Capitol View: September 2007 Archive

The race card in St. Louis County

Posted at 12:47 PM on September 5, 2007 by Bob Collins

St. Louis County commissioners have gotten themselves into the political hot water now.

Steve Raukar is facing allegations of sexual harrassment. County public information officer Ellen Quinn, alleges he made inappropriate phone calls. He has apologized and says his family has forgiven him.

Apparently, according to the Timberjay News, Rauker asked Quinn to get together with him at a hotel room early one morning. "He says it was for a drink. She says he made it clear he had more on his mind than that. Either way, it was a stupid thing for a commissioner to do. No one is disputing that."

Ummm... yeah.

A secretary to Commissioner Dennis Fink also alleges sexual harrassment. She says " she was subjected to sexual comments or ogled by Fink or others in his presence." The paper cites a stack of receipts from a trip Fink took that he gave her for reimbursement. These included a grocery store receipt for some "sexual lubricant" and a hotel receipt for an "explicit movie" that had been ordered. (For now, let's set aside the discussion on whether taxpayers should pay for a politician's jelly.)

Whether that's harrassment is worthy of debate. But the commissioner are staying away from it.

The Duluth News Tribune today, in an editorial, reports that County Commissioner Mike Forsman contends

The investigations were biased and the board's critics "seem to hate white males," he complained, adding: "This reminds me of the mob mentality that lynched three black men in Duluth."

The link is Polinaut's.

A strike? No, an opportunity

Posted at 2:26 PM on September 5, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

A labor union on strike for the DFL is like an open flame for moths.

At the U of M today, where some workers are on strike, Al Franken put in an appearance (Listen)

And Elizabeth Edwards even showed up to help the cause. (Listen)

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Does Craig have immunity from prosecution?

Posted at 4:57 PM on September 5, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I was watching CNN this morning which had the usual debating-heads babble -- this time it was over the question of whether Sen. Larry Craig should resign. One of the combatants said, basically, that Craig should resign because he was too stupid to know that members of Congress are immune from charges during, and immediately before and after participating in a congressional session.

A blogger -- it's always the bloggers ain't it? -- says that's simply not true

So what Larry Craig was claiming when he showed the arresting officer his business card was not “Senatorial immunity” which has some limited actual existence under the Constitution, but corrupt special privilege, which unfortunately is fairly common–see Beltway-itis: When Politicians Attack, by Michelle Malkin, just the other day.

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Good tool to follow campaign contributions

Posted at 9:02 AM on September 6, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy (3 Comments)

I was looking at the FEC Web site today and found they have followed the New York Times lead and created maps of presidential campaign contributions. Check out the Minnesota map. Wouldn't it be great to have the same kind of gizmo to track contributions for state and local offices?

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Rudy in St. Paul

Posted at 3:56 PM on September 6, 2007 by Tom Scheck

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned in Minnesota today. He attended a private fundraiser at a Roseville Country Club and met with supporters at a St. Paul restaurant. Giuliani is seeking the GOP nomination for President. You can listen to his press conference with reporters here.

And..... action!

Posted at 6:13 PM on September 6, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Rudy Giuliani's visit to a coffeeshop was a good example of the staged nature of political stops and, unfortunately, the media's ability to become a willing participant in a campaign commercial, and deny you even a shred of useful information that might help you pick the next president.

In a way, this is a preview of what we'll have to endure, perhaps, during the Republican National Convention. By then, the nominee will have already been selected and the week will become a test between the party staging an infomercial, and the media looking, hopefully, for something a little more substantive and useful to voters. The thousands of delegates? They are irrelevant props.

A candidate's trip to the coffee shop is supposed to look like your typical New Hampshire primary-type visit. You know, a candidate shows up at Farmer Joe's dairy barn, or just meeting real people in the midst of their ordinary day -- folks that just "happened" to be there when a candidate walked in.

Stupid me (I grew up on the New Hampshire border). I actually expected Giuliani to run into the "regulars" at the coffee shop. So I was surprised when watching WCCO's report on the visit during the 6 p.m. news this evening to see my pal, Gary Miller, playing the part of the "average Joe who just happened to be there when the presidential candidate walked in." Gary, of course, is the brains behind the blog, Truth vs. the Machine.

Now, let me be clear, there's nothing wrong with Gary having coffee for 20 minutes with Hizzoner. There's nothing wrong with the Giuliani campaign packing a coffee shop with supporters to help give the photo op the Republican flavor it needed. You wouldn't want the guy to walk in and find a bunch of DFLers waiting for their latte.

But I question whether mainstream media should be a willing participant in the staging of the photo op, by not striking back at their obvious manipulation by tackling some serious issues (note: that 9/11 was "bad" is not a serious issue in the campaign. It was bad, we can all agree.) while the guy's in town. In portraying the discussion at a table where, presumably, Giuliani was finding out that the people there seemed to have....surprise.... opinions that just happen to scream "Republican," it probably would've been a good idea for my TV news source to get into exactly why that is and who these people were (are) and how it is they happened to be there. There was at least one tough line of questioning -- on immigration -- that went unreported on TV (but not in the dead trees media) in favor of Gary's comments on ... you guessed it... 9/11.

