Archive for August 2009
Minnesota Leads Midwest in Birth-to-Death Ratio; Will Its 8th U.S. House Seat Be Saved?
With the U.S. Census and reapportionment just around the corner, reports have come out during the past year, including data from Minnesota’s own state demographer, that indicate the Gopher State is in real danger of losing a seat in the…
Read MoreIs Barack Obama the World’s President?
With Monday’s news conference in Guadalajara, Mexico with Mexican President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Barack Obama continues to build on his record number of press conferences held outside of the United States….
Read MoreRepublican Opposition to Sotomayor Marks Largest Supreme Court Confirmation Vote Dissent in GOP History
Last week’s vote in the U.S. Senate confirming Sonia Sotomayor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court was noteworthy foremost, of course, for Sotomayor being the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the Court. But the Senate…
Read MoreEt Tu Minnesota? Klobuchar Disapproval Rating Soars to Record High After Franken Is Seated
As unemployment continued to rise and economic and budget concerns reached near crisis levels across most states, several U.S. Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, saw their approval ratings slip noticeably during the first several months of 2009. One of the…
Read MoreRepublican Senators Ignore ‘Hispanic Effect’ in Sotomayor Confirmation Vote
In the months after President Barack Obama’s selection of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, political analysts and even a few Republicans (e.g. Joe Scarborough) have characterized GOP opposition to and harsh questioning of the new Associate Justice as…
Read MoreOberstar Rails Against Obama on Transportation Policy
Interspersed between his erudite historical recounting of transportation policy over the last 50 years, colorful inside-the-beltway jokes and jabs, and a vision for transportation policy for the next generation, Minnesota DFL Congressman Jim Oberstar offered some particularly harsh language for…
Read MoreMinnesota GOP U.S. House Members Notch $800,000 Fundraising Swing Against DFL Colleagues from 2007 to 2009
Riding the momentum of a Democratic tsunami in 2006, Minnesota’s crop of five DFL U.S. Representatives posted a monumental fundaising effort through the first two quarters of 2007 – outraising the state’s three GOP Representatives by over $750,000. Now, two…
Read MoreCongressman Oberstar to Speak at Humphrey Institute Wednesday
Minnesota’s senior member of its U.S. House delegation, 18-term Representative Jim Oberstar will speak on transportation policy at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs on Wednesday morning. The event is cosponsored by Institute’s Center for the…
Read MoreEconomic Downturn Scarcely Slowing Political Contributions to Minnesota’s U.S. House Delegation
The economic recession of the past year, and its accompanying significant rise in unemployment, rise in home foreclosures and delinquency rates, and drop in the stock market, has not derailed Minnesota’s U.S. House delegation from raising money like the recession…
Read MorePawlenty on the Rebound? Governor’s Approval Rating Reaches Highest Mark in 2009
Now more than two months removed from a brutal budget battle with the DFL, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has seen his approval numbers rise to its highest level this year, according to SurveyUSA’s latest ‘snapshot in time.’ Pawlenty’s approval rating…
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