Capitol View: September 7, 2011 Archive
The Daily Digest (Is Bachmann sinking?, Pawlenty out of Veepstakes? DFL hits road on K12 tour)
Posted at 6:28 AM on September 7, 2011
by Tom Scheck
(5 Comments)
Filed under: Daily Digest
Ramsey County officials say the medical examiner is in compliance with the standards created. The announcement comes hours after MPR News reported that he was being investigated.
House Democrats are launching a schools tour to point out the K12 shift. Republicans say schools also got more money.
Gov. Dayton visited several schools on Tuesday.
Goodhue County officials say time is needed to study fracture mining.
The Minnesota House survey found that a majority of those voting in the unscientific poll are opposed to a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, support an amendment to require people to show a photo ID to vote and support an expansion of gambling.
The Minnesota State Senate survey says a majority of those voting in that unscientific poll believe liquor stores should be open on Sunday, do not support a constitutional amendment to require voters to present a photo ID to vote, support a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases to balance the budget and supports changes to teacher tenures.
Congress
President Obama will propose cuts of $300 billion on jumpstart jobs.
The Fed considers buying more long-term T bonds to lower rates.
The moves come as Europe continues to deal with a debt crisis.
The U.S. is said to be considering the option of keeping 3,000 troops in Iraq.
Several mayors are pushing Congress to extend the transportation bill in order to protect thousands of jobs.
DFL Rep. Keith Ellison applauds approval for the Southwest Light Rail.
Race for President
Several Republicans will appear at a debate tonight in California.
Mitt Romney released his jobs plan on Tuesday. He called for cutting the corporate tax and for ending business regulations.
MPR and the Star Tribune take a look at whether GOP Rep. Miehele Bachmann is losing momentum in the race for president.
One indication is that Bachmann is dropping fast in national polls.
Bachmann falls to the bottom in a Washington Post poll. Rick Perry tops that poll.
An NBC poll also shows Bachmann losing ground.
Bachmann is also courting South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Bachmann sent a fundraising email that focuses on Hoffa's Labor Day speech.
One of the Koch Brothers compared the 2012 elections to the war in Iraq.
Race for Congress
A new poll says a majority of Americans want to vote out the entire Congress.
Pawlenty for VP Watch
Tim Pawlenty said during an appearance on the Colbert Report that he won't consider being tapped as a GOP running mate during an appearance on the Colbert Report.
GOP challenger ready for Ellison
Posted at 11:45 AM on September 7, 2011
by Tim Nelson
(20 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, U.S. House
A retired Marine major says he wants to run against 3-term DFL Congressman Keith Ellison next year. Chris Fields announced his campaign today and says he plans to run against Ellison in 2012.
Fields, 44, spent 21 years in the Marines, recently as a logistics officer. He retired Aug. 1. Fields said he also worked on Wall Street before joining the Marines, earning a commission and graduating from college in the service. He grew up in New York City and moved to Minneapolis when he recently married.
He says he thinks Ronald Reagan's message of prosperity and security would serve the 5th District well.
"I grew up in the South Bronx, dirt poor," Fields says. "I know what its like to go to bed hungry. And I remember those hard times, and then there was a fellow by the name of Ronald Reagan came along, and all of the sudden, we get rid of double digit unemployment, we get ride of double digit inflation, and the gas lines of the 70s and over the course of the years, he energized people and made people feel like it was OK."
Fields said he'll be seeking the GOP endorsement to run against Ellison.
"Folks are hurting out there," he says. "Folks are hurting across the whole district, and folks are hurting particularly in North Minneapolis, and since Congressman has been in office, folks haven't gotten a lot of relief economically."
Ellison beat his last challenger, Republican Joel Demos, by a better than 2-to-1 margin.
(20 Comments)Four out of 5 in Fair poll want Viking vote
Posted at 2:07 PM on September 7, 2011
by Tim Nelson
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Vikings stadium
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota says 79 percent of the respondents to its paper-ballot poll in the State Fair said they wanted a referendum on a sales tax for a new Vikings stadium. Presumably, the guy at left would have been a no.
The poll was admittedly unscientific, according to League president Phil Krinkie. He said the referendum query was one of four questions on a half-sheet questionnaire at the League's grandstand booth. There were, he said, "lots of people sort of nonchalantly walking by, and they'd see 'Stadium Survey,' and they'd make a quick turn and want to fill out the survey."
Krinkie himself has spoken out repeatedly against taxpayer subsidies for a new NFL stadium.
But he says that the thinks their is some validity to the response: "There were people at the state fair who came up and expressed, you know, "I live in Hennepin County and they ran right over us and didn't give us a chance to vote (on the Twins stadium deal)."
Ramsey County is mulling a vote on its plan to devote a half-cent sales tax to a proposed stadium in Arden Hills.
The Taxpayers League asked three other questions about the Vikings, as well. They included: 1) Do the Vikings need a new stadium? 2) Should state revenue be used to finance a new stadium? 3) Should local taxpayers (i.e. city or county) help pay for a new stadium?
