Capitol View: October 19, 2010 Archive

Final two weeks

Posted at 10:57 AM on October 19, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Campaign 2010: U.S. House, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD2, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD3, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD4, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD5, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD6, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD7, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD8, MN Legislature

There are two weeks left until Election Day and most of the candidates will be making their final push to win their respective races.

I put together a handy dandy cheat sheet so you know the schedule for debates, candidate appearances and other notable events.

This schedule is subject to change but it should give you a good idea of what's happening in the final two weeks. Please let me know if I missed anything.

Tuesday, 10/19
MPR's Midday hosts a Secretary of State debate between DFL incumbent Mark Ritchie and Republican Dan Severson on Midday at 11
IP candidate Tom Horner has presser at 2pm to announce an endorsement.
Democrat Mark Dayton campaigns in Northwest Minnesota with DFL Rep. Collin Peterson

Wednesday, 10/20

Thursday, 10/21
Dayton speech at 11AM at MEA
Republican Tom Emmer campaigns in Monticello and St. Cloud
League of Women Voters host a 4th Congressional District candidate debate at Wilder Foundation Auditorium.

Friday, 10/22
Rochester Chamber of Commerce hosts a gubernatorial debate at 11:30 am
Horner campaigns in Red Wing and Rochester
Emmer campaigns in southern MN
Debate Minnesota hosts an 8th District Congressional candidate debate between DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar and Republican Chip Cravaack in Grand Rapids.

Saturday, 10/23
Dayton goes pheasant hunting with DFL Rep. Collin Peterson in Montevideo
President Obama holds a rally at U of M for Dayton

Sunday, 10/24
KSTP-TV/League of Women Voters host a Gubernatorial debates at Metro State University in St. Paul at 6pm.

Monday, 10/25
MPR's Midday hosts a 4th Congressional debate between DFL Rep. Betty McCollum and Republican Teresa Collett
MPR's Midday hosts a 5th Congressional debate between DFL Rep. Keith Ellison, Republican Joel Demos, and the IP's Tom Schrunk

Tuesday, 10/26
MN Campaign Finance Board releases finance reports for state candidates and state PACs
Debate Minnesota hosts a Gubernatorial debate in Mankato at 7pm.
St. Cloud Chamber hosts a 6th District candidate debate.
Midday hosts a 2nd District Congressional debate between GOP Rep. John Kline and Democrat Shelley Madore. candidates debate on Midday.
Midday hosts a 3rd District Congressional debate that features GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen, Democrat Jim Meffert and the IP's Jon Oleson.

Wednesday, 10/27
KARE and MPR conducts a "job interview" with gubernatorial candidates at Macalaster College at 6:30pm.
Edina Chamber hosts a 3rd District candidate debate at Interlachen Country Club at 11:30.
Midday hosts a 7th Congressional District debate between DFL Rep. Collin Peterson and Republican Lee Byberg.

Thursday, 10/28
Midday hosts a 6th Congressional District debate featuring GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, Democrat Tarryl Clark and the IP's Bob Anderson.
Midday hosts a State Auditor debate featuring DFL incumbent Rebecca Otto and Republican Pat Anderson.
MN Chamber's Manufacturing Summit will feature a Lt. Gov. candidate debate featuring Republican Annette Meeks, the IP's Jim Mulder and Democrat Yvonne Prettner-Solon.

Friday, 10/29
TPT's Almanac features the candidates for governor.
Midday will feature the four Legislative leaders, DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, Republican Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, DFL House Majority Leader Tony Sertich and Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers to discuss the race for Legislature.

Saturday, 10/30

Sunday, 10/31
MPR hosts the final gubernatorial debate at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

Monday, 11/1

Tuesday, 11/2
Election Day

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SOS candidates clash on photo ID

Posted at 12:46 PM on October 19, 2010 by Tim Pugmire (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010

A proposed photo identification requirement for voters has become a key issue in this year's contest for Minnesota Secretary of State.

