Capitol View

Capitol View Category Archive: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate

Kohls not running for reelection

Posted at 11:57 AM on May 3, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, MN Legislature

GOP Rep. Paul Kohls has announced he isn't running for reelection. Kohls, of Victoria has announced he won't seek a 5th term in the Minnesota House.

"It has been an absolute privilege to serve in the Minnesota House of Representatives and an honor to represent the people of central and western Carver county and northern Scott county," said Kohls in a news release. "But we know that at some point all good things must come to an end."

The news release said he's accepted a new position in the private sector that will not accommodate service in the House. I'm checking on the new position. The private sector job Rep. Kohls will be taking is with the legal department at AgStar Financial.

Kohls is the 17th state lawmaker to announce he isn't running for reelection.

Here's the full list:

Minnesota House
DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (running for governor)
DFL Rep. Karla Bigham
DFL Rep. Jeremy Kalin
DFL Rep. Cy Thao
GOP Rep. Rob Eastlund
GOP Rep. Randy Demmer (running for Congress)
GOP Rep. Marty Seifert (running for governor)
GOP Rep. Dan Severson (running for Secretary of State)
GOP Rep. Doug Magnus (running for state senate)
GOP Rep. Paul Kohls
GOP Rep. Tom Emmer (running for governor)

Minnesota Senate
DFL Sen. Steve Murphy
DFL Sen. Jim Vickerman
DFL Sen. Tarryl Clark (running for Congress)
GOP Sen. Steve Dille
GOP Sen. Pat Pariseau
GOP Sen. Dennis Frederickson

Franken wants to keep foreign interests out of elections

Posted at 12:57 PM on January 28, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

DFL Sen. Al Franken announced today that he introduced legislation to change campaign finance laws. He's making the announcement one week after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums of money to buy ads supporting or opposing political candidates. Franken has introduced legislation that aims to keep foreign interests out of elections. Here's part of the news release:

Since 1974, federal law has banned foreign companies from giving or spending in American elections. Nothing in our current laws, however, explicitly prohibits foreign companies from creating American subsidiaries or getting control of American companies and using them to flood the airwaves in support of their preferred candidates. Citizens United gives companies unlimited power to do that - and does not distinguish between American companies and companies that are owned or controlled by foreign interests.

"I was pleased to hear the President recognize the need for this bill in his address last night," said Sen. Franken. "I think we can all agree that foreign interests have no place in American elections."

The "American Elections Act of 2010" was developed in coordination with Professor David Schultz of Hamline University School of Business in Minnesota.

"The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United was an attack on democracy and fair elections," said Professor Schultz. "It undid laws seeking to regulate corporations across the country and in Minnesota that go back over 60 years. As a result of it corporate money will flood into Minnesota, threatening the basic integrity of our elections and the power of citizens to control their own government. Senator Franken's bill is an important first step in addressing Citizens United and preventing money from further destroying our elections in Minnesota."


The "American Elections Act of 2010" will keep foreign interests out of our elections by:

· Banning election contributions and spending by corporations that are controlled or highly influenced by foreign nationals (foreign governments, companies, and persons). This includes:

- Corporations that receive most of their financing from foreign nationals.

- Corporations where foreign nationals hold a controlling share of stock (as defined under leading corporate law) or a majority of the Board of Directors.

- Corporations that allow foreign nationals to control or participate in their political activities - including ad spending, donations, and political action committees.

· Requiring all corporations to certify, before giving or spending in elections, that they are in compliance with these requirements.

· Requiring all corporations to disclose in their political advertising how much of their company is controlled by foreign nationals, or if this isn't possible, how much of their financing comes from foreign nationals.

The "American Elections Act of 2010" is supported by Common Cause, People for the American Way, Common Cause Minnesota, and MPIRG.


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Franken urges House to pass Senate health bill

Posted at 11:18 AM on January 28, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

DFL Sen. Al Franken said today that he wants the House to pass the Senate version of the health care overhaul bill. He said the Senate can make fixes to the plan through a process known as reconciliation. Here's part of the release from Franken's office:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) opened the Families USA Health Action 2010 conference this morning with a speech that called on Congress to not give up on passing national health care reform. Sen. Franken urged Congress to "pass and pledge" in order to finish the health care debate and provide meaningful reform to Americans. He recommended that the House pass the Senate version of the health care bill once the Senate pledges to fix certain portions using a procedural process known as reconciliation. Both tactics mean that national health care reform could be passed with a majority vote, overcoming a Republican filibuster of the legislation.