Krinkie said they're still tabulating the poll results on those questions. He said they got about 4,100 responses, and are counting them all by hand.
(AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
(4 Comments)Bachmann to attend President Obama's jobs speech
Posted at 2:35 PM on September 7, 2011
by Brett Neely
Filed under: Campaign 2012, Michele Bachmann, U.S. House
WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann will be in the audience tomorrow night, listening to the man she hopes to replace in the White House.
Bachmann spokeswoman Becky Rogness confirmed that the Stillwater Congresswoman would be returning to Washington from the campaign trail for President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress on the urgent need to reduce unemployment.
It's a rare appearance in Washington for Bachmann. Since declaring her candidacy in mid-June, she's missed close to 50 percent of the roll call votes in the U.S. House. By way of comparison, fellow Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who's also running for the GOP presidential nomination, missed less than 4 percent of the roll call votes in the House during the same period.
Rybak selected to be DNC Vice Chair
Posted at 4:33 PM on September 7, 2011
by Tom Scheck
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak will become one of five vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC will make it official at its meeting this weekend in Chicago.
"Mayor Rybak was the first mayor of a large U.S. city to endorse President Obama's presidential campaign in early 2007," DNC CHair Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote in her nomination letter to the DNC. "He is a strong voice for mayors within the party, an an incredible surrogate for the president and Democrats."
Rybak called the appointment a "tremendous honor" and said he viewed his chief role as vice chair to campaign heavily for President Obama's re-election.
"I was basically asked to do a lot of things officially this time that I did unofficially in the last race," Rybak said
Rybak said he put every "ounce of his energy" into getting Obama elected in 2008. He said he expects to be making many campaign appearances on Obama's behalf and expects to appear on cable TV News pushing Obama's policies.
"I'm going to spend less time sitting on the couch watching TV and more time maybe going on TV and talking about the fact that we have a great man in the White House and he needs four more years," Rybak said.
Rybak said his new role will not impact his duties as mayor.
In terms of Obama's low approval ratings, Rybak said there are several Republicans who have decided they will do nothing to help Obama. He acknowledged that many Democrats, including himself, have been frustrated that the president hasn't been more aggressive in criticizing Republicans. But Rybak said Obama is working to heal a partisan country.
"We have a leader who in tough times have put his own political standing to try to heal a divided country," he said.
Rybak said he's also scheduled to speak with Obama this afternoon to discuss Obama's Thursday night speech on the economy. Rybak said Obama's policies prevented deeper economic problems for the country. He said the president's true test will be to convince a skeptical public that is frustrated with the nation's economic problems.
Here's the letter from Wasserman Schultz:
Chair's Nominations Appts Slate for 7-Day Mailing 9 2 11
PoliGraph: Fact-checking the GOP presidential debate
Posted at 8:56 PM on September 7, 2011
by Catharine Richert
(7 Comments)
After several weeks of disappointing polling results, the Republican presidential debate was an important moment for Rep. Michele Bachmann.
During the event, Bachmann's rhetoric focused on job creation and the economy. PoliGraph took a look at four of her statements, and found a mixed bag of true, false and misleading claims.
The Claim: The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that the new health care law is a job-killer.
The Facts: Bachmann's talking about a CBO report that estimated roughly 800,000 people would leave the workforce to take advantage of new coverage options offered in the health care overhaul that don't require working.
Bachmann gets her number right. But her claim implies that all those people will be fired because of the new law, which is not the case.
PoliGraph said that claim is misleading.
The Claim: The new health care bill took over one-sixth of the American economy.
The Facts: According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the health care industry comprises roughly one-sixth of the economy. So, Bachmann's statement implies that the new health care law took over the entire industry.
The Pulitzer Prize winning site PolitiFact gave a similar claim from the Florida Republican Party a Pants on Fire.
PolitiFact sums up its reasoning this way: The plan would expand the government's role in the health care system, but it also would continue to rely on private insurers. Furthermore, for those who can't get coverage, the bill would create a marketplace for people to get private insurance.
Bachmann's claim is false.
The Claim: Bachmann said she was the first person to introduce a repeal of the health care law.
The Facts: The House of Representatives passed the health care law on March 21, 2010.
The following day, Bachmann announced legislation that would eliminate the new law.
Her claim is accurate.
The Claim: Gas was less than $2 a gallon before Obama took office.
The Facts: Recently, Bachmann promised to bring the cost of a gallon of gas below $2 a gallon if she becomes president - roughly the same cost of a gallon of gas in the months before Obama took office.
During the debate, Bachmann again cited that fact, and said she wanted to lower the cost of gas. But she fell short of saying she'd shoot for $2 a gallon. Indeed, her talking point has been criticized for leaving out the important point that gas was cheap in the months leading up to Obama's inauguration because of the recession. Economic activity was at a low point, and as a result, so was fuel consumption.
---
Listen to reporter Catharine Richert discuss Bachmann's claims with MPR's Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition:
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The feature examines statements made by Minnesota politicians and checks them for accuracy. Based on data analysis, document reviews and interviews with non-partisan analysts, statements are rated true, misleading, false or inconclusive. MoreServices
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