Republican challenger Dan Severson is advocating for a photo ID law, but incumbent DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie opposes such a requirement. During a debate between the two candidates today on MPR's Midday program, Ritchie said a photo ID law would hurt thousands of military and overseas voters. He said libertarian-minded senior citizens would also object.

"What I hear senior citizens say to me is look, I've voted since Roosevelt. I've never taken a bit of charity or anything from the government," Ritchie said. "I am not going to start becoming a ward of the state just becauseyou want to deny me the right to vote because I'm so old now I don;t have to drive and I don't carry government-issued identification."

Ritchie also said a photo ID law would negatively impact thousands of military and overseas voters. But Severson called that a bogus argument.

"It's just absolutely wrong, because they have military ID, which are government-sponsored IDS, or they have a passport, which again are government sponsored," Severson said. "There's no reason, and if Secretary Ritchie lacks the creativity and ingenuity to make that happen, the he shouldn't be secretary of state. We need someone who's going to go after this issue and validate the valid votes."

Severson also wants to end Minnesota's tradition of allowing registered voters to vouch for non-registered voters at polling places.

Ritchie said his top priority for a second term as Secretary of State would be to continue modernizing systems and equipment in the office.

Here's the complete Midday audio: Listen

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Horner picks up support...from a Democrat

Posted at 1:00 PM on October 19, 2010 by Mark Zdechlik (3 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Longtime Democrat Mike Ciresi is endorsing Independence Party candidate Tom Horner for governor.

Ciresi ran twice as a Democrat for U.S. Senate. The first time was in 2000 when he lost in the primary to Mark Dayton. The second time was in 2008 when he dropped out of the race before the DFL state convention where Al Franken was endorsed.

Horner, a former Republican strategist and public relations executive, has attracted the support of a number of former Republican elected officials, including Gov. Arne Carlson. Ciresi is the first well known Democrat to publicly back Horner.

Some polls have suggested Horner is drawing more support from Republicans than Democrats.

Horner has been campaigning on a message that DFLer Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer represent political extremes and that he offers a middle ground approach to government.

UPDATE:

Although Ciresi endorsed Horner for governor, Ciresi says he remains a Democrat and that he is supporting many Democrats this year. Ciresi said choosing to endorse Horner was an easy decision for him.

"The issues that I feel most passionately about education, health care and job growth are the issues that I think Tom speaks with greater clarity than Mark Dayton," Ciresi said. "This is not a slight against Mark Dayton he's a decent and great Minnesotan in my judgement, but Tom is the most qualified to lead this state."

Ciresi said he thinks Horner will win the election and that Horner will be able to bring together people from all over the political spectrum.

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8th District debate

Posted at 3:21 PM on October 19, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD8

DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar and Republican Chip Cravaack took part in a feisty debate at the DECC in Duluth this morning. More than 1,000 people showed up to watch the debate. MPR's Bob Kelleher wrote a story about the debate. You can read that here.

We also uploaded the entire debate audio: Listen

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DNC Chair in MN on Wednesday

Posted at 3:55 PM on October 19, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Campaign 2010: U.S. House, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD5

DNC Chair Tim Kaine will be in Minnesota to kick off the party's Get Out the Vote efforts. Kaine will appear at the U of M with DFL Rep. Keith Ellison and DFL Associate Chair Donna Cassutt to kick off the party's canvassing efforts at the U of M. The event will be held at Tony's Diner at 3pm.

Gingrich to campaign with Meeks and Demmer

Posted at 4:00 PM on October 19, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Campaign 2010: U.S. House, Campaign 2010: U.S. MN CD1

One of the candidates who may challenge President Obama in 2012 will be in Minnesota on Saturday. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will campaign with his former staffer, Lt. Gov. Candidate Annette Meeks and 1st District Republican candidate Randy Demmer on Saturday. The three will campaign at Winona State University on Saturday morning at 8am.