Polinaut: June 15, 2009 Archive

The Daily Digest: 6-15-09

Posted at 6:44 AM on June 15, 2009 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Daily Digest

Gov. Pawlenty will announce this week which programs he'll cut to balance the budget.

The Legislative Advisory Commission also scheduled a meeting this week to discuss unallotment.

A hard hit manufacturing industry looks forward in Minnesota.

A new audit finds that Gov. Pawlenty's office needs to tighten some internal controls in the office.

The president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO is retiring on September 4th.

Pawlenty also attended a send off for Minnesota National Guard members headed to Afghanistan. Godspeed.

2010

Candidates and potential candidates for governor worked the GOP activists at Saturday's GOP state central committee meeting. The delegates also elected Tony Sutton as the new MNGOP Chair and Michael Brodkorb as Deputy Chair. MPR and the Pi Press have stories.

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann won't completely take a run for governor off of the table. Neither will Norm Coleman.

MinnPost examines the prospects if Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman decide to run for governor.

2008 Race for U.S. Senate

Coleman addressed delegates at the GOP meeting over the weekend. You can listen to his remarks here.

Former presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator John Kerry is helping DFLer Al Franken raise money.

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar sounds off on the empty Senate seat.

D.C.

Vice President Biden says he has concerns about the vote in Iran but will stick to their policy.

DFL Rep. Keith Ellison told KARE that the U.S. needs to negotiate with whoever is the leader in Iran.

CIA Director Leon Panetta says former VP Dick Cheney "is almost wishing for an attack."

President Obama is planning sweeping financial regulations.

GOP Senators question Obama's health reforms.

Hospitals are wary about Obama's Medicare cuts.

Obama's pick for the Supreme Court faces pushback from Republicans.

The St. Cloud Times takes a look at Klobuchar's financial disclosure reports.

The Mankato Free Press says the stimulus is having a local effect. DFL Rep. Tim Walz is mentioned.

DFL Rep. Collin Peterson says farmers and lawmakers from farm states will get a huge windfall from Climate Change legislation moving through Congress.

The Star Tribune picks up on Peterson's stance on the climate change bill. Walz is also mentioned.

Animal ID may be cut from the Ag bill. Peterson is mentioned.

The U.S. and Canada plan to update the Great Lakes water agreement.

The Hill says Republicans have ramped up their anti-Obama speak. Bachmann is mentioned.

2012

Pawlenty's cross-country travel could help expand his political base. He may have some work to do since a look at this campaign finance reports shows that he's received just 10 donations from the politically important states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

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Report: Pawlenty to gauge if support there for 2012 run

Posted at 8:56 AM on June 15, 2009 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

Get ready for lots of these reports in the next year or so..

Washington Whispers (a U.S. News and World Report blog) says Pawlenty will work the country to see if he can mount a White House bid in 2012:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has decided against running for a third term in 2010, will spend the next two years traveling the country to see if he can build enough support to run for president in 2012, according to associates. The Republican, who is expected to play up his humble roots and past in a populist bid against President Obama, will decide in 2011 if there is enough of a base on which to build his campaign. Those close to "T-Paw" said that his focus is the presidency, not a vice presidential nomination or an effort to raise his name recognition en route to a bid in 2016. When Pawlenty made his decision to stick to just two terms, it was viewed as his opening move in the 2012 campaign. GOP officials believe that he is likely to face Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and others in the early primaries and caucuses if he decides to run.

If Pawlenty decides to run for president, he'll need to boost his national fundraising base. MPR reported this morning that he received only ten donations from the critical states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina between 2001 and 2008.

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Klobuchar is hoping for Independence Day ruling

Posted at 1:31 PM on June 15, 2009 by Tim Pugmire (0 Comments)

Minnesota's lone U.S. Senator says she's out or predictions and almost out of patience when it comes to a resolution in the Franken-Coleman contest.

During a unrelated news event today in St. Louis Park, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told reporters that she hopes the unresolved Senate election will be resolved soon.

"I have predicted the 4th of July, when the corn is knee high on the 4th of July," Klobuchar said. "I've already predicted that it would be done when the ice melted on Lake Minnetonka. That was incorrect. And I've now predicted the 4th of July. And if that is incorrect I will make no more predictions. I'll just be mad."

The Minnesota Supreme Court is considering Norm Coleman's appeal of a lower court ruling that Al Franken won the election.

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Taxpayers League takes the temperature of the GOP delegates on gov race

Posted at 1:59 PM on June 15, 2009 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

The Taxpayers League of Minnesota conducted an unscientific straw poll (a fish bowl and blank pieces of paper - that's how unscientific) of gubernatorial candidates at the MNGOP State Central Committee meeting. Here are the results (courtesy of TLM's Brad Biers):

144 Ballots Cast
53 - Marty Seifert
18 - Tom Emmer
15 - Laura Brod
7 - David Hann
6 - Pat Anderson
6 - Steve Sviggum
5 - Paul Kohls
4 - Norm Coleman
4 - Brian Sullivan
4 - Cal Ludeman
3 - Mike Jungbauer
3 - Geoff Michel
2 - Bachmann
2 - Charlie Weaver
1 - Phil Krinkie
1 - Ben Whitney
1 - Joe Ganthier
1 - Dorothy Fleming
1 - Jason Lewis
1 - Warren Limmer
1 - Carol Molnau
1 - Bill Haas
1 - Phil Herwig
1 - Jim Ramstad
1 - Mary Kiffmeyer
1 - Bill Jungbauer

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Source: GOP State Rep. Laura Brod will run for governor.

Posted at 3:12 PM on June 15, 2009 by Tom Scheck (6 Comments)

A source close to GOP state Rep. Laura Brod, of New Prague, said she will run for governor. The source said she'll make an official announcement in the next week or two. Brod was actively courting activists at Saturday's MNGOP State Party Central Committee meeting. At the time, she said she was gauging interest on a run.

Brod joins a growing list of candidates who are officially in the race. They include GOP state Rep. Marty Seifert, former MN House Speaker Steve Sviggum, former State Auditor Pat Anderson, state Rep. Paul Kohls and former state Rep. Bill Haas.

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Governor Pawlenty to announce spending cuts on Tuesday

Posted at 4:00 PM on June 15, 2009 by Tom Scheck (0 Comments)

Governor Pawlenty's public events schedule says he'll announce which programs he intends to cut to balance the state's budget. The announcement will be at 2 pm Tuesday in the governor's reception room. Pawlenty has pledged to erase a $2.7 billion budget deficit on his own after he failed to reach a budget deal with Democrats in control of the Legislature.

Update: Tune into live coverage of Pawlenty's newser on MPR News at 2pm tomorrow.

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