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How quickly they forget

Posted at 12:54 PM on January 20, 2010 by Tom Scheck (7 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, is circulating a petition calling for Democrats to immediately seat Senator-elect Scott Brown. Massachusetts voters yesterday elected Brown to the U.S. Senate. His election breaks the Democrats filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. McCain, who was the GOP nominee for president in 2008, said in his petition that Brown should be seated immediately:

Last night, Scott Brown won a stunning electoral upset and will be the first Republican Senator from Massachusetts in decades. I congratulate him on his victory and thank each and every one of you who generously gave your time and energy to make this victory possible for Scott and conservatives across the country.

His victory sent a strong message that you and I have long known - Americans are furious with the liberal leadership in Washington. Their out of control spending and proposed takeover of health care are destructive to our country and we must continue to fight against it.

I look forward to welcoming Scott as a colleague when he comes to Washington to join our battle against runaway spending and government run health care. But, unfortunately, there is now talk of Democrats employing Washington D.C. political games to move their agenda forward regardless of the people's will.

The Democrats are determined to do whatever is necessary to move their big government plans forward. Today, we've put together a petition urging Democrats to seat Scott Brown immediately and I ask that you sign this petition right away.

What a difference a year makes. Last year, Republicans were urging patience when the State Canvassing Board declared Democrat Al Franken the winner over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Arizona Sen. John Kyl (from McCain's home state) warned against seating Franken until the entire process was complete. Cornyn said seating Franken would lead to a filibuster.

For those wondering, Senate rules say a Senator can't be seated until a proper election certificate is presented. The Secretary of State in Massachusetts said that could take 10 days.

Update: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they'll wait for Brown before they take action on the health care bill.

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Franken skeptical that Democrats will rush health care bill.

Posted at 10:45 AM on January 20, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

MPR's Cathy Wurzer interviewed DFL Sen. Al Franken this morning about the prospects of the health care overhaul bill now that Democrats lost the filibuster proof majority (Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown yesterday to the U.S. Senate).

DFL Sen. Al Franken said he's skeptical the health care overhaul bill will be passed before President Obama's State of the Union on January 27th. He said "I doubt that's going to happen," when asked if Congress will rush the health care bill through. He also said "We may need to pick up a Republican" to pass the bill. Listen to it here: Listen

For your viewing pleasure...

Posted at 3:48 PM on January 15, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Here's a look at this weekend's public policy shows.

TPT's Almanac:
This week on Almanac Senator Amy Klobuchar joins us in studio, the American Refugee Committee is on its way to Haiti to help with relief efforts, and DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten tells us about the agreement between the state and U. S. Steel to purchase land for Lake Vermilion state park.

WCCO's Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy:
DFL Sen. Al Franken, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan, and DFL Rep. Betty McCollum.

KSTP's At Issue:
Steve Kelley, DFL candidate for governor
Dick Bremer (Twins announcer) and Mark Allison (son of the late Twins player Bob Allison). They're here to talk about the upcoming Diamond Awards to benefit the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center.

Capitol Report:
The effort to get Minnesotans back to work ramps up with lawmakers taking up bonding requests. Moderator Julie Bartkey discusses proposed projects for the U of M and MnSCU with Higher Ed Chair Senator Sandy Pappas, and the lead Republican on the Capitol Investment Committee, Claire Robling. Senator Kathy Saltzman details lease aid options for charter schools.

On the national scene...

ABC's This Week:
Guests: Christina Romer, chair, Council of Economic Advisers.

CBS' Face the Nation:
Topic: "The Terror Review: Do Changes Need to be Made?" Guests: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

CNN's State of the Union:
Guests: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), both live from Jerusalem; White House chief economic adviser Christina Romer.

Fox News Sunday:
Guests: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.); Sen. Jack Reed, (D-R.I.) of the Armed Services Committee; Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

NBC's Meet the Press:
Guests: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Democratic National Chairman; Michael Steele, Republican National Chairman.

MPR's Midday:
DFL Sen. Al Franken will be in studio on Monday at 11am.

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Minnesota politicos get involved in the Massachusetts Senate race.

