U.S. Senate
By Eric Ostermeier on June 12, 2007
Republican Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman continues to part from his party leadership on the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales issue. On Monday Coleman joined 6 other Republican Senators in a failed attempt (53-38) to invoke cloture for a Senate resolution condemning the beleaguered Attorney General, who is embroiled in an...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 15, 2007
A new Minnesota Public Radio poll of 625 registered voters finds Norm Coleman maintaining 20+ point leads over both Al Franken and Mike Ciresi—the leading contenders for the DFL U.S. Senate nomination. The new poll numbers are virtually identical to a poll taken of 632 registered voters by Survey...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 14, 2007
9:45 a.m. Republican Senator Norm Coleman will be speaking on energy and politics at 10 am today at the Humphrey's Cowles Auditorium. Coleman's speech is entitled: "Building from the Center: Getting the Job Done on Renewable Energy." This is the 4th in a series of the Center for the Study...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 10, 2007
Smart Politics will be blogging live from the Humphrey Institute on Monday, May 14th, from 10:00 am to 11:15 am at Senator Norm Coleman's speech on renewable energy. The talk, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, is entitled "Building from the Center: Getting the Job...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 1, 2007
Minnesota DFL Senator Amy Klobuchar continues to garner a strong approval rating—now four months into her tenure as junior senator from the Gopher State. The most recent SurveyUSA April poll found 58 percent of Minnesotans approve of her performance. Only 34 percent disapprove, which means most state residents have...
By Eric Ostermeier on April 30, 2007
South Dakota senior Senator Tim Johnson remains in an in-patient rehabilitation center in Washington, D.C. as he continues his recovery from the arteriovenous malformation that struck him late last year. Before falling ill, Johnson was already considered one of the few vulnerable Democratic Senators up for reelection in 2008,...
By Eric Ostermeier on April 2, 2007
12:05 pm. Senator Klobuchar opened to a very warm reception. She began by summarizing her achievements in the Senate - being a Junior Whip, passing the Iraq War Resolution, and fighting for ethics reform. Klobuchar has the crowd in the aisles with some colorful personal stories - ranging from her...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 28, 2007
Smart Politics will be blogging live from 12:00-1:30 pm at an event sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance (CSPG) at the Humphrey Institute on Monday, April 2nd. The event will feature Minnesota DFL Senator Amy Klobuchar, who will speak on global warming and renewable energy....
By Eric Ostermeier on March 18, 2007
One of the Democratic National Committee's most targeted U.S. Senate seats in 2008 is assuredly the one held by Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman. Thus far Al Franken has emerged as the most prominent candidate to challenge Coleman in the Senator's bid for a second term. The latest public...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 17, 2007
On Thursday the U.S. Senate rejected a Democratic-led joint resolution calling for phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq within 4 months and a goal of complete redeployment by the end of March 2008. The 50-48 vote included one Republican (Gordon Smith of Oregon) joining the Democrats, and three...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 20, 2007
Lost in the headlines of the Democratic Senate's failed attempt last weekend to bust a GOP filibuster to force a floor debate and resolution vote on President George W. Bush's surge in American forces in Iraq is that one member of the Democratic caucus allied himself with the Republican...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 15, 2007
On Wednesday Al Franken officially announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate—aiming to become the DLF nominee to challenge 1-term Minnesota Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in 2008. As discussed in a February 2, 2007 Smart Politics entry, Franken will have an uphill battle to win both the DFL primary...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 9, 2007
Norm Coleman has taken specific measures during the last few months to distinguish himself from his Republican Party that has by and large backed President George W. Bush's efforts in the War in Iraq during the past 3+ years. In January Coleman was quick to relay concerns about the...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 7, 2007
Characterizing GOP Senate leadership actions earlier in the week as a "Republican effort to stifle debate," Iowa junior Senator Tom Harkin roundly criticized both President George W. Bush's Iraq war plan as well as his Senate Republican colleagues for exercising their procedural rights to prevent a full floor debate...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 6, 2007
Democrats fell far short Monday of a filibuster-proof majority to bring a nonbinding resolution on the Iraq war to a full debate on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The resolution would, among its dozen points, state the Senate's disagreement with President George W. Bush's plan to increase the...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 2, 2007
Al Franken will soon end more than a year of speculation by officially announcing his 2008 candidacy decision for the U.S. Senate on February 14th. As Franken is a 'non traditional' candidate—being an actor, comedian, and a satirist far less subtle than Mark Twain—the media is already comparing his...
By Eric Ostermeier on January 25, 2007
The approval ratings are in for Minnesota junior Senator Amy Klobuchar, after only a few weeks on the job in Washington, D.C. The latest SurveyUSA poll finds 56 percent of Minnesotans approve of her job performance in the U.S. Senate, with 30 percent disapproving, and 14 percent having no...
By Eric Ostermeier on January 24, 2007
Several U.S. Senators from the Upper Midwest have released official statements in reaction to President George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union Address from last night. Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa stated he was impressed with Bush's overall leadership and his "very ambitious agenda" to make "America energy independent...
By Eric Ostermeier on January 13, 2007
Two more Upper Midwestern U.S. Senators—both Republicans—have released statements in response to President Bush's new plan outlined in a national address earlier this week. South Dakota junior senator John Thune acknowledged the need for change in Iraq, stated winning in Iraq is the "right thing to do for America's security,"...
By Eric Ostermeier on January 11, 2007
Less than 12 hours after President George W. Bush's address to the nation revealing his new strategy for victory in Iraq—a strategy that included sending more than 21,000 new troops to the region—three Upper Midwestern senators have expressed public disapproval of the President's plan. In a press release, Junior Wisconsin...
