Posts by Dr. Eric Ostermeier
The Frugal Three: Wisconsin Legislators Reject Annual Pay Increase
In a year that has seen rising unemployment, a volatile stock market, and increasing state and federal budget deficits, the backlash on talk radio and in print against legislators in D.C. and at state capitols for receiving pay raises has…
Read MoreHow to Save Minnesota’s U.S. House Seat: More Teenage Mothers?
Last month Smart Politics examined the political impact on the state of Minnesota should it lose one U.S. House seat as projected by many analysts, including a recent report issued by Election Data Services. Earlier this week, the Centers for…
Read MoreU.S. Senate Race Ends Up 12 Votes Shy of ’62 Gubernatorial Margin of Victory Record
With the final results (court challenge pending) certified by the State Canvassing Board on Monday finding Al Franken with a 225-vote victory over Norm Coleman, the 2008 U.S. Senate race nearly eclipsed the 1962 gubernatorial election as the closest high-profile…
Read MoreHow Opposed Are Minnesotans To Tax Increases?
With the start of the new legislative session officially underway, the clock has begun to tick on the likely showdown between Governor Tim Pawlenty and the DFL-controlled legislature as to whether tax increases should be a part of the solution…
Read MoreWill Al Franken Be the Favorite in 2014?
Presuming Al Franken is eventually seated as the junior Senator from Minnesota sometime this year, the Republican Party will no doubt soon be gearing up to plan his political demise in 2014 – whether with Norm Coleman in a rematch…
Read MoreFranken’s (Apparent) Victory Is 4th Weakest U.S. Senate Performance in DFL History
Throughout his U.S. Senate campaign, Al Franken was dogged by criticisms, even peppered from within his own party, that he was a ‘weak candidate’ for the DFL. These criticisms took many forms, such as stern words regarding Franken’s writings…
Read MoreFranken Has Big Edge in County Distribution of Absentee Ballots
Al Franken’s 49-vote lead is expected by nearly all analysts to increase after the tabulation of wrongly excluded absentee ballots by the Canvassing Board this weekend. The final, hard data is now in to confirm these suspicions. Of the 953…
Read MoreMinnesota’s Currently Drawn Congressional Maps 3rd Least Competitive in State History
Despite Smart Politics’ recent observation that Minnesota’s U.S. House elections are far more competitive than the national average, new research by Smart Politics finds the Gopher State’s current district boundaries to have produced the 3rd lowest number of competitive races…
Read MoreMinnesota ’08 U.S. House Contests More Competitive Than National Average by Double-Digits
As Minnesota gears up for congressional and legislative redistricting in the next few years, as well as the possible loss of a U.S. House seat, the Gopher State can take some pride in the fact that its U.S. House contests…
Read MoreHutchinson (’06) Performance Strong Predictor of Barkley Countywide Support in Minnesota Senate Race
As documented by Smart Politics last week, Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley took a very different path to reach 15 percent in the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate race than did 2002 Independence Party gubernatorial nominee, Tim Penny (who reached 16…
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