Posted at 9:04 AM on January 14, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Pawlenty travel, Tim Pawlenty

The U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts is getting very interesting. The polls are tightening, a Democratic staffer roughed up a reporter and one of the candidates posed nude for Cosmopolitan during law school.

Both political arms of the Senate are ramping up staff, money and support for their respective candidates, Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown.

The stakes are huge for both sides. Republicans see an opportunity to win the seat, reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate to 59 and stop the health care reform bill.

Gov. Pawlenty is using his Freedom First PAC to direct contributions to Brown:

We have our best chance yet to stop the spending binge in Washington with Massachusetts Senate candidate Scott Brown. Brown is running neck-and-neck in a special election for the late Senator Ted Kennedy's seat and is Republicans' best shot at a 41st vote in the Senate to reject policies that firmly plant government as the arbiter of our lives.

But Democrats, like Sen. Al Franken, are working to make sure that doesn't happen.

Franken sent an e-mail to his supporters yesterday asking them to contribute to Coakley (the contribution runs through the Democratic leaning site Act Blue). He invoked the name of the late Ted Kennedy in the e-mail:

I served only briefly with Ted Kennedy, but like many of you I was inspired by his fight for health care for all Americans. I'm writing today because Ted's legacy is at risk. Polls show the special election for his Senate seat tightening, and voters head to the polls in less than a week.

If we lose Ted's Senate seat in Tuesday's special election, it's very likely that Republicans will have the votes to kill health care reform and undo all the tough, good work that's been done to fix our broken system. We simply can't let that happen.

Franken, Klobuchar react to Senate health care vote

Posted at 7:53 AM on December 24, 2009 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar issued this statement praising the passage of the health care bill:

"The Senate vote this morning was an important step forward to a final vote on health care reform. I will continue to push for a final bill that includes strong Minnesota-model cost reforms, deficit reduction, protections against insurance company abuses, and strong, stable Medicare coverage.

Minnesotans know that we can't simply keep pushing our problems to another day. Rising health care costs are unsustainable, busting the budgets of families and businesses alike.

This legislation includes some of my key priorities: It would begin to rein in costs by rewarding value instead of volume, something I worked extensively with the Mayo Clinic to include. The Senate bill reduces the fee on medical devices that was included in the Senate Finance Committee version by $18 billion. It would improve breast cancer screening. It includes incentives for more rural and primary doctors. It makes it easer for small businesses to purchase health care with extensive tax credits. It fixes the donut hole by giving seniors coverage for their prescription drugs. And it includes provisions to combat Medicare fraud which siphons off $60 billion a year in taxpayer money.

As we move toward a final vote, I'll continue my efforts to ensure that reform serves the best interests of Minnesota."

####

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Franken statement on Senate health vote

Posted at 7:43 AM on December 24, 2009 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House


The U.S. Senate voted to pass a sweeping health care overhaul bill earlier this morning. It passed 60 to 39. The measure has to be reconciled with a companion House bill that passed last month.

Here's DFL Sen. Al Franken's statement on the vote:

"Too many Minnesotans - too many Americans - are suffering as a result of our broken health care system," said Sen. Franken. "The legislation that the Senate just passed today will bring health coverage to an additional 295,000 Minnesotans by 2019 and give millions more the peace of mind that they will no longer be one diagnosis, one accident, one pre-existing condition, or one pink slip away from losing health coverage. This bill does not fix all the problems with our health care system, but it will help begin to bring down costs and is a significant down payment toward the goal of quality affordable health care for all Americans."

You can also listen to Franken's final Senate floor statement on the bill: Listen

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Franken to vote for bill

Posted at 11:05 AM on December 23, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

DFL Sen. Al Franken is scheduled to make his final comments on the Senate health care overhaul bill in the next hour. This morning, he spoke with MPR's Cathy Wurzer about the strengths of the bill:

Group may target Franken over health care bill

Posted at 2:54 PM on December 20, 2009 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

The group, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, is polling its Minnesota members to decide whether it should lobby DFL Sen. Al Franken on the health care bill. The Senate is expected to vote on the deal early tomorrow morning but several liberal and progressive groups aren't happy that the bill doesn't include the public option.

