Minnesota
By Eric Ostermeier on November 20, 2007
John McCain, long ago the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, has been polling a distant fourth in national surveys in recent weeks (behind Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson), and even polled in fifth place behind Mike Huckabee in the latest Rasmussen poll. Despite these lagging numbers, John McCain...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 7, 2007
In the third public poll released during the past week on the Minnesota U.S. Senate race, a SurveyUSA poll conducted November 2-5 finds Republican Norm Coleman leading all four potential DFL rivals. * Coleman leads Al Franken 48 to 44 percent. * Coleman leads Mike Ciresi 49 to 43 percent....
By Eric Ostermeier on November 6, 2007
A new Rasmussen poll was released today of 500 likely voters in the Minnesota Senate race that gives Republican Norm Coleman a narrow lead over both candidates, but confirms the race is still 'one to watch' in 2008. Coleman leads Mike Ciresi by a 46-43 margin in the new survey,...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 5, 2007
Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman has seen the 20-point lead he held in February 2007 against both Al Franken and Mike Ciresi dissolve to a tie according to a new SurveyUSA poll conducted October 24-28 of 692 registered voters in the Gopher State. Coleman holds a statistically insignificant 46 percent...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 26, 2007
The latest match-up polls between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and each of the top six Republican presidential hopefuls shows the U.S. Senator from New York with huge double-digit leads over all candidates except John McCain. The SurveyUSA poll of registered voters finds Clinton with big leads over national frontrunner Rudy...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 15, 2007
Even though Democrats have carried the Gopher State in eight consecutive presidential elections dating back to 1976, and 16 of the past 19, Minnesota has rightfully earned its reputation as a purple battleground state when it comes to presidential politics. Despite the Democratic dominance, the margin of victory in presidential...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 12, 2007
Since Minnesotans cast their first presidential ballots in 1860, nearly 1 million more votes have been marked for Democratic (Democrat + DFL) presidential nominees compared to votes for Republican nominees, out of more than 38.6 million votes cast across 37 presidential elections. However, a larger percentage of votes (based on...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 2, 2007
The Star Tribune's Minnesota Poll has released the first public poll of Democratic and Republican primary matchups in the Gopher State. It should be noted that the poll, conducted from a sample of 802 adults from September 18-23, has a very large margin of error for the Democratic (MoE =...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 28, 2007
The latest round of election matchups in Minnesota among the leading presidential candidates finds Democrats leading in each scenario. Like most other states polled by SurveyUSA in mid-September, John Edwards outperforms Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in matchups versus Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney. Edwards (+51 net advantage)...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 20, 2007
When Democrats narrowly won a majority in the U.S. Senate in 2006, it was expected 2008 would shape up to be a fierce battle for control of that chamber. The political reality at this moment in time, however, is that Democrats nearly have as good of a chance to win...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 18, 2007
After Republican U.S. Representative Jim Ramstad announced his retirement Monday, effective at the end of this term (his 9th), the buzz around Minnesota politics was that his open seat would produce a competitive Congressional District race—one that was ripe for the picking for the DFL. And there is data...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 17, 2007
As a recent SurveyUSA poll showed Norm Coleman's lead over both Al Franken and Mike Cerisi down to low single digits, the question emerges as to whether or not the introduction of a viable third party candidate in the race could influence the outcome. In two of the past three...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 14, 2007
Republicans Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Charles Grassley of Iowa—were the first to comment on President George W. Bush's nationally televised address on Iraq. Many pundits had speculated that one of the key audiences for Bush's speech were Republican lawmakers, especially those (like Coleman), who have been critical of...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 11, 2007
In a new poll released today by Rasmussen Reports, Republican Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman now holds 5 and 4-point leads over his chief rivals—Al Franken and Mike Ciresi respectively. The poll, conducted September 6th of 500 likely voters in the Gopher State, finds Al Franken has closed the gap from...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 30, 2007
Senator Norm Coleman has taken advantage of two events this week to demonstrate to his Minnesota constituency that he is a centrist, independent voice for the state. In both cases he was critical of fellow prominent Republicans in Washington, D.C. On Monday, in response to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation,...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 14, 2007
12:00 pm. Jim Ramstad's speech today is entitled "Life as a Centrist in the New Congress." Ramstad has touted his moderate, centrist credentials in recent years, and there is evidence in his voting record to bolster this claim. In 2006, the Republican congressman was rated fairly dead center -- the...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 13, 2007
Smart Politics will be blogging live covering Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad (MN-03) from the Humphrey Institute on Tuesday, August 14th, from Noon to 1:15 pm. The talk, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, is entitled " "Life as a Centrist in the New Congress" and...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 8, 2007
Republican Steve Drazkowski defeated DFL candidate Linda Pfeilsticker 52.9 to 46.9 percent in a special election in House District 28B to replace former Rep. Steve Sviggum on Tuesday. While Ron Carey, the state Republican Party Chairman characterized Drazkowski's win as signaling "growing Republican momentum as we head into 2008," the...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 3, 2007
Minnesota Senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar spearheaded federal legislation on Thursday to not only provide funds to rebuild the I-35 bridge, but also improve infrastructure problems nationwide. The Senators first called on the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) to immediately release emergency relief funding for the I-35W bridge disaster. However,...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 2, 2007
Minnesota Senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar released a joint statement tonight on the tragic I-35 bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis that occurred on Wednesday evening. Minnesota Senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar send their thoughts and prayers to the people of Minnesota, and pledge the full...
