Posts by Dr. Eric Ostermeier
Crime and the Minnesota Economy Revisited: Brace for Property Crime Surge
At about the same time Smart Politics posited the question as to what effect, if any, the rising unemployment rate and economic downturn would have on the state’s violent crime rate, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s office issued a press release…
Read MoreGetting to 15 Percent: Two Different Paths for Dean Barkley (’08) and Tim Penny (’02)
Independence Party nominee Dean Barkley’s U.S. Senate candidacy was of great interest to the media and political junkies leading up to the 2008 election. Could Barkley launch a Ventura-esque come-from-behind victory? Would his presence on the ballot hurt Al Franken…
Read MoreWill Violent Crime in Minnesota Increase Along With the Jobless Rate?
The news released on Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development that Minnesota’s unemployment rate had reached 6.4 percent, prompted Smart Politics to examine how the current jobless trend, and specifically the large rate of job loss,…
Read MoreMinnesota Unemployment Rate Reaches Highest Level in Nearly A Quarter Century
The news gets bleaker and bleaker for workers in the Gopher State. The November 2008 seasonally adjusted jobless numbers have been released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development: unemployment rose to 6.4 percent – up from 5.9…
Read More‘The McCain 14’: House DFLers in Republican-Leaning Districts
On Wednesday, Smart Politics highlighted GOP legislators who serve house districts won by Barack Obama – legislators who are more vulnerable to district political pressures that might lead them to consider defecting from their Republican caucus in the event of…
Read MoreWho Will Be the ‘Override Three?’
The budget crisis outlined at the Capitol earlier this month is of such historic proportions that it will likely only serve to further strain the already tense relationship between Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and the DFL-controlled legislature. In order to…
Read MoreMinnesota Leads Nation in Voter Turnout for Seventh Straight Election Cycle
Minnesota voters, buoyed perhaps both by a strong sense of civic duty, a high interest in politics, and a little thing called same-day registration, have once again led the country in voter turnout in the 2008 election. The Gopher State…
Read MoreAs Coleman Toils, Klobuchar Sails
As Norm Coleman’s campaign continues to fight with Al Franken for every vote (and seemingly every procedural move) in the highly watched Senate race recount, his DFL colleague Amy Klobuchar remains the most popular figure in Minnesota politics. Prior to…
Read MoreObama’s Near Misses Northwest of the Mississippi
Barack Obama’s convincing victory on Election Day was noted for several strong performances West of the Mississippi – picking up New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada as well as taking back Iowa, which had flipped to the GOP in 2004. Obama…
Read MoreUpper Midwestern Reapportionment, Part II: A Historical Overview
In a follow-up to yesterday’s discussion of the 2012 projected reapportionment, Smart Politics presents two tables to illustrate the diminishing political influence of Minnesota and the Upper Midwestern battleground states in the U.S. House as a result of population shifts…
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