Polinaut: October 18, 2006 Archive

The Daily Digest: 10-18-06

Posted at 10:28 AM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck

Minnesota's 1st Congressional District leads the digest today. I know you were thinking the 6th would but the 1st is getting the attention of the national parties. The 6th already has that attention. The Washington Post, CQ Politics, ABC News and the AP all say the DCCC and the NRCC are getting into the race. There's been a lot of smoke around this race and now we may be seeing some fire. The race is between GOP Congressman Gil Gutknecht and DFLer Tim Walz.

The Rochester Post Bulletin also says Laura Bush will hold a fundraiser for Gutknecht next week. It's a statewide tour since she's also raising money for Michele Bachmann.

Speaking of Bachmann, the 6th is heating up. The Star Tribune and the AP have stories on a complaint to the IRS over a pastor telling his flock that he would personally vote for Michele Bachmann.

The Star Tribune and the AP also have stories on decision by Wetterling's campaign to fire a campaign staffer.

Hotline has an analysis on the Hatch and Wetterling leads in recent polls.

KTTC has a story on the value of political polls.

WCCO-TV says the DFLers are leading in the polls but not celebrating just yet.

The Star Tribune has a story on where the candidates for governor stand on the environment.

Jeremy Olson, with the Pi Press, writes on where the candidates stand on health care.

Hillary Clinton was in town yesterday to raise money for fellow Democrat Amy Klobuchar. It was closed press but the Star Tribune writes about it anyway.

MPR and the Star Tribune have stories on the debate in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District.

The St. Cloud Times has a story on a legislative debate in St. Cloud.

College Republicans will welcome Howard Dean with a scream

Posted at 10:46 AM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

DNC Chair Howard Dean will be in town on Thursday. He's raising money for the DFL Party on Thursday night. He'll also be holding a rally on the U of M in the afternoon. I just got word that the Minnesota College Republicans will be holding a "Howard Dean Screamalike" Contest at the U of M at 1 pm. In case you don't know the scream, you can listen to it here.

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Zingler on 5th District debate

Posted at 11:18 AM on October 18, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

David Zingler, who does not work for MPR, has sent along his thoughts on last night's 5th District debate. Dislcaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer: You know how blogs post excerpts from stuff other people write. Same thing.

If you have a similar "review" you'd like to write, just paste it in the comments and have at it.

BTW, there's a screw-up somewhere between here and Mpls that has prevented the full audio from begin fed and encoded. I don't know if it's going to happen or not.
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Tension, Excitement Highlight CD 5 Forum

After having been to a couple of relatively tame CD 5 Candidate Forums in the last month, I am surprised to see the parking lot of Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park fill up in relatively fast fashion. As Kyla and I near the entrance of the synagogue, we encounter Stan, a friend and co-worker of mine. We exchange pleasantries and enter. Once in the lobby, we notice a man that bears an uncanny resemblance to Alan Fine. An unconfirmed source tells us he is the Republican nominee’s brother.

There is definitely a “buzz” surrounding the event. The padded, theater style flip down seats are filling up. Unlike past forums, we are fortunate to find good seats. I soon notice that Eric Eskola, of TPT’s Almanac, is in attendance, which only adds to the “political geek cred” of the festivities.

As for the candidates, Independence Party nominee Tammy Lee is the first to enter. A few minutes later she is followed by Democrat Keith Ellison, who is sporting a kippah skull cap in respect to Jewish tradition. Shortly after, Fine arrives, also donning a kippah.

As we wait for the forum to begin, I overhear a group of four women, seated directly behind us, discuss the candidates. One, clearly not an Ellison supporter, cites his personal problems as the reason for her disgust of the Democrat. When pressed for proof by a pro-Ellison friend, she cites Power Line and labels the blog “progressive”.

Despite not being invited to participate, Jay Pond of the Green Party is in attendance. When Ellison and Lee notice their fellow candidate, they walk into the crowd and escort him to the stage. The forum’s organizers however, quickly intervene and Pond returns to his 4th row seat.

With flash bulbs popping throughout the audience, the debate begins. WCCO’s Esme Murphy acts as the moderator. Ellison goes first and greets the audience with a “Shalom” before explaining he is for “peace with security for Israel”.

