Minnesota
By Eric Ostermeier on October 20, 2008
As detailed in a report released today that I co-authored with Larry Jacobs at the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, the DFL is fighting to reach a veto-proof 90 seat supermajority in this November’s election. Gaining a net five seats would mean the DFL (which already has...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 19, 2008
Smart Politics is running a series of election profiles of all the Upper Midwestern U.S. Senate and U.S. House races leading up to the November 4th elections. The series will culminate with Smart Politics' official projections. The nineteenth profile in the series is Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District race. Candidates: Republican:...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 17, 2008
12:00 p.m. In the fourth of a series of candidate forums sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, Independence Party 3rd Congressional District candidate David Dillon is giving a speech entitled, "The Congressional Role in Creating the Next Long...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 17, 2008
Smart Politics is running a series of election profiles of all the Upper Midwestern U.S. Senate and U.S. House races leading up to the November 4th elections. The series will culminate with Smart Politics' official projections. The eighteenth profile in the series is Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District race. Candidates: Republican:...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 16, 2008
DFL U.S. Senate nominee Al Franken will participate in the Humphrey Institute’s Candidate Forum series, hosted by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance. Franken will speak on Wednesday, October 22nd, at the Humphrey Forum from 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. His speech is entitled, "An Economy That Works...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 15, 2008
Smart Politics is running a series of election profiles of all the Upper Midwestern U.S. Senate and U.S. House races leading up to the November 4th elections. The series will culminate with Smart Politics' official projections. The seventeenth profile in the series is Minnesota's 1st Congressional District race. Candidates: DFL:...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 15, 2008
Republican Senator Norm Coleman will participate in the Humphrey Institute’s candidate forum series, hosted by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance. Coleman will speak on Thursday, October 23rd, at Cowles Auditorium from 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. Past speakers include Independence Party Senate candidate Dean Barkley, and 3rd...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 14, 2008
12:00 p.m. In the third of a series of candidate forums sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, GOP 3rd Congressional District candidate Erik Paulsen is giving a speech entitled, "Why We Need Forward Thinking Leaders to Solve the...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 13, 2008
12:00 p.m. In the second series of candidate forums sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, DFL 3rd Congressional District candidate Ashwin Madia is giving a speech entitled, "Green Technology, Green Power, and Greenbacks: A Plan to Protect Our...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 10, 2008
The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly are cosponsoring a series of public forums with the major party candidates for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District to foster informed and substantive discussion of important matters of public policy. The forums create an opportunity...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 8, 2008
12:07 p.m. Dean Barkley, founder of the Independence Party, is giving a speech this afternoon at the Humphrey Institute entitled, "The Polarization of Our Political Parties." Barkley has polled as high as 19 percent during this past week in the U.S. Senate matchup against Republican Norm Coleman and DFL-er Al...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 7, 2008
From the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance press release: “According to two Minnesota Public Radio News and Humphrey Institute polls of likely Minnesota voters, the extraordinary financial crisis and the resulting congressional response along with the Vice Presidential debate propelled the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama from...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 6, 2008
This weekend’s polling numbers by the Star Tribune’s Minnesota Poll that found Barack Obama up by 18 points over John McCain and Al Franken up by 9 points over Norm Coleman turned many heads in the Gopher State, and received harsh critiques by the right-wing blogosphere (as well as the...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 3, 2008
Although Senator John McCain’s initial introduction of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate was met with criticism even from within conservative and Republican circles, Palin has boosted the enthusiasm of Republicans and is appealing to certain women voters. Smart Politics discovered nuanced reactions by women that defy narrow partisan...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 2, 2008
Dean Barkey’s numbers continue to rise in the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, according to a new SurveyUSA poll of 725 likely voters in the Gopher State (conducted September 30 – October 1). In the new survey, Republican Norm Coleman leads DFL-er Al Franken by a 43 to 33 percent...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 28, 2008
The nearly uniform surge enjoyed by Barack Obama in the national polls over John McCain this past week has so far only translated into a bump in the polls in the Upper Midwest in the state of Wisconsin, with his narrow advantage in Minnesota and larger advantage in Iowa remaining...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 22, 2008
A new Rasmussen poll of the high profile U.S.Senate race in Minnesota was released today with some surprising resuts, as Norm Coleman (48 percent) and Al Franken (47 percent) amassed 95 percent of the support of the 500 likely voters surveyed. ‘Suprising,’ that is, as the 3 percent support Rasmussen...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 21, 2008
A deluge of public opinion polls has surfaced during the past week gauging voter preferences in the presidential race, particularly in the Upper Midwest – home to three of the nation’s classic battleground states. In Minnesota, the three latest polls tell a similar story: John McCain has narrowed the double-digit...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 18, 2008
A Smart Politics study of the 22 U.S. Senate races held in the Gopher State since the union of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties in 1944 finds Senate contests held during presidential election years to be less competitive than those held in off years. Since 1944, there have been 10...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 16, 2008
The first two polls released since Dean Barkley won the Independence Party primary last week still show a very close race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, with Barkley receiving 13 percent (Minnesota Poll) and 14 percent (SurveyUSA) support among likely voters. While Barkley’s numbers are up about 6 points...