The Star Tribune unmoderated video shows -- faithfully to what the Giuliani campaign wanted -- the same cup of coffee with the same folks, which included Kavon Nikrad of Race42008 (a darned good political blog, by the way) . It was his wife, I believe, who asked the immigration quesiton. So what do we end up with on the nightly news? An infommercial.

Great for Giuliani, great for the supporters, good video for the TVs. But what on earth do the folks who want to know who they should vote for for president get out of it? Zip.

We get the scene, we get the flavor, we get some pseudo analysis fit for a Sunday morning talk show (note: political analysis is not the same as political strategy, newsies), we get supporters tossing softballs, we get the TV crews ignoring anything that would require an explanation -- like the immigration issue . Meanwhile, bloggers like Eric Black were analyzing why a pro-choice guy like Giuliani is doing so well. Yes, that's why bloggers are beginning to eat mainstream media's lunch....or drinking its coffee at least.

Couldn't someone have asked the "mayor of 9/11" what he thinks of the day's court decision on national security letters and let the voters determine whether the guy is 'electable?'

Wouldn't you love to see a presidential candidate (or any other candidate for that matter) take a chance once -- just once -- by actually showing up somewhere -- unannounced -- and taking his/her chances with whoever happens to be there?

I recommend Farmer Joe's dairy barn.

By all means, be sure to listen to the unedited audio of the reporters talking to Giuliani posted by Tom below.

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Bill Richardson on the air

Posted at 9:04 AM on September 7, 2007 by Bob Collins

The presidential candidate will be a guest on Larry Mantle's show on KPCC in Pasadena, the California operation of American Public Media, MPR's parent, at noon today.

You can listen here.

What's Duncan Hunter got?

Posted at 5:13 PM on September 7, 2007 by Bob Collins

It's unusual -- and we can debate the reasons why later -- for a Republican to be near the top of the heap in the "cumulative data" of Select A Candidate. But Duncan Hunter is there. Generally speaking, Select A Candidate mirrors my longstanding belief that a candidate's ability to be interesting and candidate is in inverse proportion to his (or her) ability to get elected.

So Select A Candidate cumulative data doesn't say anything about a candidate's chances. But it does say something about whether a message is resonating.

VP material?

The anarchy of '04?

Posted at 9:16 AM on September 8, 2007 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

Something didn't strike me quite right when I read Katherine Kersten's column in the Strib this week about what the delegates from Minnesota went through at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York.

Annette Meeks has seen these tactics before. In 2004, she was a delegate to the GOP convention in New York City.

Meeks, my former colleague at Center of the American Experiment, said that many of the protesters in New York differed markedly from their predecessors.

"It used to be peaceful ex-hippies with placards -- they're almost quaint by today's standards," she said. "In New York we saw a professional class of protesters, with an angry, violent mob mentality. Their goal is not to be heard. Their sole purpose is to create anarchy in our streets."

Meeks saw protesters use burning trash bins in an effort to shut down Manhattan's theater district. Swarms of bicyclists blocked traffic, crowds of protesters harassed delegates at their hotels.

"They screamed obscenities -- any way they could conjugate the F-word," she said. "Then they grew weary of yelling and started spitting and throwing things at us."

Meeks saw the tip of the iceberg. During the convention, demonstrators rampaged through Midtown Manhattan, throwing traffic cones and other objects at cars and windows. A policeman was kicked unconscious. Protesters attempted to take over hotel lobbies.

To be sure, there are some elements of reality in the article, but Kersten worked overtime to create an image of New York that would make it easier to make her point.

I covered that convention and stayed in the same hotel as the Minnesota delegates and I don't remember any attempt to take it over. And there was a good reason for that: there were cops out front and cops in the lobby. It was so quiet, the only action was delegates petting police dogs.

But the comment about being spit at is the one that caught my attention because delegates didn't mix with protesters. See, the way it worked was a "tiered" security area was placed around Madison Square Garden... the closer you got to it, the tighter the security. Protesters were eliminated from as far away as the outer ring.

The delegates were taken to the Garden every night by bus. The bus went directly to the most secure area -- at the very entrance to the Garden -- and no protesters were in the area.

Clearly, there were protesters in New York. There were battles with police in New York. But in the week I was there, the only incident I saw that suggested the chaos in the column was after Bush's acceptance speech. Some delegates elected to walk back to the hotel. As they passed into the less secure area along the street, they got closer and closer to the protesters.

I was walking behind a couple of delegates -- they weren't from Minnesota -- who were pretty brazen when they were in the more security area. "Get a job," they shouted while they were still in the high-security area. But as they got to the less secure area, it was clear they were scared -- very scared -- and were no longer interested in a "discussion" with the protesters. Welcome to New York, boys.

I don't recall the degree of use of the "F" word, but it's New York City and I used to work there and the "F" word is New York's version of "doncha think, then?" I also don't recall efforts to shut down the theater district -- although I'm sure there were. But neither Madison Square Garden nor the Minnesota delegates' hotel was (is) located in the theater district.

Traffic disruptions. In New York? How would you know? And Minnesota delegates would board buses (one cop assigned to every bus) and a separate lane on -- in our case -- Lexington Ave all the way to the Garden was sealed off for nothing but delegate buses, with cops about every 100 feet. There was never any disruption -- even by Minnesota standards -- for delegate buses.. at least on those occasions when I took one. Although, for the record, I often walked or took the subway, and I wore my credentials just to see what the New Yorker reaction would be. It was a non-issue.