Fine, seated in the middle, follows by explaining how his grandfather was one of the founders of the synagogue before launching into a tirade about how the Star Tribune attempted to “fix the election” by printing a story about his 1995 spousal abuse accusations. The Repubican called the story “not kosher” before attacking Ellison’s relationship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and stating that he is “not a member of the Nation of Islam.” During his rant, Fine’s kippah falls off and he runs over his allotted time and is cut off by the moderator.

Next, Lee encounters microphone problems which cause her to share the audio equipment with Fine. Always upbeat, Lee tells the audience that, instead of focusing on her opponents, she would show why she is the “best candidate”. During this time, Fine reapplies his headwear.

The first question of the night involves the separation of church and state. Before beginning his answer, Ellison tells the audience that, like Fine, he is not a member of the Nation of Islam and is also not endorsed by CAIR. Fine follows by calling Ellison’s statements “not true” and, again, personally attacks his Democratic opponent. The crowd boos. Sensing the event is getting out of control, Murphy interrupts Fine and directs him to answer the church and state question.

Soon after the candidates are asked the usual laundry list of issue-orientated questions – Iraq, immigration, health care, Darfur, etc – the responses to which are fairly predictable. The highlights of this period include Fine agreeing with Ellison “that immigration is important” and calling the environment his “top priority.” Lee brings the healthcare issue home by explaining that she is paying $1400 monthly for insurance for herself and her young daughter. Ellison gives a very politically correct response when asked about Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah.

As the debate rolls along, Lee reveals that she is “committed to caucus with the Democrats” if she is elected to congress. Ellison seems bent on touting his mainstream credentials by listing the various labor unions and organizations that have endorsed him. The controversial Democrat also positions himself as a “uniter”. He discusses his primary night victory party, “I wish you all could have been there. There were all faiths, all colors, it was a beautiful thing. I am going to do that in congress.”

Fine is the least impressive on this night. He answers many questions with rambling dissertations that border on incoherent. The moderator frequently has to cut him off as he fails to stay within the allotted time frame. About an hour into the event the Republican describes himself as a unifier and implores voters to “not look at the ‘R’ or ‘D’, but at the person, especially in this election.” During this time, his kippah falls off again.

With the festivities winding down, the candidates are asked about their stands on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Fine supports it with the typical GOP talking points; Lee is against the measure as is Ellison who says “The biggest threat to heterosexual marriage is heterosexual divorce.”

In their closing statements, Ellison and Lee tout their usual middle class friendly themes while Fine launches into another of his patented tirades. He says “Keith Ellison sounds great” but urges voters to look at his “background.” He closes by scolding voters to “open up your eyes” and see that Ellison is “not fit to serve in Washington.” He is booed and hissed during this time.

The synagogue is again buzzing as we exit. Ellison darts off the stage as if to get away from Fine as quickly as possible. No matter what you may think about the Democratic nominee, you have to admire his restraint and composure. Fine’s goal on this night seemed to be to rattle his hated opponent in hopes he would crack on hostile turf. It didn’t work.

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SEIU running radio ads on behalf of Wetterling

Posted at 11:29 AM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The FEC website says the Service Employees International Union has started running $93,234 of radio ads on behalf of DFLer Patty Wetterling. The union is also doing robo calls on behalf of Wetterling. Wetterling is running for Congress in Minnesota's 6th District against Republican Michele Bachmann and the I-P's John Binkowski.

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ECM Editorial Board endorses Pawlenty

Posted at 1:21 PM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

I missed this earlier. The ECM Editorial Board, a group of several newspapers, has endorsed Republican Tim Pawlenty for governor. You can read the endorsement here.

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Select A Candidate -- 8th District

Posted at 2:21 PM on October 18, 2006 by Bob Collins

Based on last night's 8th District debate, I've created a Select A Candidate module for the 8th District. I've sent the questions on to the Harry Welty campaign and will add his responses as soon as I receive them.

Sports stars raise $ for Klobuchar

Posted at 3:04 PM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

Just received this fundraising notice from the Klobuchar campaign (I added the hyperlinks):

Please join Sam and Sylvia Kaplan along with Jim Klobuchar and Special Guests

Bill Brown * Jerry Burns * Billy Bye
Paul Dickson * Vern Gagne
Mick Tinglehoff * Trent Tucker

Honoring Minnesota's next
United States Senator

Amy Klobuchar

For a pre Vikings game brunch
Sunday, October 22, 2006
12:00noon -2:00pm

At the home of Sam & Sylvia Kaplan

As you know, Amy's father, Jim Klobuchar is a retired sports writer for the Star Tribune and may have something to do with bringing this group together.

