Archive for April 2009
Obama Approval Rating Holding Steady in Minnesota and Blue States, Still Dropping in Red States
Barack Obama’s latest approval rating in Minnesota remains in the low 60s – holding essentially, and impressively, flat for the third consecutive month, according to the latest round of polling by SurveyUSA. For the month of April, in a survey…
Read MoreWill Arlen Specter Win in 2010?
When Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party on Tuesday morning, the first question asked was not why he bolted from the GOP, but how his change in party affiliation will impact the Democratic…
Read More‘Darfur 5’ in Little Jeopardy of Losing Congressional Seats
The arrest of Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison and four other members of Congress Monday morning for crossing a police line at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. brought front-page attention to the humanitarian crisis and atrocities occurring in the Darfur…
Read MoreNew Yorker’s Jane Mayer to Speak on Terrorism at Humphrey Institute
Author and New Yorker contributor Jane Mayer will be giving a talk on terrorism and the politics of the Barack Obama administration at the Humphrey Institute on Tuesday afternoon. “Can Obama Avoid the Dark Side? Learning from how the War…
Read MoreMinnesota’s ‘McCain 14’ Split on House Tax Increase
Although House DFLers were able to push through a tax bill on Saturday to raise approximately $1.5 billion in revenue for the State of Minnesota, 20 percent of its caucus peeled off to join the Republicans in voting against the…
Read MoreKeith Ellison Campaign Funding Data Revisited: A Response to the Congressman’s Complaint
Last Friday, Congressman Keith Ellison’s communications director Rick Jauert responded to recent data unearthed and analzyed by Smart Politics that Ellison was receiving an unusual amount of itemized individual contributions from out-of-state, both in Q1 2009 (when he had the…
Read MoreIowa Least Affected by Unemployment Increases in the Upper Midwest
Although the unemployment numbers released during the past week by Iowa Workforce Development find the Hawkeye State with its highest seasonally adjusted jobless rate since December 1987, Iowans are not losing their jobs at the rate endured by other Upper…
Read MoreWho Does Keith Ellison Represent? (And Why Aren’t Minnesotans Funding His Campaigns?)
The FEC’s Q1 2009 campaign finance data reveals several interesting facts about how Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives fund their campaigns. Earlier in the week, Smart Politics documented that GOP Representative Michele Bachmann received the largest percentage of contributions from individuals…
Read MorePawlenty’s Political Future: When Will We Know?
Although taxes and vetoes are the talk of the town today, reporters at the State Capitol would still like to know the answer to the question: “When is Governor Tim Pawlenty going to announce his future political plans?” Most analysts…
Read MoreWhy the Bachmann ‘Revolution’ Is a Grassroots Phenomenon
Heads turned last week upon the release of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s impressive Q1 2009 fundraising data – outpacing all her Gopher State colleagues by nearly $100,000. Eyes rolled on some liberal blogs yesterday after Smart Politics characterized Representative Bachmann’s fundraising…
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