Archive for July 2009
Republican Party ID Matches Democrats for First Time in Minnesota Since October 2005
The latest monthly SurveyUSA poll finds more Gopher State residents identifying as Republicans than at any point in more than four years. The new poll, conducted July 17-19 of 600 adults statewide, also finds Republicans now match the Democrats…
Read MoreWhy Campaign Contributions by Homemakers to MN U.S. Representatives Are Not Part of a ‘Shell Game’
One of the notable findings from yesterday’s Smart Politics research that documented the occupational profile of those individuals giving large donations to the campaigns of Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives was that nearly 95 percent of homemakers contributed to the three Republican…
Read MoreWho Gives? An Occupational Profile of Large Donor Contributions to the MN US House Delegation
Minnesota’s eight-member U.S. House delegation raised more than $1.6 million last quarter, according to the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports. Large donor individual donations accounted for about half of that total, or approximately $800,000. So, who are these private…
Read MoreUnemployment Continues to Rise at Historic Pace Across Upper Midwest
June was not a good month for jobs in the Upper Midwest, with unemployment increasing in Minnesota and three of its four neighboring states – Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. While unemployment remains below the national average across the region,…
Read More26 Days and Counting: Why Norm Coleman Isn’t Talking 2010
When former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman ended his 2008 election battle last month, he surprised many journalists by answering the inevitable question about whether he would run for governor with a more detailed answer than expected. Coleman first stated on…
Read MoreThe Honeymoon Is Over: Obama Approval Rating Drops to 51 Percent in Minnesota
After six consecutive months of notching approval ratings between 59 and 65 percent in the Gopher State, President Barack Obama’s job performance numbers haven taken a nose-dive in July, in not only Minnesota, but other key battleground states as measured…
Read MoreBachmann Outraises McCollum in 4th CD; Nearly Outraises Ellison in 5th CD
A Smart Politics analysis of FEC data for the 2nd Quarter of 2009 finds 6th District Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann raised more individual itemized contributions in the home districts of two of her fellow DFL colleagues, and nearly as much…
Read MoreEllison Raises 90+ Percent of Q2 2009 Large Donor Individual Contributions from Outside 5th CD
In April 2009, Smart Politics reported on Keith Ellison’s unusual campaign fundraising numbers that found the 2-term DFL Congressman raising the vast majority of his large donor individual contributions from out of state. That reporting period was not an aberration….
Read MoreOberstar Raises 100 Percent of Q2 2009 Itemized Individual Contributions from Out of State
Of the many benefits that come with being a Committee Chairman and one of the longest serving members in the U.S. House, is a certain national renown that enables a U.S. Representative to more easily raise campaign funds from…
Read MoreBachmann Leads Minnesota House Delegation in Campaign Contributions by Individuals and Small Donors
Last Spring, Smart Politics explained how while the headline coming from the Federal Elections Commission Q1 2009 reports on the fundraising by Minnesota’s U.S. House delegation was that Republican Michele Bachmann outraised all of her Gopher State colleagues by nearly…
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