The question of creating "anarchy" is one worth discussing, and one worth preventing -- political conventions should obviously allow for free speech while maintaining safety. The '08 convention is going to be expensive as all getout and it'll be a great week to speed on Minnesota highways because there won't be a cop within miles (and the ones that are will be working on security).

But in discussing how to prepare for it, it's important to be accurate about what has gone before. New York was actually relatively tame, especially when you consider the Republicans were in "enemy territory" in the first place (there's no bluer city in America, perhaps) to take advantage of the 9/11 imagery.

And Kersten leaves out the fact an estimated 100,000 people marched on the Sunday before the convention started and it was -- as far as the eye could see (my eye anyway) "foreceful" but peaceful, a credit, I think, to the spirit of free speech.
San Diego ('96 GOP) was probably the quietest convention I've ever covered with Chicago ('96 Dems) and Boston ('04 Dems) not far behind. I'm pretty sure Minneapolis and St. Paul can handle it.
Most folks who lives here, of course, wants a peaceful week. No doubt there'll be a few who'll want to disturb the peace in illegal ways. They obviously should be dealt with.

But let's not let the Chicken Little squadron make us do something stupid.

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The journalists made me do it

Posted at 10:54 AM on September 10, 2007 by Bob Collins

OK, let's see if I have this right. Larry Craig pleaded guilty to the charges against him -- a plea that certainly would've fueled speculation that he is gay -- because he was hounded by journalists who were investigating whether he is gay?

Meanwhile, the New York Times is out with a story today that suggests the MAC cops treated Craig more harshly than your average run-of-the-mill stingee.

Petraeus testimony live on MPR

Posted at 10:58 AM on September 10, 2007 by Tom Scheck

You can listen to the testimony of General David Petraeus on the News and Information Stations of MPR. You can also find the testimony here if you prefer to listen online.

Pawlenty calls special session

Posted at 6:29 PM on September 10, 2007 by Tom Scheck (5 Comments)

Gov. Pawlenty has called a special session for 5pm Tuesday evening. Here's the story. The session will focus on disaster relief (southeastern Minnesota flooding, Browns Valley, drought stricken areas) but will not deal with transportation or property tax relief.

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Fred, meet Rudy. Rudy, Fred.

Posted at 3:31 PM on September 11, 2007 by Bob Collins

Southern. Evangelical. Conservative. Men. Meet the base for Fred Thompson. They tend to be the folks who hold sway at nominating conventions.

Moderate. Women. The Republicans keeping Rudy Giuliani afloat.

According to new CNN polling -- just released on TV, but not on the Web site yet, that's what has propelled Thompson to a near tie with Rudy Giuliani in a national political poll.

A Giuliani-Thompson/Thompson-Giuliani ticket would be rather powerful, I would think..

Pawlenty to speak at National Press Club on Wednesday

Posted at 9:28 PM on September 11, 2007 by Tom Scheck

Many of us in the Capitol press corps are twiddling our thumbs as we wait for the Legislature to take action on the flood relief package.

One interesting sidebar is that Gov. Pawlenty will be speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday. Here's a story from a Kansas paper mentioning Pawlenty's trip (see last sentence). He'll be talking about Clean Energy along with Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Governor Pawlenty's spokesman Brian McClung said Pawlenty is scheduled to speak at 2 pm (eastern) but is waiting to finalize those plans pending the actions of the Legislature.

That veep thing reconsidered

Posted at 12:51 PM on September 12, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Put me down in the column that says "Charlie Cook fan." I enjoy listening to his analysis. Midday today aired a speech he gave to the City Club in Cleveland last Friday. He does a nice job of sizing up the presidential candidates.

He also got me thinking -- again -- that Tim Pawlenty's name doesn't necessarily have to be associated with John McCain in order to be an attractive vice presidential candidate.

"You take Minnesota out of the Democrat column, and suddenly that 270 (electoral votes) looks pretty tough," he said.

Which also got me rethinking the notion that Fred Thompson would make a good vice presidential candidate for Rudy Giuliani (if Giuliani were to win the nomination). Will Giuliani, for all his pro-choice, New York, questionable family values warts in the eyes of conservatives really hurt him in a head-to-head with Hillary Clinton (or "H-Rod" as Cook would say)?

Are the conservatives really going to stay home on Election Day? I doubt it. The South? The election season starts by painting the south all red and it's a pretty sure bet it stays that way. Giuliani doesn't need help getting the south (if he's the Republican nominee). He might even take Arkansas.

And that reminds me of yet another comment I heard the other day on KFAN while driving home. They were talking with a political writer for, I think, the National Journal who was covering the Petraeus hearings. He said, basically, that nothing will get done in Congress at least until after the primaries when we're down to just two.

After that, the suggestion was, the finalists don't really need their "base" anymore and they're free to troll the middle.

A reminder that the political process is an adulterous process.

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Question of the day

Posted at 8:31 AM on September 13, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy (2 Comments)

If the Minneapolis City Council bans circus animals will the Vikings still be able to play the Lions at the Metrodome?

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Revenge of the 'bed-wetters'?

