Polinaut: October 9, 2008 Archive

The Daily Digest: 10-9-08

Posted at 8:36 AM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Daily Digest

People are worried about their retirement savings as the Dow fell for the 6th straight day.

That could make things difficult for school districts seeking a tax hike and a sales tax increase for the outdoors/arts. A new poll says the public is split on the ballot question. The poll also finds high marks for Gov. Pawlenty and DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

2008 Race for President

Rasmussen has Obama up seven points in its latest poll.

Barack Obama rejects John McCain's plan for the government to buy mortgages. McCain reshuffled the plan from Tuesday's debate.

The NRA officially backs McCain.

The GOP keeps up the "Barack Hussein Obama" line.

McCain outspent Obama in ad buys only in Minnesota and Iowa. The Wisconsin Advertising Project ran the study and found that all of McCain's ads are negative.

McCain campaigns in Wisconsin today and tomorrow morning. He's in Minnesota for a town hall tomorrow afternoon.

A son of a Democratic lawmaker is indicted for hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail.

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar will attend this weekend's Oprah fundraiser for Obama.

2008 Race for U.S. Senate

The Rasmussen Poll shows DFLer Al Franken with a lead over GOP Sen. Norm Coleman.

Coleman and Franken differ on retirement savings.

Coleman campaigned in Mankato.

If the suit fits... GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign manager repeatedly refuses to answer questions on whether a Coleman financial backer bought the senator suits.

Coleman's daughter makes a repeat appearance in a new ad. She was featured in an ad 6 years ago.

The Minnesota Independent reports that Coleman took money from Tom Petters (as did plenty of Democrats). DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar and DFLer Elwyn Tinklenberg reportedly gave the contribution to charity.

The candidates meet in their second debate on Saturday.

Democrats are driving for 60 Senate seats.

2008 Race for Congress

A KSTP/Survey USA poll has DFLer Ashwin Madia leading Republican Erik Paulsen.

A health care group starts running an ad ripping Paulsen.

The Star Tribune profiles the race in Minnesota's 6th District.

Ads are up in the 6th. GOP Rep. Michele Bachman started running ads yesterday (her ad isn't on her YouTube site yet but is called "Standing up for Minnesota"). It uses video from her 2006 campaign. The DFL leaning Alliance for a Better Minnesota runs an ad ripping Bachmann.

The conservative blog, North Star Liberty, reports that Bachmann and conservative radio host Jason Lewis express concern about McCain toeing the conservative line.

DFLer Tim Walz has $1 million for his campaign. His Republican opponent, Brian Davis, reportedly has a new ad out. KEYC says the candidates in the 1st go negative.

The Rochester Post-Bulletin writes about the endorsements in the 1st.

Forum Communications says there's an ag dispute between the candidates in the 7th District.

A new CNN poll says the bailout bill may be taking a toll on Congressional Democrats.

Stu Rothenberg predicts, however, that Democrats will pick up seats.

2008 Race Other

The New York Times says tens of thousands of eligible voters have been purged from voter rolls. Many states appear to be violating federal law.

Gov. Pawlenty raised money for a GOP candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania.

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Madia raises nearly $1 million in latest quarter

Posted at 1:50 PM on October 9, 2008 by Curtis Gilbert (1 Comments)
Filed under: U.S. MN CD3

DFL 3rd District congressional candidate Ashwin Madia's latest quarterly fundraising haul was his biggest, yet. This is still more proof that the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., is one of the hottest in the country.

Madia raised $997,632 between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to a press release his campaign handed out today. That tops the previous quarter, when Madia pulled in a little less than $700,000.

Overall, he's raised more than $2.1 million, but Madia's campaign did not say how much of that he has left.

Madia will have to reveal how much cash he has on hand by Oct. 15. That's the deadline for campaigns to file their fundraising reports with Federal Election Commission.

Republican Erik Paulsen's has not released his 3rd quarter fundraising totals, yet, campaign says it won't release fundraising numbers until next week, but it did announce he crossed the $2 million mark in an e-mail to supporters on Sept. 16.

Independence Party candidate David Dillon, a printing company CEO, only raised about $6,500 between July and September. Most of his $157,000 total came out of his own pocket, making him one of the top "self-funders" in the country. He has a little less than $100,000 left on hand.