The head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which Source Watch says is an offshoot of Move On.org and labor groups, says it sent an e-mail to thousands of their Minnesota members asking whether they think Franken has fought strongly enough on the public option and whether members would support adding more political pressure on him:

If Al Franken and other progressive senators threatened to block a bad bill, President Obama would face a choice: Strong-arm Lieberman and Nelson to support the final bill, which has huge popular support OR strong-arm progressives into supporting a bill with 33% support. The smart choice is obvious. But it's up to progressive senators to force that choice.

We've seen in the last few months that Al Franken has the capacity to be bold and challenge the powers that be. The question is: Will he be bold and exert smart leverage on this issue?

Our next grassroots steps will likely entail pressuring progressive senators to say they will block any final bill without a public option. But before we add Al Franken to the list of those who need pressure, we want the opinion of our Minnesota members.

The head of the group, Adam Green, said they've run ads pressuring Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democratic Senators Ben Nelson and Max Baucus and Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Chuck Grassley to support the public option.

I contacted Franken's office for a comment. I'll post if/when I get one. A spokeswoman for Franken said "no comment."

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Klobuchar: "We had to get something done here."

Posted at 8:54 AM on December 20, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar defended the Senate health care bill on an early Sunday morning national talk show. Senate Democratic leadership announced a deal Saturday on a sweeping health care overhaul bill that would extend coverage to thirty million Americans and impose tougher regulations on health care companies to curb abusive practices. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Klobuchar responded to liberal critics, like Howard Dean, who want to kill the bill because it doesn't do enough.

"I disagree with him. I don't have that ability to just leave my Christmas presents and go home. We had to get something done here."

Klobuchar also said her focus was always on reducing costs.
Klobuchar was also asked to defend an abortion provision in the Senate bill that would allow states to prohibit abortion coverage in plans offered by insurance companies in the proposed exchange (More from AP here). Klobuchar was asked, as a pro-choice Senator, if she's "offended" by the provision. Here's her response:

"I am offended that so many people don't have insurance in this country. I'm offended that kids get sick and their parents are running around trying to get treatment for them because their parents are kicked off of their insurance. I am offended by that. Would I have preferred the original Senate language? Of course I would."

The Senate is expected to pass the bill early tomorrow morning. It will then have to be reconciled with a bill that already passed the House. Republicans argue that both bills spend too much and don't contain health care costs.

Franken and Klobuchar react to Senate health deal

Posted at 1:10 PM on December 19, 2009 by Tom Scheck (6 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

Here's DFL Sen. Al Franken's reaction to the health care deal reached by Senate Democrats:

"Throughout this debate I have tried to keep focused on the concerns I hear as I travel Minnesota," said Sen. Franken."Minnesota families tell me they are afraid of losing coverage because of a pre-existing condition, going bankrupt due to health care crisis, or not being able to afford any coverage at all as their premiums skyrocket."

"With the release of this manager's amendment and the announcement that we now have the votes required to pass it, we're on the verge of being able to cover millions of Americans and stop the explosion of health care costs for families. I don't want to oversell what this bill will do, but I am confident it will make some very important improvements in people's lives."

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar's office also released a statement saying the proposal includes several provisions that Klobuchar fought for:

"This final package includes many provisions that I've fought to include for months," said Klobuchar. "The EARLY Act helps young women battling breast cancer, the Medicare fraud amendments will save billions of dollars for our taxpayers, the one-year delay in implementation of the medical device tax was important to our job-creating medical device industry, and, most importantly, the value index I authored for Medicare payments remains in the bill, as do other important cost reform measures."

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For your viewing pleasure..

Posted at 3:48 PM on December 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Campaign 2010: U.S. House


GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen and Former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton (now a gov candidate) will be on the local shows discussing the issues. DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar will be on the national airwaves (Fox News Sunday).

Here's a look at who will be on this weekend's public policy shows.

TPT's Almanac:

This week on Almanac Rep. Eric Paulsen is back from Washington D. C. and pays us a visit, our series on the Red Bull division's deployment continues with a look one family's holiday season spent apart and a couple of Harlem Globetrotters play some tricks on us.
Thanks... and happy holidays! No live shows for us the next two weeks.

KSTP's At Issue:
Former Senator Mark Dayton, candidate for Governor.
Political analysts Annette Meeks, Blois Olson, Cathie Hartnett and David Strom.

WCCO's Sunday Morning:
They didn't get back to me

On the national scene....