I'm also filing this under the "you learn something new every day category" on Verne Gagne:

"Verne had four Big Ten Wrestling Championships, two NCAA Wrestling Championships, the 1949 AAU Wrestling Championship and a slot on the 1948 United States Olympic team on his resume.

Following a brief stint playing for the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, Verne turned to professional wrestling..."

and on Trent Tucker:

The Trent Tucker Rule

On January 15, 1990, when Tucker was with New York, with 0.1 remaining in a game against the Bulls, he unbelievably got off a wild three-point shot off at the buzzer and the three unbelievably went in. The basket counted and the Knicks won. The NBA then established a rule that states that "0.3 needs to be on the clock in order for a player to get a shot off whether they make it or not."

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5th District debate audio

Posted at 3:22 PM on October 18, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

It took longer than we had planned, but I think we've finally cobbled together the audio of last night's 5th District debate.

Poor Brandt Williams! He covered the debate, banged out his story by about 1 a.m. and then spent hours trying to get the audio fed back to St. Paul where our operations team was to get it encoded,tell me, and I'd put it here and on the Campaign 2006: 5th District section.

But the line from Minneapolis to St. Paul kept dropping and very early this morning he gave up, but returned to City Hall (to cover the Dolan hearing before the City Council at 9) and gave it another shot, and the pieces got put together.

It wouldn't surprise me if the middle of it jumps around a bit (you may hear a section twice), since my audio editing system is out for repair.

Just another day in the radio business.

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Candidates as people

Posted at 3:37 PM on October 18, 2006 by Bob Collins (22 Comments)

The blog, Wind Beneath the Right Wing reminded me of something I meant to post last night (but didn't, it's a long story having to do with building an airplane).

I thought Pat Kessler's piece introducing people to who Mark Kennedy -- the person -- is was fabulous last night. As I noted a week or so ago when Gary Miller over at Kennedy vs. the Machine wrote one of the few posts there that's actually about Mark Kennedy, that that's what the campaign has been missing.

I think people are really into "issues," I think they're also into knowing the weaknesses of opponents, but I think people really want to have a sense of who the candidate is as a person.

You may remember a few months ago I wrote about the things I want a candidate to tell me and most of it was about their lives, more than their positions. I generally believe that most candidates are decent folks, not disciples of the devil.

Maybe that's one of the reasons my favorite question at debates is, "what do you like about your opponent?" (BTW, they asked it last night in the 8th District debate, check it out)

Mark Kennedy seems like a likeable guy. I've always had very pleasant conversations with him even though I don't think he had a clue who I was. But the campaign has spent so much time going after Amy Klobuchar, they didn't tell the voters about Mark Kennedy, the person.

And they're running out of time.

Kessler did them a huge favor.

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The Digest #2

Posted at 6:25 PM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

I missed some things earlier today so it's time to do some cleaning up around this place. Many thanks to Tom Erickson in the governor's office for telling me I missed something. We aim to please at Polinaut. Send me a note or link of anything you think should make the digest.

Let's start with the big miss of the morning. Don Davis, with Forum Communications, has profiles of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, DFLer Mike Hatch and I-P candidate Peter Hutchinson.

Last night's debate in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District can be heard here.

WCCO-TV's Pat Kessler has an interesting profile on Mark Kennedy (is that "windy" he's playing on the piano?)

Republican Congressman Gil Gutknecht awards the Bushel Boy USDA grant (subscription required). Have you ever seen that commercial with the guy who keeps talking to the digital recording instead of a human. It always cracks me up when he yells "Big Boy!"

Ok, the legislative races haven't been getting a whole lot of attention. I'm in a good mood so I'll put some up.

T.W. Budig reports that GOP State Senator Michael Jungbauer has been hit with some fines by the Campaign Finance Board and a three judge panel will rule on complaints against him on Friday.

Budig also writes that DFL Senator Leo Foley and GOP challenger Scott Schulte have health issues in Senate District 47. I hope you both feel better.

