National Politics
Economic 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 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 MoreThe Honeymoon Is Over: Obama Approval Rating Drops to 51 Percent in Minnesota
After six consecutive months of notching approval ratings between 59 and 65 percent in the Gopher State, President Barack Obama’s job performance numbers haven taken a nose-dive in July, in not only Minnesota, but other key battleground states as measured…
Read MoreBachmann Outraises McCollum in 4th CD; Nearly Outraises Ellison in 5th CD
A Smart Politics analysis of FEC data for the 2nd Quarter of 2009 finds 6th District Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann raised more individual itemized contributions in the home districts of two of her fellow DFL colleagues, and nearly as much…
Read MoreEllison 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 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…
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