from the National Tax Limitation Committee to tout a "tax fighter award." Here's the release from Kennedy's campaign:

Mark Kennedy Receives “Tax Fighter Award”

(St. Paul, Minnesota) – The nonpartisan National Tax Limitation Committee (NTLC) honored U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kennedy today with its “Tax Fighter Award” and an ‘A’ rating for his record of keeping taxes low and controlling spending.

NTLC President Lewis K. Uhler presented Kennedy with the award at the Capitol in St. Paul. Mr. Uhler highlighted the differences between Mark Kennedy and his opponent and stressed that while Kennedy has received three consecutive ‘A’ ratings from the group, Klobuchar could be expected to follow in the foot steps of retiring-Senator Mark Dayton. Dayton has earned three consecutive ‘F’ or flunking grades from the tax group during his six years in the Senate.

“I am honored to receive this award and an A-grade for supporting the kind of common sense policies Minnesota’s taxpayers expect. We have to get spending in Washington under control, that means not treating the people’s money like it belongs to the government, passing a line-item veto, and eliminating wasteful earmarks,” said Kennedy.

“Ms. Klobuchar would simply follow in Mark Dayton’s foot-steps by supporting reckless job killing policies like opposing to even lower the death tax. She has already proposed a $1.5 trillion tax hike that would be three times the size of the largest tax increase in history. That will kill jobs and hurt MN families.”

During the award presentation, Mr. Uhler said, “Dayton failed to emulate the voting records of Sens. Boschwitz and Durenberger who preceded him. Balance would be restored with Mark Kennedy in the Senate.”

# # #

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Hatch loses dispute over judge

Posted at 4:58 PM on October 6, 2006 by Tom Scheck

By BRIAN BAKST Associated Press Writer
ST. PAUL (AP) - Attorney General Mike Hatch failed Friday in his effort to disqualify a judge from a case, a procedural defeat in an unusually public feud.
Ramsey County District Judge Gregg Johnson said his colleague, Judge William Leary III, won't have to give up the gavel in a couple of debt-collection lawsuits Hatch's office is pursuing.
The dispute, which boiled over this summer, is also the basis of a Republican ethics complaint against Hatch. The GOP accuses Hatch of making improper contact with a judge and trying to intimidate him.
The tussle got extra attention because Hatch is the Democratic candidate for governor.
In court filings, Hatch and lawyers in his office accused Leary of making comments construed as biased in favor of the defendants, whose debt-collection practices are under fire. Hatch caught flak for making an after-hours phone call to confront Leary, which exposed the attorney general to the allegations that he broke court conduct rules.
Johnson said there was nothing wrong with Leary trying to facilitate settlement negotiations between Hatch's office and the debt collectors. He wrote that removing Leary from the case would set a dangerous precedent.
"It would further create havoc within our system of justice if a party was allowed to make disparaging remarks about a trial judge to the press and then demand the judge's removal from the case based on tensions created by that party's own actions," Johnson wrote.
Hatch's office reacted to the ruling with a written statement.
"While we respect the court's decision, we are obviously disappointed with the outcome," it read. "We are reviewing our options at this time."
Hatch has argued there was nothing improper about his June 12 call to Leary to discuss the case. He initially said the call was harmless and lasted less than a minute, but Leary's version conflicts with Hatch's. The judge produced records showing a seven-minute call, which Hatch later confirmed.
Leary was appointed to the bench in 2002 by Independence Party Gov. Jesse Ventura. Besides court filings that give his account, Leary has kept a low profile.
---
Brian Bakst can be reached at bbakst(at)ap.org

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Going blue?

Posted at 5:11 PM on October 6, 2006 by Bob Collins

Like the Minnesota Twins, the number seem to suggest that nothing's working for Mark Kennedy.

Congressional Quarterly sounds like it's close to calling the race.

This race isn't even the most talked about race in the state anymore.

Harris on Christian politics

Posted at 5:14 PM on October 6, 2006 by Bob Collins

From AP:

Republican Senate hopeful Katherine Harris
says Florida's Democratic incumbent supports unchristian political
policies.

Harris - whose comments were made on a Christian radio network
and published Monday by Agape Press, a Christian news service - did
not mention specific policies, but she has repeatedly berated Sen.
Bill Nelson for not supporting a ban on certain late-term abortions
and a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

The congresswoman has worked to attract Christian voters
throughout her campaign. This summer, Harris told the Florida
Baptist Witness newsletter that Christians should be involved in
politics because otherwise legislative bodies would "legislate
sin," and that the separation of church and state is "a lie we
have been told." The comments caused a stir among Democrats and
many Republicans, as well as some Christians.

In an effort to explain those remarks, Harris told American
Family Radio News: "I was being specific in talking to them and
differentiating myself from Bill Nelson, who claims to be a
Christian and yet votes completely contrary to what we say we
believe."

Several political heavyweights will be in town next week.

Posted at 5:24 PM on October 6, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

Illinois Senator Barack Obama will be in town on Monday to hold a fundraiser for fellow Democrat Amy Klobuchar. The event is closed to the press.

Republican Mark Kennedy's campaign manager sent out an e-mail to supporters saying a group of Republican senators will be in the Twin Cities to hold a rally for Kennedy on Tuesday:

With just 34 days until the Election we need your help NOW more than ever! Please join Mark Kennedy, Sen. Norm Coleman, Sen. John Thune (SD), Sen. Tom Coburn (OK), Sen. Richard Burr (NC), and Sen. David Vitter (LA) at a FREE rally in support of Mark Kennedy's U.S. Senate Campaign.

Where: Woodbury Republican Victory Office
1890 Wooddale Dr
Suite 200
Woodbury, MN 55125
When: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 3:00 p.m.

Klobuchar, Kennedy and I-P member Robert Fitzgerald will debate the issues in Moorhead on Tuesday night.

House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio will be in Mankato on Tuesday to hold a rally for GOP Congressman Gil Gutknecht. Boehner is coming on Thursday not Tuesday. Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland will also be in the state stumping for Gutknecht's DFL opponent, Tim Walz. They will make campaign stops in North Mankato, Waseca, Winona and Austin. Gutknecht and Walz are running for Congress in Minnesota's 1st Congressional Distroct.

I'm also told Cleland will do an event with Amy Klobuchar on Wednesday but I don't have the details yet.

Al Franken will hold an for 6th District Congressional Candidate Patty Wetterling on Tuesday night at 5 pm at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph.

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Hillary's coming to raise money for Klobuchar

Posted at 5:37 PM on October 6, 2006 by Tom Scheck

Here's an e-mail that Amy Klobuchar's campaign manager just sent out to supporters:

Please join us for A Special Evening with Senator Patty Murray (WA) Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR)

In Honor of
Minnesota's Next U.S. Senator
Amy Klobuchar

Tuesday, October 17, 2006
5:30pm Private Reception
6:00pm General Reception

Graves 601 Hotel
601 East Hennepin Avenue
Downtown Minneapolis