Stronger DFL

MN Says Thank You To Greatest Generation

2007-06-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's taken more than 60 years, but Minnesota finally has a memorial to those who fought in World War II. Some of the most touching moments were not part of the grand ceremony, but off to the side where each veteran who attended was personally thanked and given a medal. Congressman Keith Ellison narrates. Download video here (runs 1:36). Please watch.

If you'd like to share the video or post it elsewhere, you have my permission to do so. Just click here to get the sharing information.

MN Republican site links to Swingers-Hot and Sexy Adults

2007-04-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

My how things have deteriorated for the Republicans in the Burnsville-Eagan area. MN GOP SD 38, which until recently was chaired by notorious Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb, has taken down it's official website and apparently leased it out to advertisers.

Visit http://www.sd38.org and you are two clicks away from visiting "Discreet Swingers -Hot & Sexy Adults Looking for You" and "Free Gay Dating". Click on "Lifestyle" and you'll see the ads. They change from time to time. So you may not see the same ones I did. But they'll be similar.

I wonder what ultra-conservative GOP SD38 member and Minnesota Republican Party Chair candidate Joe Repya thinks about this?

By the way... the original GOP SD38 website on the mngop's main server has been out of date for nearly two years. (We laugh at the link to the "SD 38 Socialists", it's such a endearing Minnesota Nice touch) The www.sd38.org site was set up about the time that one went dead and then fell into disrepair just after two of GOP SD 38's candidates (Tim Wilkin and Mike McGinn) were defeated in November 2006.

SD38 GOP short on solutions

2007-01-22T06:41:00.000-08:00

For months the SD38 GOP website has been promising "a real agenda and some good ideas and solutions of our own" in its blog. For months the blog has had nothing but a test post.

Lots of bravado. No solutions. That kind of sums it up doesn't it?

Thats why in November SD38 voters booted Republicans Tim Wilkin and Mike McGinn and voted for real solutions by electing Senator Jim Carlson and Representative Sandra Masin.

Congratulations to Eagan and Burnsville voters for taking time to look behind the curtain of the GOP noise machine and realizing there's nothing really there.

MN GOP resorts to bribing volunteers

2006-10-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently MN Republicans are running short on volunteers. So to make up for the lack of passion for its candidates, the party is offering prizes as a bribe. MN Republican Party Chair Ron Carey writes:

The Republican Party of Minnesota is pleased to offer an unprecedented incentive program for those who help with Get Out The Vote. Anyone who shows up to phone bank or goes door to door in the final four days of the Election (November 4th-November 7th) will be entered into a drawing for the following prizes:

Grand Prize: Airfare and accommodations for two to Washington, DC. Three days, two nights, on a date of your choosing in the calendar year 2006!

Runner Up: Apple IPOD digital music player!

20 Third Place Prizes: Exclusive breakfast with Senator Norm Coleman, who will give you a sneak peak into his 2008 re-election campaign!

Frankly, I'll take honest government over a trip or an iPod any day.

I Voted

2006-09-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

Did You?
I know, the day is busy. The traffic is tough. Think of how fragile Democracy is. Isn't a few minutes of your day worth what Democracy brings? Participate. Vote.

Had Enough? Watch This.

2006-08-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Music provided by permission from the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Rickie Lee Jones.
Like this video? Go to YouTube and rate it.

President Clinton To Headline DFL Unity Dinner

2006-08-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

From DFL State Chair Brian Melendez:

I am very pleased to announce that, through the good offices of Senator Mark Dayton, former President Bill Clinton will headline the DFL Unity Dinner on Saturday 16 September. We are still working with former President Clinton's office on a schedule for the dinner. We'll begin selling tickets after the schedule is finalized. More details as they become available.

Republican blogger deletes comments, then complains he can't post here

2006-08-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

In the Republican Party dissent is not encouraged. It is usually scrubbed from the agenda or eliminated through intimidation. For an official example you need to go no further than how Sue Jeffers, the only declared Republican candidate in the Governor's race up until days before the Republican convention was treated. She was not allowed to be nominated or speak despite the support she had.

So it's no wonder that the blog of an officer of the Republican Party uses the same tactics. Michael Brodkorb has struck the following comments from his blog:

No Michael,
The only thing I blame you for is practicing the politics of personal destruction. You are symptomatic of what is wrong with the system. You raise the level of discourse without raising the level of debate.

