Polinaut: July 11, 2007 Archive

The liberal media

Posted at 7:07 AM on July 11, 2007 by Bob Collins

The Daily Digest: 7-11-07

Posted at 9:21 AM on July 11, 2007 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

Feds seem confident of more money for Northstar.

State ends up in the black.

The first round of National Guard troops arrive in Wisconsin.

Congress

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman opposes the Democratic plan on Iraq policy. He tells NPR he and other Republicans are leaning against voting for the bill. He also tells Bloomberg that the Democratic plan would be a "disaster" but is calling for a change in policy.

He also says the commercials targeting him are about "getting press."

The NY Times has a nifty chart on the vulnerable senators.

Coleman is also mentioned in this story saying the Senate is getting ready to debate the fairness doctrine.

Coleman is 18th on the list of members of Congress who took the most privately financed trips in Congress.

Wellstone's son pushes for mental health coverage but GOP Rep. John Kline says the mental health parity act will drive up health costs.

The Hill says DFL Rep. Betty McCollum encouraged her staff to stretch with her.

The largest farm group supports DFL Rep. Collin Peterson's Farm Bill.

2008

The Star Tribune says Al Franken and Mike Ciresi, two DFLers challenging Coleman, ask Coleman to support the DFL plan on Iraq. That should change his mind.

MPR and AP take a look at Jim Cohen, A DFLer who will announce today that he will run for U.S. Senate.

There may be a third candidate in the race for Steve Sviggum's house seat.

2008 RNC

Mo Rocca is coming! Mo Rocca is coming.

Walz to Draft Walz for Senate group: "Thanks but no thanks."

Posted at 10:38 AM on July 11, 2007 by Tom Scheck

I just got off the phone with DFL Rep. Tim Walz. I was talking to him about another story but asked him if there's any possibility that he would consider running for the U.S. Senate. As you already know, there has been a "Draft Walz" movement being discussed.

Walz said he's not interested:

"We're focusing on serving our constituents in the 1st District and making sure that we're reelected to this job as long as they would have us. That's where my focus is. You have me on the record saying it's not being discussed other than in the context that we're flattered. I would like to think the discussion is being driven by the fact that we're doing a good job but I also know there is a real sense of frustration with Senator Coleman and the situation in Iraq is furthering that."

The campaign staff for Walz has already said Walz wasn't interested but I wanted to post his direct quote for the record.

America to Congress: "meh"

Posted at 10:54 AM on July 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

A series of polls out over the last month (actually, ongoing polls) shows that America's message to Washington is simple and consistent: "you stink." But unlike the last election cycle, there's an additional comment, "and we love you for it."

For example: According to CBS in late June, the job approval rating for Congress was just 27 percent -- a number that is pretty closely reflected in other polls and continuing a trend that no matter how poorly rated the president is, Congress' rating is almost always worse.

How is that different from when the Republicans were in charge? In November 2005, Congress' job approval rating was only 34 percent, lower than -- at that time -- President Bush's critique.

So why isn't anyone predicting a Republican "wave" when America next gets a crack at the Congress it doesn't like? And why aren't sitting Democrats -- especially those who promised, you know, change -- worried?

To recap: Republican dominated Congress: bad. Democrat dominated Congress: bad, according to the polls.

Sounds like the time is right for a third party, right? Wrong. If you look at the poll numbers, it's always -- technically -- been time for a third party. And, in fact, the CBS poll showed people claiming they wanted a third party. They want to vote for a third party candidate, usually right up until the time they get to. In Minnesota, a third party candidate has never even come close to carrying a county, let alone the state.

In Minnesota, changing your name to Anderson to get an election "bump" is standard practice. Maybe this is the year someone will change their name to None OfTheAbove.

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Why is John McCain in trouble?

Posted at 1:39 PM on July 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

I don't know.

And there's clearly disagreement in other camps.

Take Truth vs. the Machine, for example. Its take on things is that McCain, in his challenge to religious conservative leaders, alienated conservatives. "Brain dead" is the claim there. What I find interesting there is the "on" again "off" again relationship conservatives have with Mr. Robertson. You remember him, he's the guy who said God caused Ariel Sharon's stroke because of dividing Israel, that God told him there'd be a mass attack on a U.S. city this year. Oh, and don't forget the time God told him President Bush would win an easy re-election in 2004. And he nodded his head when Jerry Falwell blamed the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on "ACLU, abortionists, feminists, gays, and the People For the American Way" as well as the terrorists.

Not too many Republicans were claiming that Robertson was speaking for them at the time. There was a rush to distance themselves from the guy.

So why now is McCain "challenging" these religious leaders blamed for an obvious lost cause?

They might have gotten it partly right, of course. McCain's position on immigration is certainly anti-conservative. But isn't it more likely, given the political climate right now, that a guy who says "let's send more troops!" to a war that clearly has lost the support of the American people, was probably going to get his clock cleaned? McCain made himself the poster child for the Iraq war. A neat trick, you have to admit.

Perhaps that is, in fact, an example of a brain dead candidate, although it leads to an interesting question of the difference between stupidity and political courage.

There are, of course, other views. Writing today on his blog on NPR, Ken Rudin draws a parallel between McCain's campaign, and that of Edward Muskie in 1972.

McCain's political problems with the war stem not so much from within his party. If anything, it's that he fixed his star to the same guy who ended his hopes in 2000. And with more and more Americans feeling that the war is a lost cause, the result is that McCain's valiant but questionable choice has led many of the independents who found him so appealing seven years ago to turn away from him.

Me? I think McCain was finished the day he sang "Bomb Iran" to a Beach Boys tune.

It was almost as if he was channeling Pat Robertson.

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Does moving up Minnesota's precinct caucuses matter?

Posted at 2:26 PM on July 11, 2007 by Tom Scheck

AP says Minnesota Republicans will move up the precinct caucuses a month earlier next year. They will now hold the caucus on Feb. 5th ("Super-Duper Tuesday"). The story also says the DFL Party is also poised to move the caucuses up. It now means at least 18 states will have their presidential primaries or caucuses on Feb 5th! Those states include California, New York and Illinois.

So here's a question for ya: Does the move give Minnesota more political influence or will the state get lost in the shuffle? Discuss.