Posted at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

A few months ago my mother-in-the law (perhaps the most decent person you'd ever want to meet other than, perhaps, my father-in law), announced to her daughter (whose birthday is today, by the way) that she was no longer a Republican. She'd had it with the party that -- in Massachusetts and elsewhere -- has gone to great lengths to purge the party of "Saltonstall Republicans," or -- as the far-right that controls the party would say "RINOs" -- Republicans in name only. Or, if you want to take a step further down Crass Street -- "bedwetters" as a right-wing Republican talk-show host refers to the non-far-right-wing Republicans (in this case he was referring to Rep. Jim Ramstad).

As my mother-in-law, who attends a typical New England mill-town's typical oversized Methodist Church each Sunday (that is to say, it's mostly empty and those who attend tend to be in the, shall we say, "upper demographic"), is not an evangelical, far-rightist, her lack of allegiance to the party that really didn't want her anymore anyway might come as good news, even if her pedigree -- including as the spouse of a former Republican candidate for Congress in the Massachusetts 1st District -- makes her the political version of a canary in a coal mine.

Political parties are often portrayed, of course, as everyone on one side (Republicans) against everyone on the other side (Democrats). But over a length of time they are, themselves, made up feuding parties. This is hardly news to anyone who's ever watched Democrats self-destruct with party infighting, but it's less noticeable in the Republican Party, which has been more effective at simply telling the dissenters to "get lost."

I'm thinking of this because of the sense of angst one gets these days when the subject of Rudy Giuliani comes up in Republican circles.

When he was in town a few weeks ago, he talked about "electability." He wasn't, of course, talking about a general election; he was talking about electability within the Republican Party.

The far right doesn't much care for Giuliani because of his stand on abortion and a few other issues that are litmus test issues for those who control the Republican Party.

My guess is the Republican power brokers would rather see a Republican in the White House than a Democrat. But my guess is also that the angst surrounding the possibility of Giuliani walking out of the Xcel Center next September with an endorsement, might also mean the "bedwetters" are back, and ready to assert some control over the party that worked so hard to kick them to the side back in the '90s.

Within the context of a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, the importance of the Fred Thompson candidacy becomes more apparent. As unlikely as it is that either of our two major political parties would allow a convention to begin without an outcome assured, if Thompson and Giuliani were to come to St. Paul next year without the outcome assured, we could stop focusing on the protests outside, and start considering the free-for-all between the loyalists inside the X.

It could determine the nature of American politics for a generation.

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If it were a slow day...

Posted at 2:13 PM on September 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

If it were a slow day and there was nothing else to do, I'd take a long look at the official logo for the RNC 2008 convention host committee and try to figure out how they decided what buildings made it.

Take, St. Paul, for instance. The Capitol. Cool. First Bank? Yeah, that's kind of an icon. The Travelers building? A company that just took St. Paul out of its name? One that the chair of the host committee used to run? And why is the building so big? It towers over the Capitol and the First Bank building. What subtle message is that telling us?

And the bridge....what's the message delivered by the bridge?

Yep, I'd use the awesome power of the Internet to create an entire subculture of conspiracy that will make the Proctor & Gamble logo and "I buried Paul" look tame by comparison.

Nah....

Although it's a good thing the convention isn't being held in Sleepy Eye.

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Select A Senator

Posted at 4:57 PM on September 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Our Select A Candidate quiz -- presidential version -- is getting more "traffic" than I would have thought at this time of the year. That says something; though I'm not yet sure what.

Next week -- I hope -- the initial version for the U.S. Senate race should be done. We need to add a few more questions but we can build it as we go along.

One warning to Jim Cohen fans. Your candidate isn't going to be well represented, I'm afraid, although he'll be included. Our intern, Charlie Knutson, hasn't been able to get the time of day from the Cohen campaign.

We had several hundred thousand people take the SAC "quiz" in the last campaign. Some of them might even be voters.

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It's not me; it's them

Posted at 7:48 AM on September 17, 2007 by Bob Collins

Given the economic boom that, ummm, boomed under his watch as head of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan would seem a little likely candidate for the "rehabilitated" circuit, in which one writes a book and -- just before it's published -- gives a series of interviews to high-profile media outlets to set the record straight.

For Greenspan, apparently figuring he'll get caught up in the blame game over the mortgage "crisis" and looming economic rece...well, you know, he makes clear that he's not "one of them" (Bushies).

He does so in an interesting way. While he's reaffirming that he's a Republican, he concludes that the Bush administration isn't. The tactic is clear as in his interview this morning in the New York Times. "It wasn't me, it was them."

“I’m just very disappointed,” he said glumly, as he sat in his living room. “Smaller government, lower spending, lower taxes, less regulation — they had the resources to do it, they had the knowledge to do it, they had the political majorities to do it. And they didn’t.”

In the end, he said, “political control trumped policy, and they achieved neither political control nor policy.”

Mr. Greenspan, a lifelong Republican who presided over the longest sustained economic expansion in American history, sounded frustrated that neither a Republican White House nor Republican leaders in Congress were heeding his quiet pleas for greater fiscal discipline.

So, one might expect the anti-Republicans, err.... anti-Bushies... will be using the Greenspan book to rally the troops around the Democrats (yes, I know, that's a warped conclusion, which makes the fact it's true even more warped).