Mr. Brodkorb is more than just "active" in SD 38. He is the chair--an officer in the Republican Party. The organization he chairs coordinates the campaigns of Republicans Mark Kennedy, John Kline, Tim Wilken, Mike McGinn and Lynn Wardlow in the Eagan/Burnsville area. He is also a paid consultant to Mark Kennedy.

Do these candidates support the politics of personal destruction that Brodkorb practices? If not, why do they allow him to be associated with their campaigns?

What needs to be "exposed" is how the Republican Party condones, supports and hires consultants for personal attacks.
I said I would allow Mr. Brodkorb to post again here once he reposts my comment to his blog. Unfortunately, that means a lot of other people can't comment directly through blogger. If you have a comment, you can email me. If you have a complaint about this tactic, send it to Mr. Brodkorb. My policy will change when his does.

Policy and Issues of no interest to Republican Blogger

2006-08-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Last night I covered the DFL Feminist Caucus AG Candidates forum, as did Michael Brodkorb aka MDE of Minnesota Democrats Exposed. The forum focused on issues and policy. That was apparently not what Brodkorb wanted to hear and he left before the forum was over.

This morning Brodkorb had no posts about the forum, instead choosing to reprint stories from the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press about Mike Hatch.

Why do I bring this up? Because Brodkorb is focused on the politics of personal destruction instead of furthering the political debate. If it's not a personal attack, he doesn't want to cover it. Issues, ethics, and policy are of no concern to him. He is a political pornographer plain and simple. He is symptomatic of what is wrong with the system, raising the level of discourse without raising the level of debate.

What can you do about it? Complain loudly to his bosses and the media. He is an officer in the Republican Party. He is a paid consultant to Mark Kennedy. He coordinates the campaigns of Republicans Mark Kennedy, John Kline, Tim Wilken, Mike McGinn and Lynn Wardlow in the Eagan/Burnsville area. Ask those candidates -- do they support the politics of personal destruction that Brodkorb practices? If not, why do they allow him to be associated with their campaigns?

Insist that the media identify him for what he is: a Republican Party Officer. He often tries to distance himself from the Republican party when doing his dirty work, preferring to be called an "independent" blogger, when he is anything but.

What needs to be "exposed" is how the Republican party condones, supports and pays for personal attacks.

Mark Kennedy doesn't know sh*t

2006-08-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Mark Kennedy's campaign for Senate has sunk from mud-slinging to manure-slinging. Yesterday Mark himself said a group that has endorsed his opponent Amy Klobuchar considers manure a "hazardous waste".

That group, the League of Conservation Voters says Kennedy's statement itself is "manure". It doesn't put manure in that category. (But perhaps Kennedy's statement should be).

You'd expect a farm state Congressman to know his shit before he opens his mouth.

Dirty Tricks From Kline Campaign (again)

2006-07-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Congressman John Kline can't change his stripes. Once again his campaign is involved in dirty tricks. In 2004 Klines campaign was caught ripping down his opponent's Theresa Daly's signs as well as illegally having corporations donate in kind to his campaign by posting his campaign signs on corporate property.

This time, Kline tried to be sneakier about it, using a staffer or volunteer to harass bloggers and anonymously attack his opponent Coleen Rowley. Fortunately the paid staffer or volunteer was stupid enough to do the work from John Kline's Campaign ip address and has now been unmasked.

This is Texas style politics of intimidation. That may have worked when John Kline was in Texas, but it shouldn't work in Minnesota.

Weak GOP support for Mark Kennedy

2006-06-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

Look at the numbers and you'll see that even the GOP's support for U.S. Senate Candidate Mark Kennedy is waning. The MN GOP has 2,011 potential delegates to the state convention. Only 923 bothered to show up...raising a question at one point whether the party had enough delegates for a quorum. Then among those delegates 16.9% voted for Kennedy's token opposition. In other words, of the potential 2,011 votes for Kennedy he got 767 or 38.7%.

Kennedy is trying to run away from his record. In his acceptance speech he said he would "vote based upon principle, not party or president or pressure from Washington lobbyists". Yet Kennedy is considered a Bush loyalist with a better-than-95-percent record of voting with the president. Who are we to believe? Mark Kennedy's record or Mark Kennedy's promises?

Conservative talk show host Jason Lewis says Republicans are in trouble. "What's hurting them is they're in charge, they're spending more money than the previous Democratic Congress, and as an incumbent Kennedy has been part of that."

Find your precinct caucus

2006-02-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Click on the banner to find your caucus or go to:
www.dflcaucuses.org
A big thank you to Dan Weinand for making this precinct finder possible.