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Pawlenty hitting the road for MN House GOP

Posted at 3:11 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

GOP House Minority Leader Marty Seifert said Gov. Pawlenty has hit the road for some of their key candidates for the Minnesota House. Seifert said he and Pawlenty campaigned in Mahtomedhi, Woodbury and Red Wing for GOP candidates on Tuesday. Today, the two campaigned in North Branch, Cambridge and Blaine today. On Monday, the two will fly to Thief River Falls, Bemidji and Little Falls to campaign for Republican candidates.

Seifert said the House GOP is using Pawlenty's popularity to help pick up seats in the Minnesota House.

"If he's at 61% in your poll (MPR/Humphrey Institute), he's probably at 70% in those districts since Pawlenty isn't polling at 61% in Minneapolis or the Iron Range," Seifert said.

Pawlenty may be stumping so hard for the GOP legislative candidates this year since Democrats are just five seats away from a veto-proof majority.

Some light humor on a grim day...

Posted at 4:23 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

This report:

WASHINGTON (AP) - White House says American people should remain confident about economy despite market fall.

made me think of of one of my favorite movies (Animal House).

Petters dough...

Posted at 5:08 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

A spokesman for GOP Sen. Norm Coleman says Coleman will give the $1600 given to his campaign by indicted businessman Tom Petters to the Boys and Girls Club (see story here on Petters).

Governor Pawlenty will give the money back to Petters because he can't give it to charity. Here's the statement from campaign spokesman Trisha Hamm:

Pleased be advised that the Pawlenty for Governor Committee is returning contributions totaling $4,000 from 2002-present from Tom Petters. We considered making a charitable donation in lieu of returning the contributions to Mr. Petters, but Minnesota's campaign finance laws do not allow campaign committees to make charitable contributions in excess of $50.

Our committee is very troubled by the allegations against Mr. Petters and believe this is the proper course of action.

The Minnesota Independent also reports that DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL candidate Elwyin Tinklenberg and DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar will also donate the money to charity.

Obama to buy a half hour of primetime TV

Posted at 5:18 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

A reporter who watches the TV industry says Democrat Barack Obama will buy a half hour of primetime TV on NBC and CBS. Here's part of the report from The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd:

The Obama campaign is producing a nationwide pitch to voters that will air on at least two broadcast networks. The ad will run Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. -- less than a week before the general election.

The direct purchase of such a large block of national airtime right before an election used to be more commonplace before campaigns began to focus their endgame strategies exclusively on battleground states. Such a move is not without precedent in modern presidential politics, however -- Ross Perot did a similar purchase in 1992.

Poll: Presidential race tied in Minnesota

Posted at 5:48 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

A new poll by the American Research Group shows the race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama is a dead heat. The poll found that Obama led McCain 47% to 46%.

This poll stands in contrast with recent polls that showed Obama with a double digit lead. Check out pollster.com or RealClearPolitics to see a compilation of the presidential polls in Minnesota.

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Pawlenty to appear on Fox News Sunday.

Posted at 6:14 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Gov. Pawlenty will hit the Sunday talk show circuit again. This week he'll be on Fox News Sunday.

RealClearPolitics: An Obama surge helps Madia

Posted at 8:52 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

RealClearPolitics released its latest House rankings. It ranks Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District as the 35th most competitive. DFLer Ashwin Madia, Republican Erik Paulsen and I-P candidate David Dillon are running to replace GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad.

Here's the brief analysis:

35. MN 03 (Open R, Ramstad retiring) - We weren't confident in Democrat Ashwin Madia's chances against Republican Erik Paulsen, but if Obama pulls away in the Minneapolis suburbs, Paulsen could be a casualty of the bad climate.

1st District Debate

Posted at 9:53 PM on October 9, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Here's the audio from today's 1st District debate between DFL Rep. Tim Walz and Republican Brian Davis. It was hosted by the Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

The audio is in several parts.

Part 1:
Listen

Part 2:
Listen

Part 3:
Listen

Part 4:
Listen

Part 5:
Listen

Thanks to MPR's Sea Stachura for sending along the audio. You can read her story on the debate here.