Meet the Press: Axelrod, Dean
This Week: Axelrod, Sens. Durbin, Kyl
Face the Nation: Sens. Alexander, Snowe, Landrieu
State of the Union: Axelrod, Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Schwarzenegger, Sen. Graham
Fox News Sunday: Sens. McCain, Conrad, Klobuchar

(H/T The Page)

Franken on Midday

Posted at 9:45 AM on December 10, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

DFL Sen. Al Franken is scheduled to be on MPR's Midday this morning at 11AM.

Klobuchar has concerns about Senate health care deal

Posted at 5:26 PM on December 9, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar released a statement today saying she has concerns about the deal reached last night that would replace the public option with a different plan. The bill would now allow Minnesotans over the age of 55 opt in to Medicare which would provide health care coverage for low income adults. Here's Klobuchar's statement:

While I appreciate the work being done to reach a consensus on health care reform, I have concerns about an early Medicare expansion plan. I want to review the response from the Congressional Budget Office, but am skeptical of expanding the Medicare program when it is scheduled to go in the red by 2017. Additionally, Medicare has historically underpaid states like Minnesota, and these geographic inequities in the reimbursement system must be fixed and I'm working to do that.

No word on whether DFL Sen. Al Franken supports the deal. He's scheduled to be on MPR's Midday program tomorrow morning at 11.

Franken reschedules Midday appearance

Posted at 8:46 AM on December 9, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010

DFL Sen. Al Franken was scheduled to be on MPR's Midday today but has asked to reschedule for later this week. I'll let you know when he's scheduled to be on the show again.

Update: He's scheduled to appear on Midday on Thursday at 11AM.

AP: Senate Democrats reach a deal to drop the public option

Posted at 9:04 PM on December 8, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

AP is reporting that Senate Democrats have reached a deal to drop the public option:

Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to provide any details at a mid-evening news conference where he told reporters a "broad agreement" had been reached between liberals and moderates on the controversial issue.

With it, he said, the end is in sight for passage of the legislation that Congress has labored over for months.

In place of a government-run plan, originally designed as a way of forcing competition on private industry, officials said the Democrats had tentatively settled on a private insurance arrangement to be supervised by the federal agency that oversees the system through which lawmakers purchase coverage. Additionally, the tentative deal calls for Medicare to be opened to uninsured Americans beginning at age 55, a significant expansion of the large government health care program that currently serves the 65-and-over population.

Coleman's Harvard speech

Posted at 1:47 PM on November 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor, Recount

Former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman gave a speech last night to John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University. You can listen to his speech here:

Listen

The speech originally aired on MPR's Midday.

Franken discusses health care bill

Posted at 8:24 AM on November 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010


DFL Sen. Al Franken talked about the health care overhaul bill on Morning Edition this morning. He said he's continuing to fight to keep the public option in the bill and won't put a deadline on when it will pass. Franken also said he doesn't like the provision in the House bill that would eliminate the option of abortion coverage in a government national insurance exhange that's proposed in the bill.

Franken, however, wouldn't say if that was enough for him to vote against the bill.

Listen to the interview with MPR's Cathy Wurzer here:

Biden comments on recount

Posted at 5:03 PM on May 6, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Recount


Al Franken and V.P. Joe Biden met privately in D.C. today. After the meeting Biden's office issued this statement:

"The election process and recount in Minnesota have lived up to the state's reputation for organization, transparency, and bipartisanship. The officials have been meticulous and every ruling has been unanimous. While Sen. Amy Klobuchar is one of the hardest working members of the United States Senate, Minnesotans deserve their full representation. Once the Minnesota Supreme Court has issued its final ruling in this case, the President and I look forward to working with Mr. Franken on building an economy for the 21st century."

And Franken issued this:

"I deeply appreciate the administration's ongoing support and the opportunity to meet with Vice President Biden today. Minnesotans are eager to see Congress make progress on the administration's agenda - and I'm eager to do my part in that effort. From investments in alternative energy to the expansion of high-speed rail to the Twin Cities, we have a lot to do to help Minnesota's working families, and I was pleased to discuss these important issues with the Vice President."

Her dad covered the Vikings

Posted at 4:35 PM on January 30, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy
Filed under: Campaign 2008: President, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate


Politico reports Sen. Amy Klobuchar is invited to President Obama's Superbowl party. I'll bet he has a nice TV. Just be careful not to choke on the pretzels.

