Archive for 2009
Ellison 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…
Read MoreSouth Dakota Sets Historic 76 Percent Yearly Increase in Unemployment Mark in June
The South Dakota Department of Labor released new unemployment numbers Wednesday for the month of June – numbers which solidify the past twelve months as the worst stretch in modern history for the Mount Rushmore State’s job market, according to…
Read MoreSoS Ritchie and Rep. Emmer Share Thoughts on Minnesota Election Reform
Last Friday four of Minnesota’s prominent leaders on election reform convened at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs to discuss what work needs to be done for the Gopher State to improve on its nationally renowned election system. Moderated by…
Read MoreHow Do Politicians Use Twitter? A Case Study of Rep. Laura Brod
Minnesota politicians (and the news media) increasingly used Twitter to communicate to their respective audiences during the 2009 legislative session in St. Paul. Some news outlets, such as Politics in Minnesota, tweeted thousands of policy updates and commentaries on the…
Read MoreWhat Goes Up, Goes Down Slowly: A Long Road to Recovering Job Losses in Minnesota
With new unemployment numbers set to be released on Thursday, Minnesotans are bracing for news as to whether the state will continue to follow the leveling-off pattern of job losses from the last 3 months, or whether unemployment will rise…
Read MoreWhat Will Be the ‘Obama Effect’ on the 2010 Minnesota Gubernatorial Race?
The recent news of Barack Obama’s sliding approval ratings across key battleground states (e.g. Ohio, Virginia) as well as the nation (e.g. Gallup, Rasmussen) has raised the question as to what effect a potentially less popular (if not unpopular) President…
Read MoreBachmann Voting Record Is 2nd Least Supportive of Obama in U.S. House
Last month a Smart Politics analysis of the most conservative members of the U.S. House (as determined by National Journal’s annual rankings) found Representative Michele Bachmann to have received the smallest margin of victory of the 44 most conservative Republicans…
Read MoreSen. Rest and Rep. Emmer to Speak on U.S. Senate Recount and MN Election Reform
Two leaders from the State Capitol will be speaking at a forum hosted by the Humphrey Institute on Friday morning to pinpoint reforms that could be made in the Minnesota election system to avoid recount pitfalls in the future. DFL…
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