Posts by Dr. Eric Ostermeier
Coleman Says ‘God Wants Me to Serve’
While Al Franken remains fairly elusive, Norm Coleman is keeping a high profile these days as his court challenge of the Minnesota U.S. Senate recount plods along. Coleman is adept, somewhat too adept, his critics might say, at skillfully tailoring…
Read MorePawlenty Approval Rating Stable Through Good Times and Bad
Even though Minnesota is experiencing unprecedented month-to-month increases in unemployment and a $5 billion budget deficit, Governor Tim Pawlenty’s political stock has not (yet) been devalued in the Gopher State. A Smart Politics analysis of more than 5-dozen public opinion…
Read MoreNo Excuses? Minnesota’s Unemployment Rate Less Tied to National Economy Than That of Wisconsin and Iowa
As December’s unemployment numbers demonstrate, Minnesota continues to endure a skyrocketing rate of job losses, especially when compared to its neighbors to the south and west. To the west, North Dakota and South Dakota have the second and third lowest…
Read MoreIs the DFL ‘Overrepresented’ at the State Capitol?
As DFL legislators tore into Governor Tim Pawlenty’s budget plan in committee hearings on Tuesday, the DFL caucus looked very much like a party with supermajority (Senate) or near supermajority (House) status. The DFL’s icy reaction to the Governor’s plan…
Read MoreMinnesota’s 2010 Budget Deficit Among Top 10 Largest In Nation
With updated budget numbers expected in the coming weeks, Minnesota’s current $2.6 billion projected budget gap for 2010 ranks as one of the top 10 largest in the nation, according to new numbers compiled by the Naitonal Conference of State…
Read MoreHow Bad Are Things In Minnesota, Really?
From the rising unemployment numbers to the state budget crisis, the news in Minnesota seems to be getting worse and worse. Adding insult to injury came the recent news last week that Minneapolis ranked as the fourth least desirable metropolitan…
Read MoreHow Long Will It Take to Regain the 65,000+ Jobs Lost in Minnesota in 2008?
The near universal legislative support of the unemployment bill signed into law on Thursday by Governor Tim Pawlenty is a first step by the state to address an economic and employment crisis that is escalating at record levels in Minnesota….
Read MoreHouse GOP Voter ID Legislation Has Strong Support Statewide
Even though the Voter Integrity Act of 2009 (HF 57) introduced earlier this week by Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer (R-Delano) has been characterized by some in the media as a “politically divisive idea” (“Requiring Voter IDs Is Back on the…
Read MorePawlenty Invokes Obama and Displays Fancy Footwork On Tax Policy in Budget Presentation
Governor Tim Pawlenty’s discussion on the role tax policy should play in the upcoming budget battle during Tuesday afternoon’s budget presentation was a near masterful display of how combining the bob and weave with an occasional jab can make…
Read MoreRepublicans In Minnesota Warming to Obama More Than In Other Upper Midwestern States
Barack Obama is officially in the ‘honeymoon phase’ of his presidency – the 44th president is just one week into his administration with approval ratings through the roof (67 percent in the latest Gallup survey, with just 14 percent disapproving)….
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