Canvassing board weighs absentees again

Posted at 9:34 AM on December 12, 2008 by Tim Nelson (2 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Recount

10:58 AMCleary admonishes campaigns to keep withdrawing "frivolous" ballot challenges. Meeting adjourns.

10:55 AM Discussion is winding up. Consideration of challenged ballots is scheduled for December 16 through 19 and the board seems to be ready to take the various reconsiderations, of both absentee and challenged ballots, as they come.

10:48 AMCanvassing board starts discussion on a second motion, outlining how the Canvassing Board will consider the corrected returns if wrongly rejected absentee ballots are found and counted.

Magunson suggests to do so is putting the cart before the horse and says it would be better to wait until some of those returns are available. Clearly says it would be bad faith to ask them to reconsider with out a guarantee that the canvassing board would accept the results.

"I don't like making a decision I don't have to make," says Anderson.

10:35 AM Motion passes asking county officials to separate properly and allegedly improperly rejected absentee ballots. Magnuson repeats that the canvassing board can't compel this action. Vote is unanimous.

10:27 AM Ramsey County District Court Judge Ed Cleary says he's inclined to include the improperly rejected absentee ballots. "We do not have authorities to make findings of fact or conclusions of law on the absentee ballots rejected for reasons...Those that have improperly been rejected are uncounted ballots... The bottom line is that I think we're disenfranchising voters that followed the law."

Magnuson suggests that the state courts may be a better place to consider this, since judges can issue orders and assess penalties to make these considerations happen, whereas the canvassing board cannot.

Gearin says she can't understand why a county wouldn't reconsider if the canvassing board asks. "If the local people, in the trenches, if they made a mistake, then that vote should be accepted."

Anderson weighs in and says he's inclined to go along with Cleary's suggestion to ask these ballots be reexamined and reconsidered by the canvassing board. He says there are some ballots rejected without any indication at all that they were in fact rejected. But he seems to be saying he thinks the courts ought to eventually weigh in.

Ritchie rephrases the motion. Cleary offers some clarification. County canvassing boards reconvene, separate rejected absentee ballots into properly and improperly rejected ballots.


10:20 AM Attorney General Lori Swanson says she believes the canvassing board has the authority to recommend local elections officials reconsider their wrongly rejected ballots and correct their vote totals. Ramsey County District Court Judge says some counties seem to have done that already and that the Canvassing Board will have to weigh in on this whether they like it or not.

10:16 AM Gelbmann says that officials in Duluth report that many absentee ballots were rejected because the witness to the absentee vote did not date their signature, but an administrative review of the law seems to indicate that they didn't have to date them.

10:15 AM Deputy secretary of state Jim Gelbmann offers a summary of the situation of absentee ballots that may have been wrongly rejected, through no fault of voters. He says 49 counties have completed their supports, that 3 have sorted but not reported their results and 24 should sort out rejected ballots next week.

So far, 4,023 absentee ballots have been re-examined and 638 have been determined to have been wrongfully rejected. That works out to about 13 percent of all disqualified ballots have been wrongfully rejected.

That's even higher than the 9 to 10 percent Mark Ritchie was estimating earlier this week. That would work out to about 1,587 wrongfully rejected ballots out of 12,000 statewide.

10:08 AM Board votes unanimously to include the 133 missing ballots from Minneapolis in the official vote total.

10:07 AM Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson lauds elections officials, says there is no evidence to show the canvassing board should not accept the vote total results Reichert has offered and moves to do so.

10:05 AM"We believe there was 2,028 ballots fed into the counter machine that night," Reichert says. She says the roster shows 2,030 signed in, but that people do occasionally leave without actually voting.

10:00 AMReichert asks canvassing board to use election night totals, rather than hand recount with missing ballots. Attorney General Lori Swanson summarizes the legal situation. She says the canvassing board has the authority to use the election night returns, in her opinion.

9:56 AMAgenda moves to missing ballots from Minneapolis' Ward 3, precinct 1.

City election director Cindy Reichert takes to the witness table to talk about the missing ballots. "We thought as we went through the process... that they would come up," she said. They called the chief election judge at the polling place, but got no further indication of what happened.

A search went though spoiled ballot envelopes, ballot receipt envelopes, but found nothing. Search turned to an audit of the voting statistics, and a second search of the elections warehouse on Dec. 4.

"We determined definitively that the ballots were missing," says Reichert. The custodian at the polling reported he didn't find anything. Search expanded to City Hall, a van used to transport elections materials. Another warehouse search was conducted on Dec. 5.