Be careful, however. Paul Krugman sees a parallel. (Subscription required)

In retrospect, Mr. Greenspan’s moral collapse in 2001 was a portent. It foreshadowed the way many people in the foreign policy community would put their critical faculties on hold and support the invasion of Iraq, despite ample evidence that it was a really bad idea.

And like enthusiastic war supporters who have started describing themselves as war critics now that the Iraq venture has gone wrong, Mr. Greenspan has started portraying himself as a critic of administration fiscal irresponsibility now that President Bush has become deeply unpopular and Democrats control Congress.

All of which is the daily reminder that in politics, dear voter, you're likely to be disappointed in your politician.

Ramstad to retire

Posted at 11:38 AM on September 17, 2007 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)

(Update 3:13 p.m.: Ramstad announces retirement.

(Updated 12:24 p.m.: Tom Scheck's GOP source and one of my DFL sources have now both confirmed that Jim Ramstad is announcing his retirement at 3 p.m.)

Jim Ramstad has scheduled a 3 p.m. announcement for today. He describes it as a major announcement for his future.

I've called my usual suspects and one has claimed to know that Ramstad is retiring. But it's by no means confirmed.

Let the speculation begin!

If the seat is coming open, it'll be hard over the next week to keep track of all the announcements.

The DFL has not put up serious candidates against Ramstad in years. So who might consider getting in? Without any information at all, here's one I'll toss out: Andrew Borene. Borene was running for the Senate 41 District seat in 2006 and was considered one of the rising DFL stars (that means he's a military veteran AND a member of the DFL Party), until he had a domestic assault incident, after which he said he would undergo treatment for alcoholism.

For the GOP? Here's the Votetracker list of current office-holders. Check the Districts in the 40s. There are a ton of good lawmakers there on both sides of the aisle who would make attractive candidates.

(Update 12:46 - MNPublius has some candidate speculation.)

This race will scare the Republicans. Legislative seats have turned over in the district in recent years and the hard-core Republicans might not rally around the -- OK, I'll say it again -- "bedwetter" positions (that is, a moderate old-style Republican) that the District favors.

For more on this, check out Truth vs. the Machine, where Gary Miller writes...

Jim Ramstad is the embodiment of everything I loathe about RINOs. He’s a SOB. But he’s OUR SOB and losing Ramstad would almost certainly mean losing this “first ring” seat. Congressional majorities are comprised of true believers and heretics. Congressman Ramstad is a card-carrying member of the latter but his departure would make it that much more difficult to regain the Speaker’s gavel in the next few election cycles.

FMI

Going Deep with Rep. Jim Ramstad and His Critics on the Iraq War (Twin Cities Daily Planet - 8/20/07)

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The 3rd District

Posted at 12:18 PM on September 17, 2007 by Bob Collins

For your speculation and scorecard purposes (see preceding post), here's the map of the 3rd District.

Courtesy of NationalAtlas.gov

Schier on Ramstad

Posted at 3:58 PM on September 17, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

(Photo by Tom Scheck)

Carleton College political science prof Steven Schier tackles the Ramstad retirement in a conversation (this one is unedited) with All Things Considered host Tom Crann. (Listen in RealAudio)

He sees it now as one of the top 10 or top 20 House races in the country now.

Ramstad's announcement, GOP Chair Ron Carey's assessment of the situation, and other audio is available on the story page.

By the way, Ramstad's timing is in sharp contrast to the last Minnesota congressional member to retire. As Schier notes, Ramstad has given his party plenty of time to find a replacement. Former Rep. Martin Sabo gave DFLers only about 6 weeks (before the DFL endorsing convention).

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State senator sues God

Posted at 11:59 AM on September 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

Attention, people of Nebraska! Evacuate your state immediately!

Or risk the wrath of God, who is being sued by a state senator who says God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Apparently, I find from my Nebraska friends, Sen. Ernie Chambers has been doing this for years, and in this case he's protesting frivolous lawsuits.

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What if? (Special weird kid in Florida edition)

Posted at 5:50 PM on September 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

No doubt, if you have a computer (you obviously do) and a desire to goof off for at least part of the day (guilty!), you have seen the video of this kid who got himself tasered. Personally, I think the kid was looking to make a splash for his Web site, but let's take that out of the mix for just a second.

This comment from Sen. Kerry, to me anyway, seems like an odd thing for a U.S. senator to say. This is a note from the Associated Press.

"Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it's a law enforcement issue, not mine."

And for the sake of the hypothetical discussion on the question of the right to free speech, let's assume that the reason the campus cop first put her arm on the kid -- ostensibly because he exceeded his allotted time in asking the question (which means they gave people 30 seconds to ask questions as near as I can tell) -- was because she didn't like what the kid was saying politically to a, ummm, politician.

At the time, of course, Kerry didn't know. He said as much. But what if the "disturbing the peace" allegation was directly linked to the politics about which he was speaking?

How would this quote sound then?

Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it's a law enforcement issue, not mine.

It's not exactly Boris Yeltsin standing atop a tank... or a man in Tiananmen Square standing in front of one.

On his Web site, Kerry posted a statement today, saying...

"I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

I suppose the story there is a politician thinking giving someone 30 seconds to ask you something constitutes "a discussion."

NBC Nightly News, by the way, had an interesting question: "is this part of something bigger?"

