Polinaut: February 23, 2007 Archive

Well, that was quick

Posted at 9:42 AM on February 23, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)

From the AP:

URGENT

AP NewsBreak: Vilsack to drop out of presidential race

By MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Democrat Tom Vilsack is abandoning his bid for the presidency after struggling against better-known, better-financed rivals, a senior campaign official told The
Associated Press on Friday.

Vilsack left office in January and traveled through states holding early tests of strength. He had faced a tough challenge from New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack
Obama, who more ability to raise money and attract attention, even in Vilsack's home state of Iowa.

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The Daily Digest:2-23-07

Posted at 12:27 PM on February 23, 2007 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

The Digest was a little bit of a sleepy head this morning. We just didn't have the energy to get going. Did someone say energy? Gov. Pawlenty signed the renewable energy bill yesterday. MPR, the Star Tribune, the Pi Press and AP have stories.

Pawlenty also offered a fit workplace initiative today.

A bill in the Minnesota Senate calls for a greater look of 3M chemicals.

MPR has a story on a proposal to regulate body piercing.

Pawlenty and others in the National Governors Association praise Ford Motor Company. Pawlenty will be at NGA meetings this weekend through Tuesday and will attend a Republican Governors Association fundraiser featuring President Bush.

Winona State University's president will also attend the NGA meetings.

A ticket scalping bill is moving in the Minnesota House. I have really really good seats to sell for the next committee hearing.

The House Commerce Committee is taking comments on the smoking ban proposal.

The Mankato Free Press says Pawlenty is standing firm on a gas tax increase.

An Anoka-Hennepin school board member calls Pawlenty's education plan a bunch of "gimmicks."

$4 drugs gets out of a House committee.

Congress

GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann tells the St. Cloud Times that Iran is going to get half of Iraq. Here's the podcast. Here's the write-up from the Big Question.

AP says Minnesota's Congressional delegation has scaled back their privately paid travel.

The Winona Daily News says DFL Rep. Tim Walz says he wants the national guard given back to governors.

Walz also wants to rename a veterans clinic and will discuss global warming next week.

The Asian American Press says DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum signed on to a bill that would provide grants to institutions of higher education for their efforts to improve and expand services targeting Asian American and Pacific Islander students.

Several lawmakers are still trying to keep the spy plane in Minnesota.

DFL Rep. Keith Ellison gave a speech to the U of M law school. You can listen to it here.

DFL Rep. Collin Peterson says Ag Secretary Mike Johanns thinking is "misguided."

DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar outlines his Great Lakes agenda.

2008

The Pi Press says DFL Rep. John Lesch says he's thinking about running for the U.S. Senate against Norm Coleman.

The Herald Review says Democrat Al Franken visited Nashwauk.

Have a nice weekend.

Bachmann on Iran

Posted at 5:19 PM on February 23, 2007 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann appears to be backing away from her earlier comments on Iran. The 6th District Congresswoman told St. Cloud Times reporter Lawrence Schumacher earlier this month that Iran had a plan to partition Iraq. Schumacher posted the podcast but it didn't really surface with the MSM (which includes me by the way) until The Big Question posted it today. MPR and AP also have stories out there.

Bachmann's spokeswoman declined an interview request. She released this statement:

Bachmann Responds to Misconstrued Coverage of Iran Statement

(Woodbury, Minnesota) - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann released the following statement this afternoon:

"I am sorry if my words have been misconstrued, but it is well known that Iraq is a conglomeration of many groups of people that emerged out of European colonialization. The three primary sects in Iraq are Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'a, and the idea that Iraq might be partitioned into three distinct entities - Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni - has been intermittently considered since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003. One of the reasons that this never became policy is because the Shi'a and the Kurds had larger states that many believed would have engulfed them, either peacefully or by force - Turkey in the case of the Kurds, and Iran in the case of the Shi'a.

"In the case of Iran, there are multiple reasons to believe they would seek to expand their territory to include Shi'a Iraq - namely, their natural cultural ties, the long history of Iran and Iraq wars, and regional security. A fourth and powerful reason is that success in Iraq for the West could threaten the future of the current Iranian leadership and its Islamic Revolution. There is already a strong antagonism against the ruling regime in Iran and a successful, democratic Iraq could pose trouble for Iran.

"Although it is difficult to ascertain Iran's intentions toward Iraq, they are clearly not in the U.S. interest - for example, the Iranian weapons that have fallen into the hands of insurgents. If Iran is allowed to freely operate in Iraq and continues to thwart the U.S. and the Iraqi government, then we may very well see a de facto partition in which the western Anbar province continues to house and develop terrorists."

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