Pew Poll: Bush A "Drag" On Republicans

2006-02-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

Who do people think can save America? Two polls from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press and Fox News/Opinion Dynamics overwhelmingly say it's Democrats.

Respondents said they preferred the Democrats on 10 of 12 issues the Pew survey identified. Democrats had their largest edges over the Republicans on the environment (32 percentage points) and health care (22 points).

And despite the GOP’s consistent efforts to brand the Democrats as advocates of increased government spending and taxes, Democrats also held advantages among the poll’s respondents on reducing the deficit (12 points) and taxes (11 points). Republicans held advantages on the issues of fighting crime (7 points) and terrorism (16 points).

Respondents to the Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll gave Democrats the edge over Republicans on eight of 12 issues that survey selected. The largest Democratic advantages came on health care (23 points) and the federal deficit (20 points), while Republicans enjoyed their largest leads on terrorism (14 points) and family values (10 points).

And President Bush?

“President Bush’s unpopularity has become a drag on his party’s prospects in the fall,” said the Pew analysis, which pointed to a specific finding: 31 percent of respondents said they consider their vote for Congress as a vote against Bush, while 18 percent said they consider their vote as supporting the president. A 47 percent plurality said their views of Bush would not influence their votes for Congress.

MN Republican Leader Only Wishes He Was In Hawaii

2006-02-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

Today in the Minnesota House Republicans press release, one of Speaker Sviggum's quotes reads, "...we have the best economic climate, most productive workforce and lowest unemployment rate in the nation."

The last point on unemployment is absolutely false.

According to US Dept. of Labor statistics from December (the most up-to-date), Minnesota ranks 16th in unemployment.

Who does have the lowest unemployement? Hawaii, not MN

Minnesotans deserve the truth from its public officials.

Bush rips on Gov. Pawlenty

2006-01-31T20:10:00.000-08:00

President Bush tonight in his State of The Union Address

We hear claims that immigrants are somehow bad for the economy -- even though this economy could not function without them. All these are forms of economic retreat, and they lead in the same direction -- toward a stagnant and second-rate economy.

Could he be speaking about a report that Governor Pawlenty put out last month that claimed illegal immigrants cost Minnesota millions a year, but failed to account for the millions more they pay in taxes?

DFL wins twice in St. Cloud

2005-12-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

DFL press release:

Minnesota DFL candidates won two more holiday elections by picking up a state Senate seat and retaining a state House seat. Senate-elect Tarryl Clark soundly defeated Republican local personality Dan “the Ox” Ochsner in SD15, and Representative-elect Larry Haws scored an overwhelming victory over Republican write-in challenger Kay Ek in HD15B. Like Sen. Terri Bonoff’s victory in Nov., DFL candidates once again won in traditionally conservative districts.

“We’re very pleased with the two special elections,” said State DFL Chair Brian Melendez. “Voters in the St. Cloud area should be proud sending these two intelligent, passionate, and wonderful people to the State Capitol, and we’re glad to have them on our team.

“Both Tarryl and Larry ran great campaigns, and they know the hearts and minds of central Minnesotans. They listened to the community, and the community’s voice will be heard loud and clear in St. Paul.

“The election results shouldn’t surprise anyone,” said Melendez. “The policies of the governor and the Republican Party are not resonating with Minnesotans. People are tired of Republicans playing games with the budget and driving a wedge through this state. We will keep talking about the issues that are most important to Minnesotans: education, health care, jobs, and transportation.”

So despite Governor Pawlenty's best attempts to stack the deck (holding the election while St. Cloud State students are on break) the DFL wins a Senate seat that has been Republican.

Republican Ek Bounced From Ballot

2005-12-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

The Minnesota Supreme Court today ruled that Republican Sue Ek did not establish residency in time for next week's special legislative election in St. Cloud (15B)and can not be listed on the ballot. Link to the ruling is here.

The court did not make any ruling about replacing Ek on the ballot.

Reaction
This is what DFL Chair Brian Melendez had to say:
“Today the Supreme Court of Minnesota confirmed what the facts have already shown: Sue Ek doesn’t live in St. Cloud, and wasn’t telling the truth when she ran for elected office saying that she did.

“From day one, the Republicans have been playing political games with the people of St. Cloud. Gov. Pawlenty scheduled the special election two days after Christmas, which would ensure low voter turnout, and disfranchise the students of St. Cloud State University. Then the Republicans advanced a candidate who didn’t even live in the district. The Supreme Court wasn’t fooled. The voters won’t be fooled either.

“The voters have a clear choice in Larry Haws. Haws has proven himself with over 32 years of public service to the people of the St. Cloud area. He is honest, trustworthy and the best choice to represent the Granite City at the State Capitol.”