According to the "Future of the First Amendment Survey," nearly three-fourths of high school students don't know how they feel about the First Amendment, or they take it for granted (see pdf of survey questions).

Even worse: 24% of the students surveyed say they disagree -- or don't know how they feel -- with this statement:

People should be allowed to express unpopular opinions.

How could that be? Over to you, senator.

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When is racism racism?

Posted at 9:19 AM on September 19, 2007 by Bob Collins

A Minnesota state senator made some comments in the Star Tribune over the weekend, in a controversy that has gotten almost no coverage from other media.

Sen. Patricia Ray Torres, DFL-Minneapolis, was in Worthington on Sunday at a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Apparently, there were noise complaints about the music and the police shut it down.

"Yesterday I found myself in a town so segregated it looks like apartheid in South Africa," said Torres Ray, the state's highest-ranking Hispanic official. "It's not what the officer did -- he did what he was charged to do. But it said you are not welcomed here. You're not welcome to celebrate your heritage."

According to the cops, quoted in the Star Tribune, only one caller mentioned ethnicity ("Mexican," according to the story) when calling to protest the noise.

"It's as if white people are saying it's OK for people to be in the plant, but nowhere else," Torres Ray said. "That's your place, not the school, not the park, not celebrating your heritage."

Torres Ray's failure to use "some" when referring to "white people" -- even assuming her allegations that because an ethnic group was involved, it must be racism are true -- appears to have made the issue clear. Hispanics on this side, white folks on that side.

Meanwhile, the issue has hit Worthington City Hall, according to the Worthington Daily Globe, where people protested the incident

“Our point in being here is to try to get support from the city,” said Roberto Ramirez, spokesperson and president of the Nobles County Hispanic Community (NCHC). “The city owes us an Independence Day celebration. We lost thousands of dollars, not to mention man-hours. Our entire Hispanic community is owed an apology.”

Ramirez admitted he didn’t know if the celebration was shut down for racial reasons or because of miscommunication, but said celebrations for white citizens are not subject to the same noise restrictions.

Mr. Schip strikes out

Posted at 10:04 AM on September 20, 2007 by Bob Collins

I'm going to guess you won't be seeing or hearing any stories this evening on the coming showdown over health care for kids-- the SCHIP debate. President Bush had a news conference this morning (it's going on as I write this) in which he made his point that the program -- which expires at the end of the month and which helps provide money for poor kids to get health care coverage -- should be funded at his level (he says a 20% increase over 5 years) rather than expand it at a level Congress would like (See good story in Atlanta Constitution)

What we've got here, apparently, is a game of chicken between Democrats and Republicans, with the possibility that poor kids get stuck in the middle; with each side -- looking for an election-year issue -- blaming the other side. That's politics.

It seemed like a good story and I half-expected at least one reporter to ask about it further, indicating an interest in covering the issue.

None did, although in the process we got a real good glimpse of how the news process works.

The story is hard to cover. There are easier ones to ask questions about, even though the answer is predictable as rain.

After the president finished his statement, the reporters decided it wasn't an issue worth pursuing (White House reporters tend not to have poor kids for children). Here are the subjects they were interested in (in order).

Rate the chance of recession
Iran
Israeli bombing raids
Are you impatient with Iran?
Reaction to Gates' opinion on Iraq
What about Iran's president wanting to go to the WTC site?
More economy
The Jana 6
Do you miss Don Rumsfeld?
How 'bout the stock market?
Are you an asset or a liability to candidates?

None of these issues is stupid... or unimportant. But couldn't health for kids have gotten on there somewhere?

(Update 10:14) - Someone, it sounded like Cokie Roberts but I doubt it was, asked if he'd support a cigarette tax increase to fund SCHIP. There's hope.

(Update 10:15) - Hope dashed. A lollipop question on the Iraq war was lobbed (apparently the president thinks the war is a war on terror. I can imagine the headlines now).

(Update 10:21) -- President ends his news conference and turns it over to the health and human services secretary to talk about health care for kids and the coming showdown. "We're not going to stick around for that," says the blow-dry on CNN.

If only O.J. were a poor kid without health care.

Johnson: GOP can win the 3rd

Posted at 11:47 AM on September 24, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Required reading -- for both Republicans and Democrats -- comes today from Jeff Johnson, the former state representative from Plymouth, defeated candidate for attorney general in 2006, and now a candidate for Hennepin County Commissioner.

Johnson, writing in the Star Tribune on the 3rd District race has words of advice and caution for Republicans who may be fretting that the district is unwinnable for conservative Republicans.

Taking a few shots at those who think the only way the seat can be held is if Republicans nominate a moderate, Johnson contends a true conservative can energize a base that needs energizing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a Republican who believes that we should drive moderates out of the GOP. I believe our party should be broad and deep, welcoming those who support many of our core beliefs even while disagreeing with parts of our platform. I just don't think that those of us who are conservatives in the Third have to choose a candidate who is much more liberal than we are in order to win next year.

If Johnson's treatise sounds familiar, it's close to the one the Republicans used to great success in the election of 2002, as delivered then by Ron Eibensteiner in 2002 (i.e. "Talk about the issue that the voters cares most about, and keep your mouth shut about everything else.")

Eibensteiner, you'll recall, was forced out of his job for straying from the principles embraced by some of the most influential party members.