9:45 AM Ritchie is proposing adding votes from withdrawn challenges to the existing vote total, ahead of the consideration of the challenges next week. Chief Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson seconded. Approved.

9:40 AM State elections director Gary Poser earlier reported 3,594 challenged ballots. The number has grown since then, to 6,655 challenges. There have been several thousand withdrawls, and now Poser says 4,472 challenges remain.

9:34 AM Mark Ritchie just announced that the crowd is at capacity in the Capitol's Room 15. Standers will have to watch a video feed in the cafeteria.

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The (Re)Countdown--what could happen?

Posted at 10:24 AM on November 7, 2008 by Tim Nelson
Filed under: Campaign 2008, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Recount

Thumbnail image for capitol.jpgFor now, Minnesota's U.S. Senate race is looking to set a record as the closest election in the history of that legislative body. A 355-vote margin in New Hampshire's election in 1974 is the current record.

That one wound down to a truly memorable finish. After two recounts in New Hampshire and more than six months of deadlock at the U.S. Capitol, the Senate declared New Hampshire's senate seat vacant on August 8, 1975. That was 276 days after the polls closed. Democratic challenger John Durkin and Republican incumbent Louis Wyman squared off again in a September re-vote.

But in the Watergate era, it proved extraordinarily difficult for the Republican incumbent. Wyman's Democratic challenger, John Durkin, took the seat by 27,000 votes.

That's not how it is likely to play out in Minnesota, though. How about this for a doomsday scenario?

The state has a vacancy law (204.D28) that deals with precisely such matters, and it has come into play several times. The first was in 1976, when U.S. Senator Walter Mondale was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president. Gov. Wendell Anderson resigned and had his successor, Rudy Perpich, appoint him to the vacant seat. The political maneuvering effectively ended Anderson's political career. The second case was in 2002, when Senator Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash and Gov. Jesse Ventura appointed Dean Barkley to the Senate.

Here's the relevant part, though: If a recount of this year's election stretches into January, either the state courts or the U.S. Senate (which is the ultimate arbiter of the election of its members) could declare Minnesota to have a vacant senate seat. That would trigger the state's vacancy law, which allows the governor to appoint a senator.

The law makes a crucial point here: "An appointee shall hold office until a successor is elected and qualified at a special election or until a successor is elected." That means that come January 3rd, 2009, if the matter still hasn't been settled and the election's victor declared, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be theoretically able to appoint a U.S. Senator (likely a Republican) who will serve at least until Nov. 3, 2009, when another election is held and a winner "qualified." Which is to say he or she gets a result certified by the state canvassing board and the seven day contest period expires.

According to Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky, who long served in the Secretary of State's office, that would make for a term of office ending Nov. 25, 2009. That would make for a 325 day senate term -- presuming Pawlenty doesn't appoint incumbent Norm Coleman.

And here's where the real trouble comes. If, say, the Republicans successfully argue to a state judge on January 3 (or shortly after) that the undecided election amounts to a vacancy in the office, they could effectively nullify this week's election. Minnesota's vacancy law doesn't have a look-back provision. Even if the election were subsequently settled, the law doesn't apply a past election to a vacancy that has already been filled. Filling the vacancy would automatically trigger a do-over in the next November.

Presumably, that would only occur if it looked like Coleman were trailing or in a bad legal position.

And state law wouldn't stop Al Franken from going to Washington, D.C., telling the secretary of the Senate that he is the real victor and asking the Senate to seat him, without an election certificate. That would presumably spark a debate in the U.S. Senate over whether the seat is vacant and touch off Lord only knows what kind of a political struggle between Washington D.C. and St. Paul.

In short: even a recount might theoretically leave this year's Senate race unfinished.

How a bill becomes a law

Posted at 5:08 PM on November 1, 2008 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate


A listener from St. Paul sent me this wondering how the Minnesota GOP (which paid for this flyer) could confuse the number of votes needed to end a filibuster (60) with the number of votes needed to override a veto (67).

GOPflyer4blog1.jpg

Should we chalk this up to a last minute lack of proofreading or a poor understanding of the constitution? If the Democrats somehow end up with 67 Senate seats after the election that REALLY would be news!

