Archive for 2008
Today At The Capitol: Round 1 of the Budget Battle
The Gopher State’s U.S. Senate recount may take a backseat in the newsroom today due to some important state governmental business: a much-anticipated budget briefing, a press conference by Governor Tim Pawlenty, and the DFL legislative response. Essentially, today is…
Read MoreBigger D.C. Power Broker: Jim Oberstar or David Obey?
The Upper Midwest is home to a disproportionate amount of power when it comes to its Representatives in the U.S. House. Three of the twenty-one House Committee chairs hail from Minnesota and Wisconsin, with two of those, DFL Congressmen…
Read MoreMinnesota GOP US House Candidates Receive Lowest Voter Support Since 1934
If politics is a bottom line business, then the Republican Party of Minnesota can be rightfully pleased to have won three U.S. House seats last month. Several pundits, such as the Rothenberg Political Report, projected the DFL to pick up…
Read MoreLive Blog: Redistricting in Minnesota
8:50 a.m. The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance is hosting a conference this morning entitled, “Toward More Open Government: A Conference on Reforming the Redistricting Process.” The headline for the event as to why this could be…
Read MoreMinnesota Is Not Massachusetts: How Norm Coleman (Probably) Survived the Democratic Wave
As we approach a month since Election Day, many DFLers continue to lament that if Norm Coleman should hold onto his US Senate seat after the statewide recount, it is not because Coleman won the race, but because the DFL…
Read MoreSmart Politics to Live Blog Conference on MN Redistricting
On Monday morning Smart Politics will live blog a conference on redistricting reform in Minnesota at the Humphrey Institute. Toward More Open Government: A Conference on Reforming the Redistricting Process Monday, December 1, 2008 8:30am – 12:00pm Humphrey Forum Hubert…
Read MoreColeman Victory Would Be the Greatest GOP Senate Triumph in Minnesota History
Earlier this month Smart Politics examined how a victory by Norm Coleman would mark the first time since 1940 that a Republican has been elected Senator from the Gopher State in a presidential election year in which a Democrat was…
Read MoreMN Senate Recount: Challenges in Franken Territory On the Rise
While the number of challenged ballots has been increasing in the Minnesota U.S. recount during the past week, the rise has not been uniform across the state’s partisan geographic divide. Smart Politics studied the change in challenged ballots in counties…
Read MoreMinnesota Unemployment Trend Worst In 22 Years
The October 2008 unemployment numbers released late last week by Dan McElroy, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, reveals the Gopher State is enduring its worst jobless trend in more than two decades. October’s 6.0 percent…
Read MoreCSPG Report: Potential for Change in the Senate Recount
The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance released a report this week which puts into perspective what seemed like large changes in the vote count for Al Franken between the end of Election Day to just before the…
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