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Dispatches from 'cuckoo land'

Posted at 7:18 AM on September 25, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

David Brooks, the Republican columnist of the New York Times, pens a particularly strident -- and to a degree, compelling -- dispatch today with more lessons for Democrats on how to win the White House. Building on a theme long held in the dusty and graying (not to mention, empty) newsrooms of mainstream media everywhere, Brooks advises ignoring the bloggers and netizens.

The fact is, many Democratic politicians privately detest the netroots' self-righteousness and bullying. They also know their party has a historic opportunity to pick up disaffected Republicans and moderates, so long as they don't blow it by drifting into cuckoo land. They also know that a Democratic president is going to face challenges from Iran and elsewhere that are going to require hard-line , hawkish responses.

... Both liberals and Republicans have an interest in exaggerating the netroots' influence, but in reality that influence is surprisingly marginal, even among candidates for whom you'd think it would be strong.

Ouch.

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If 9/11 had never happened...

Posted at 12:59 PM on September 25, 2007 by Bob Collins

... what would Rudy Giuliani be talking about in his campaign?

(See also: Daily Show video. Select "Have Gun Will Grovel")

The winds of change?

Posted at 2:01 PM on September 25, 2007 by Bob Collins

Brian Lambert suggests in his column today that the editorial department at the Star Tribune is about to undergo some changes that, he figures, makes it more likely to resonate a corporate point of view. What's that got to do with politics? It follows an earlier assertion that the corporate parent of the Star Tribune urged the editorial staff to go easy on the calls for a gas tax increase.

Minnesota's Senate race heats up

Posted at 4:59 PM on September 25, 2007 by Tom Scheck

There's polls, interviews and ads. Let's start with the latest Survey USA poll that says 46% of those polled approve of the job GOP Sen. Norm Coleman is doing. 45% disapprove and 9% are undecided.

The poll comes out on the same day that Coleman goes after Al Franken for refusing to denounce a MoveOn.org ad criticizing Army General David Petreaus. Here's the MPR story with fresh comments from Coleman and Franken.

Franken also sat down with Matthew Cooper with Conde Nast Porfolio. Yes, it's that Matt Cooper.

You can listen to the entire interview here. He talks about Coleman's ad, his stance regarding the war in Iraq and his support for nuclear energy (among other things).

Molnau on the hot seat

Posted at 11:58 AM on September 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

The issue of Carol Molnau as the state's transportation commissioner will resurface today The DFL, never a Molnau fan, is holding a news conference, err, media availability, during which legislators will rail against the job she is -- or isn't -- doing.

This is quite the pickle for the Pawlenty administration. She's never been confirmed in the job, a committee voted to oust her in 2004 after a season of pretty cruddy snow removal, she and the governor are quite often not on the same page, and she embarrassed him in particular when giving an answer to the Star Tribune on the subject of the gas tax last month that was -- at that time anyway -- different from the sermon the Gov was preaching.

An overlooked piece last month by Sarah Janecek, no darling of the hard right, took a look at the history of this relationship in a piece advocating her dismissal.

Molnau's role has always been confused. Pawlenty selected Molnau to be his Lt. Gov. running mate at a time when he was facing a conservative credential showdown for the GOP gubernatorial endorsement against another impeccably credentialed conservative candidate, Brian Sullivan. Her GOP-endorsing delegate bona fides were unimpeachable: An entire legislative record of the right votes on the social issues and the right votes on the fiscal ones, including no funding for the then-highly controversial light rail transit (LRT) and no increasing the gas tax. And, oh, yes, she wore a skirt, not slacks, and lived in the GOP-vote rich western suburbs while at the same time sporting a legitimate rural resume as a former dairy farmer.

Just a few days ago, the Mankato Free Press joined in

Because of the politics involved here, her boss does not really have the power of a normal boss. How could a governor ever “fire” his lieutenant governor, elected by the same people who, by the way, voted for him. What we have here is a boss who, realistically, cannot fire his subordinate, however bad her performance.

That’s a system that cannot work and should not be allowed to exist.

By all accounts, Gov. Pawlenty is a smart politician. He's given no detectable public signal to Molnau that it's time to go, and she's not the type to leave on her own accord. Pawlenty can thank Molnau for helping him get elected in the first place, not once, but twice -- first in staving off a challenge by Brian Sullivan (who had a running mate with equal credentials as Molnau at the time -- conservatism, rural roots, and a farmer), and then again last year when Mike Hatch nearly knocked the gov off.

Today's news conference is certainly part of an elaborate political chess match. The suggestion a couple of days ago that the Wakota Bridge project in Newport may be delayed was met quickly by an attempt to downplay the suggestion for a good reason: that bridge project -- which started in 2002 and will go on for another 3 years once work resumes on it) has been a disaster for Molnau and Pawlenty. While the span that was built (opening a year late and much more expensive because of cracks caused by a faulty design) has made life easier for commuters -- many of whom are from "Republican territory " in the 2nd District -- there is almost no activity at the site now (MnDOT is to rebid the project this fall) and several ramps lead to a dead end.

