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Capitol View: November 8, 2012 Archive

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The Daily Digest (House DFLers to elect leaders, MNGOP to do post-mortem, Bachmann survives a scare)

Posted at 6:31 AM on November 8, 2012 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

Democrats in the Minnesota House will meet tonight to elect DFL Rep. Paul Thissen their new Speaker of the House. He has no challenger for the spot. Rep. Erin Murphy of St. Paul and Rep. Paul Marquart of Dilworth are running for Majority Leader.

The caucus election comes one day after Democrats took control of both chambers of the Legislature.

The big question is whether Democrats in the Legislature deliver on Dayton's top initiative (including taxes). Democrats are walking gingerly around the issue right now.

GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers says he won't run for House Minority Leader. House Majority Leader Matt Dean says he's interested in the slot. They meet on Saturday to elect a new leader.

Zellers downplayed suggestions that the two constitutional amendments helped boost DFL turnout and sink the Republican majorities. The Minnesota Business Partnership's Charlie Weaver told the AP that the moves were an "enormous mistake."

Here's a good breakdown of the newly elected Legislature.

Two legislative races are headed toward recounts.

The shift in power to the DFL means the federal health care law will be implemented in Minnesota.

Minnesota voters approved most school levy requests.

Race for Congress
GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann survived a scare from DFLer Jim Graves. Bachmann, who represents the most Republican district in the state, barely won on Tuesday night.

Republican Party
MPR says Republican Party officials are looking to do a post-mortem after losing some many key races in Minnesota.

There are fresh worries for the GOP as the electorate changes.

Politico asks whether the Super PACs and C(4)s backing Mitt Romney were a billion dollar bust? Romney contributor and Hubbard Broadcasting owner Stanley Hubbard has this quote: ""Obviously, somebody made a mistake and didn't do things right. There's no question about that," he said.

Voting
Minnesota had the highest voter turnout in the country.

Voter ID
One of the biggest surprises of the night is that the Voter ID amendment was defeated. MPR takes a look at how groups opposed to the measure defeated it.

Marriage Amendment

After defeating the amendment, opponents say there is still work to do. Some of that work is to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Washington D.C.
President Obama turns toward governing again.

He faces new urgent tasks as he prepares for a second term.

GOP House Speaker John Boehner says he'd consider a tax increase.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's looking for a deal on averting he fiscal cliff, wants to address immigration reform and force a change to the filibuster rules.

Fixing the looming fiscal cliff could take time.

Economy
Stocks falter after fears of the fiscal cliff and Europe's debt crisis.

Minnesota's businesses and employees react to Obama's reelection.

2014
Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson is considering a run for governor.

Finally
There will not be a Digest on Friday.

The new Senate, by the numbers

Posted at 10:55 AM on November 8, 2012 by Tim Nelson
Filed under: Campaign 2012: Minn. Senate Races

Here's a look at the election results from Tuesday, chopped a little more finely than on election night. Since the DFL Senate caucus is gathering for leadership elections in a few minutes, let's start with a ranking of the senators by the percentage of the vote they won, with the majority on top.

Here's a ranking of the senators by vote totals, from most to least:

The new Minnnesota House, by the numbers

Posted at 12:46 PM on November 8, 2012 by Tim Nelson
Filed under: Campaign 2012: Minn. House Races

The DFL House caucus is meeting tonight to elect their leadership. Here's a comparison of how they did at the polls on Tuesday. First up: a look at the percent of the vote they got in their election, with the majority caucus on top:

(You may notice some winners racked up less than 50 percent. That's because of third party candidates and write-in votes in the races.)

And here's a look at the rank by vote total:

Senate DFL elects new leaders

Posted at 7:10 PM on November 8, 2012 by Tim Pugmire
Filed under: MN Legislature

dfl caucus 024.jpg
State Senators Katie Sieben and Tom Bakk. Photo: Tim Pugmire

Democrats in the Minnesota Senate have elected Sen.Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, to serve as majority leader when they officially take control in January.

Bakk has already served three terms in the Senate and was the DFL minority leader the past two years. He also oversaw the successful campaign effort that won back the Senate majority. Following a caucus organizing meeting today, Bakk said his top priority for the 2013 session is to tackle the state's budget challenges and break the recent pattern of crisis management.

"We clearly are going to have a significant budget deficit to have to deal with," Bakk said. "I feel a little sorry for the new members that have just been elected, because their first task they're going to learn is to find a way we can cut the state budget even further than it is today."

Caucus members also elected Sen. Katie Sieben, of Newport, as assistant majority leader and Sen. Sandy Pappas, of St. Paul, as Senate president. Sen. Dick Cohen, also of St. Paul, will again be finance chair. Sen. Rod Skoe, from Clearbrook, will be tax chair.

Thissen and Murphy to lead House DFL

Posted at 10:21 PM on November 8, 2012 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012, Campaign 2012: Minn. House Races, MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Democrats in the Minnesota House have elected their leadership team tonight. They elected DFL House Minority Leader Paul Thissen of Minneapolis to be the Speaker of the House when the Legislative session begins in 2013.

DFLers also elected Rep. Erin Murphy of St. Paul to be the House Majority Leader over Rep. Paul Marquart of Dilworth.

Murphy worked hard to recruit and elect candidates over the past four years. Murphy, a nurse by training, is an expert on health care and is a strong backer of President Obama's health care plan.

"I look forward to working with Speaker Thissen and legislators from both parties to govern this state in a manner that reflects the wishes of Minnesotans for progress, results and a better future for our state," Murphy said in a statement.

Murphy and Thissen will now have to appoint chairmanships and assign members to specfiic committees. They will also be responsible for setting the DFL agenda when the next legislative session starts in January. They also have the delicate balancing act of ensuring the needs of rural Minnesota and the suburbanites are not overlooked by two leaders who represent Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Democrats now control all of state government for the first time since 1990. Their main order of business will be to pass a two-year budget at a time when the state is facing a projected budget shortfall of several billion dollars.

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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. More

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