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MPR poll shows comments hurt Bachmann

Posted at 9:54 AM on October 24, 2008 by Mike Mulcahy (2 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: President, Campaign 2008: U.S. MN CD6, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate

A new MPR News/ University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute poll shows voter concerns over Rep.Michele Bachmann's recent comments have cost her support in the 6th District.

The poll of 430 likely 6th district voters shows 45 percent favor DFL challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg, compared to 43 percent for incumbent Bachmann. Support for Bob Anderson, the Independence Party candidate, was 5 percent.

The poll's margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.7 percentage points. which means the race is a statistical dead heat.

The survey was taken after Bachmann publicly questioned whether the views of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama were anti-American, and suggested the media investigate the anti-American views of Congress.

Nearly 4 out of 10 6th district voters said they were less likely to support Bachmann because of her comments compared to 8 percent who said they are now more supportive.

Bachmann's level of support trails John McCain, and Sen. Norm Coleman, who both have leads in the heavily Republican district. Coleman's 14 point lead over Democrat Al Franken is much bigger than McCain's 3 point lead over Barack Obama in the district.

Coleman had 44 percent support in the district compared to Franken's 30 percent. IP Senate candidate Dean Barkley is polling at 17 percent in the 6th District, and 9 percent are undecided.

In the presidential race in the 6th, McCain has 47 percent and Obama has 44 percent. Seven percent are undecided.

By way of context, Bachmann defeated DFLer Patty Wetterling 50-42 percent in 2006. In 2004 President Bush won 57 percent of the district's vote compared to 42 percent for John Kerry.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 21 and Oct. 23.


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Norm Coleman's 2nd RNC address

Posted at 6:56 PM on September 3, 2008 by Molly Bloom
Filed under: Campaign 2008, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate

Sen. Norm Coleman addresses the Republican National Convention again. This time he welcomes "hockey mom" Sarah Palin to the "state of hockey" and talks about how Republicans will help working families.

Listen here:

Norm addresses convention as approval ratings slip

Posted at 1:41 PM on September 3, 2008 by Molly Bloom
Filed under: Campaign 2008, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate

Last night, Sen. Norm Coleman addressed the Republican National Convention, welcoming the delegates to St. Paul.
Update:He'll also be addressing the convention tonight shortly before 6:30.

He's also been using the RNC as an opportunity to do some serious fundraising, as the Washington Post reports.

But at the same time, a new Survey USA poll shows that Coleman's approval ratings are slipping. The survey shows that 44 percent of Minnesotans approve of Coleman, while 51 percent disapprove. This is the highest the disapproval number has been since Survey USA first started tracking Coleman's approval ratings in May 2005.

Bachmann and Coleman to speak tonight

Posted at 12:03 PM on September 2, 2008 by Molly Bloom
Filed under: Campaign 2008, Campaign 2008: U.S. MN CD6, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate

The RNC has confirmed that Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the convention tonight.

I will post what times they will be speaking as soon as the schedule is confirmed.

Update: Coleman will take the stage sometime between 7:00-7:30 and will be welcoming the delegates to St. Paul.

Update 2: Bachmann is slated to speak at 7:30, after Coleman.

New poll shows Obama with big Minnesota lead

Posted at 10:00 AM on June 26, 2008 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: President, Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate

A poll of four battleground states by Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal and the Washingtonpost.com raises real questions about whether Minnesota even deserves to be in the "battleground" category in the race for president.

The poll of voters in Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota shows Obama leading in all four states. But in Minnesota he tops John McCain by a blowout margin of 54-37.

Obama also has a big lead in Wisconsin 52-39.

The margins are closer in the other two states.

But as positive as the Minnesota poll results are for the Obama campaign, they contain troubling news for supporters of DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken.

The poll shows Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leading Franken 51-41. And Coleman's lead is even bigger among independent voters 55-35.

"Sen. Obama sweeps nearly every demographic group in Minnesota, including whites and blue collar workers, to lead by 17 points, the biggest lead in the four states surveyed. At the same time, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, with overwhelming support among men and a tie among women, has a 10-point overall lead over comedian Al Franken, the Democratic challenger," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

And the poll also raises questions about the value of Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a McCain running mate.

"Most voters say it would not make any difference in their vote if Gov. Tim Pawlenty is McCain's running mate," Richards added.

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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 either true, false or inconclusive. PoliGraph is a collaboration between Minnesota Public Radio News and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. More

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