Which makes one wonder why the DFL chose the Lafayette bridge in St. Paul for today's photo op background instead? It is also "fault critical" as the I-35W bridge was, of course, but doesn't tell much of a story just by the visuals a backdrop is supposed to afford. (Shown: Sen. Steve Murphy)

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Michel is not running for Congress

Posted at 12:57 PM on September 26, 2007 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

State Sen. Geoff Michel (R-Edina - West Bloomington) just walked through the Capitol Press room. He says he's not running for Congress. Here's a portion of his news release:

"After giving this serious thought, I have concluded that Congress is broken and the lifestyle of a member fo Congress is unappealing.

It would be worth the effort if Congress was an institution that was working well. It is not. The life of a member of Congress is now perpetual campaigning, countless hours on the phone raising money and incessant travel. Members of Congress seem very busy doing everything but the actual work of the people. I have four young daughters and a wonderful wife. Trading soccer games, piano recitals and dinners at home for frequent flyer miles and long distance phone cards feels selfish to me."

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Strib takes financial hit on Franken/Coleman ad flap

Posted at 1:58 PM on September 26, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)

You saw Tom's story on Coleman's ad yesterday. Now this from the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Star Tribune of Minneapolis will be refunding about $12,000 spent on a full-page ad to Al Franken's Senate campaign, a Franken campaign spokesman says.

This week, Senator Norm Coleman's campaign took out a full-page ad in the newspaper criticizing Franken for not condemning a New York Times ad by MoveOn.org, which had attacked General David Petraeus.

Coleman's campaign says it paid a little over $23,000 on the ad - far less than the $37,000 that Franken's campaign says it paid for a full-page ad two months ago.

Franken campaign spokesman Andy Barr says that after contacting the Star Tribune, the paper agreed to refund a little over $12,000.

That's slightly less than difference between what the two campaigns paid - which Barr said was probably because of the different days of the week the ads ran.

The Star Tribune has not returned several calls on the issue this week.

Ouch! No wonder the newspaper business is hurting.

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Quack

Posted at 7:33 PM on September 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

I'm sitting in Eden Prairie tonight at a seminar for pilots on regulations. It involves stupid laws that are out there.

One, which the seminar speaker claims is from Minnesota, says it's illegal to cross the state border of Minnesota while driving with a duck on your head.

Is this true? If it is, does anyone know the origin of the law, the sponsoring lawmaker, and the year it was introduced?

Let's get our best and brightest on this one.

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Politicians provide plenty of fodder

Posted at 8:12 PM on September 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

There are a couple of don't-miss segments in the Minnesota media for political wonks. For years, hundreds of years it seems, Almanac on TPT is one of them. For me, the weekly appearance by WCCO political reporter Pat Kessler on Dan Barreriro's show on KFAN is another.

Today, they chatted, of course, about the Larry Craig case, which was in court today. But they also talked a bit about the David Brooks column I referenced yesterday, and also the situation with the Iranian president being in New York.

Kessler said, I think, pretty much how I feel. Give a person who's "out there," a chance to speak, and a reasonable person will conclude, in all liklihood, that the person is "out there." I feel the same way about non-major candidates who can get no breaks from mainstream media. "They're nuts," a newsie might say in defense. All the more reason to put them on the air before they get themselves elected.

Anyway, listen to today's segment. It was enjoyable. You can find it here. Or listen directly here.

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Hey, big spender!

Posted at 12:57 PM on September 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Neil Stevens at redstate.org breaks down the spending by presidents.

It's a bad deal if you're color-blind, but an interesting thesis nonetheless:

I tell you: never have I gotten a true appreciation for how easy it is to lie with statistics, than in making honest attempts to see where the Bush administration stands historically with respect to spending. There are just so many ways to chop and analyze the numbers, with every way telling a different story.

We all know the of story of the federal budget. While 'mandatory' entitlement spending is a runaway wreck, Presidents and Congresses have had differing success in controlling so-called discretionary spending. And the most 'fiscally conservative' President in that regard was President Clinton, thanks to 'divided government' forcing restraint. And of course the worst two were Presidents Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush, who ran amok creating and growing programs thanks to one-party rule creating no opposition to waste.

I'm sorry to tell you this, but that story's not quite right.

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What should I wear today, senator?

Posted at 4:09 PM on September 27, 2007 by Bob Collins

Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine takes Barack Obama to task for this quip from last night's debate:

“One of the things the next president has to do is to stop fanning people’s fears. If we spend all our time feeding the American people fear and conflict and division then they become fearful and conflicted and divided. If we feed them hope and we feed them reason and tolerance then they will become tolerant and reasonable and hopeful.”

Apparently, Jarvis' conclusion seems to be, we're all just waiting to accept as gospel everything a politician in Washington says.

Speaking of last night's debate, I added "Iran" to the lineup of questions on Select A Candidate based on the debate. I wasn't very patient, however, with those who wouldn't answer the question directly.

Things you won't hear presidential candidates in Iowa talk about

Posted at 7:31 AM on September 28, 2007 by Bob Collins

Farm subsidies to corn growers.

Somewhat related, you probably missed the small item that Minnesota has sent checks to ethanol producers to make up for cutbacks in subsidies that were imposed when everyone else was cut back when the state was trying to erase a deficit.

Factoid for the day

Posted at 9:39 AM on September 28, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy (5 Comments)

From the AP:

Forty percent of Americans have never lived when there wasn't a Bush or a Clinton in the White House.

That's 116 million people for those of you keeping count.

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