The Star Tribune has a story on GOP candidate Alex Whitney. He's an openly gay Republican running against DFL House Minority Leader Margaret Anderson Kelliher. Nice story but not sure Whitney will win. You can't throw a rock in that district without hitting a Democrat.

The Winona Daily News says DFL Senator Steve Murphy and GOP challenger Steve Drazkowski continue to spar.

Finally, MPR has a story saying local governments could be crushed by debt.

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Call for campaign literature, etc.

Posted at 7:16 PM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

It's getting near the end of the election season which means there will be plenty of campaign mailings, push polling, etc... Please let us know if you get some campaign literature or get a poll that sounds a little bit fishy. It doesn't matter if the information is for the U.S. Senate or for dog-catcher. We'd like to know about it and possibly write about it. Send a comment to this post or e-mail me at tscheck@mpr.org. You could also fax the literature to us. The number is 651 227 5238 - Thanks....

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Martin Sabo's District Director endorses Tammy Lee

Posted at 7:42 PM on October 18, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

This endorsement letter was sent to me from Tammy Lee, the I-P candidate in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. It seems like Congressman Sabo is quietly endorsing Lee. Sabo's spokeswoman says he has not endorsed Lee but his photo is on her website and now his district director is backing Lee. Does Keith Ellison, the DFL candidate, face a threat? I asked this before and will again -- If Sabo couldn't get his former chief of staff elected by openly endorsing and campaigning for him, how will a quiet endorsement help Lee? Anyway, here's the letter:

Statement from Kathleen Anderson, District Director for Congressman Martin Sabo

October 18, 2006

For the past 28 years, Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District has been represented by Martin Sabo—a man whom all agree has demonstrated the highest ethical standards. In my years working for Martin, I never once had to wince or blush because of his personal or professional behavior. I think the people of this district deserve no less in their next representative.

Especially in light of the recent rash of misdeeds in Washington (this past year alone four Republican congressmen have been forced to relinquish their offices due to ethical transgressions), it is important to send someone to replace Martin who will continue to make us proud. Unfortunately, Keith Ellison, the DFL endorsed candidate, falls short in this regard.

The primary responsibility of any elected official is to make the laws. At the very least, our lawmakers should set a good example by obeying those laws. Is that asking too much? Apparently so, when it comes to Mr. Ellison. Time and again, he has demonstrated a scofflaw attitude.

What is a scofflaw? The dictionary says "a contemptuous law violator." In fairness, contemptuous may be too strong a word to describe Mr. Ellison's behavior. I can not know with certainty Ellison's motivations. To be kind, perhaps he is simply disorganized when it comes to these matters. Nonetheless, he has repeatedly – and very recently - violated the laws the rest of us routinely obey.

For example, his numerous unpaid speeding and parking tickets have led to license suspensions in the past and yet another suspension just this summer. In addition, his failure to properly file and pay taxes on several occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s – actually resulting in a lien being placed on his property - is also serious cause for concern.

Naturally, none of us enjoys getting a traffic ticket. But if and when we do, we readily pay the fine.

Understandably, most of us dread April 15 when it is time to pay the taxes we owe, but we still settle up and write the check before the deadline, if additional taxes are due.

Most of us do not run for public office, but those who do must file campaign reports in a timely fashion. Here again, Mr. Ellison has displayed a disregard for the law. By filing late, or filing inaccurately, he has – as recently as this summer – been found in noncompliance of these laws and fined by the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.

Again, I can not know what leads Mr. Ellison to be so casual or cavalier about these matters. By his actions, however, he seems to feel that he should only obey these laws at his convenience – when he gets around to it. When a lawmaker behaves in this fashion, what example does that set for the rest of us – or more importantly for our children?

It is often said that "past is prologue." But, Mr. Ellison's "scofflaw" attitude is not in the distant past – it is ongoing. Accordingly, we should be rightly concerned that these ethical mis-steps will continue into the future. Clearly, the best way to prevent unethical behavior by politicians once in office is to seek the truth about their character now—before the election. And it is on this ground—on his character—that I find Keith Ellison unfit to represent Minnesota's Fifth District in congress.

With the choices that remain on the November 7th ballot, Independence Party candidate, Tammy Lee, is the only candidate that I feel can carry on Congressman Martin Sabo's legacy. I'm voting for Tammy Lee.

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