The War On Error

2005-12-14T15:44:00.000-08:00

It only took overwhelming evidence, but President Bush has admitted the intelligence that he used to justify the invasion of Iraq was wrong. This is what the Prez had to say today:

"And it is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As President, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq -- and I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities." You can watch the speech here.

Notice that he takes no responsibility for not questioning that intelligence despite warnings from the CIA that the intelligence was flimsy.

"Given Saddam's history and the lessons of September the 11th, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision. Saddam was a threat -- and the American people and the world is better off because he is no longer in power. (Applause.) We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of a brutal dictator; it is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in its place."

Ah... that's it. It was all about removing Saddam and bringing democracy to Iraq. Somehow I don't recall that reasoning from any Bush's speeches running up to the invasion of Iraq. I seem to remember Dick Cheney talking about "mushroom clouds".

DFL Wins Middle In Minnetonka

2005-12-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

Newly Elected State Senator Terri Bonoff
•"Uniting The Middle" campaign resonates with voters

Click here to download or listen to podcast

Terri Bonoff ran as a moderate and as a DFLer. She won a special election in a district that leans heavily Republican. Listen as she tells "Inside Minnesota Politics with Peter Idusogie" why she was successful.

Is this an indication of how the 2006 elections will go? Maybe, maybe not. Republicans were able to hang on to a central Minnesota Senate seat in a three way race. Listen as Peter says what can be learned from these two different races.

Bush Endorsement Sinks Randy Kelly

2005-11-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

How poisonous is President George Bush's touch? Look no further than St. Paul, MN where Mayor Randy Kelly's endorsement of Bush last year has cost him the election. With 80% of the vote counted, Chris Coleman is leading Kelly by nearly 40 percentage points:
Results here

Value of DFL Endorsement

2005-11-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

The last several elections, the DFL candidate has often been determined in the primary, not the endorsement process (which starts with the March caucuses). Senator Steve Kelley, who is running for Governor makes a logical argument why that won't be the case in 2006. Listen to his reasoning on this week's Inside Minnesota Politics with Peter Idusogie.

Bush, Republicans on ropes-now what?

2005-10-30T12:03:00.000-08:00

Even Governor Tim Pawlenty admits the Republicans are in bad shape at the moment. After years of pounding home the message that the Bush administration lies and deceives to obtain its objectives, Americans are starting to get it. The result: Bush's poll numbers are at record lows and Republicans don't want to be seen with the President.

OK... now what?

We have a year until the mid-term elections. That's forever in politics. And even longer until the Presidential election. No doubt, the Libby (and possible Rove) indictment will continue to dominate headlines (until we have another terror threat). But Americans have a short memory and an even shorter attention span. That means two things:

1) Any message about the complexities of the CIA identity leak story need to be brought back to one central point -- this is evidence the Bush administration manipulated the facts and our emotions to invade another country that posed no immediate threat to U.S. security.

2)If Democrats want to win elections, they need to offer solutions and not be seen as "more of the same". While trust and approval of the President and Republicans has been dropping, there hasn't been a corresponding rise in trust and approval of Democrats. It may seem counter-intuitive, but Democrats need to become less political and partisan to gain the trust of Americans. That means working to find real solutions. Listening to ideas from all political persuasions and not just giving them lip service.

That's hard work. And I know a good number of Democrats (and Republicans) do that kind of hard work. It's time to shine the spotlight on that hard work. It's time to elect leaders whose first priority is not to any constituency that elected them or gave them money, but to the general welfare of this country.

I know that sounds damn corny and naive. But it needs to happen.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

Putting Trust Back In U.S. Elections

2005-10-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

Secretary of State candidate Mark Ritchie is pretty darn passionate about protecting the right to vote and putting trust back in the U.S. election system. Listen to the interview on "Inside Minnesota Politics with Peter Idusogie".

Two more DFL candidates for Governor

2005-10-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

State Senator Becky Lourey is apparently going to announce she is running for Governor. This according to an email from 8th Congressional District Chair, Kerry Gauthier. This is Lourey's second try. She ran in 2002, but did not get the DFL endorsement. This past year has been a tragic one for Lourey. Her son Matthew died serving in Iraq.

Lourey joins a suddenly growing field of DFL candidates for Governor. This past weekend Bud Philbrook announced he was running. And just a few weeks ago Kelly Doran jumped into the race. The three join State Senator Steve Kelley, who has been campaigning for Governor since Spring.