Posts by Dr. Eric Ostermeier
Oberstar 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 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 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 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…
Read MoreRepublican 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…
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