February 2009
By Eric Ostermeier on February 26, 2009
Every month Smart Politics writes a new analysis on the latest dire unemployment numbers released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), and each month our analysis unearths new trends behind the numbers that document why the current economic trend is the worst in generations. January’s seasonally...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 26, 2009
The Rothenberg Political Report came out with its first U.S. House rankings for the 2010 election cycle on Wednesday, and both of Minnesota's competitive Republican-held Congressional districts made the list. Erik Paulsen's 3rd CD and Michele Bachmann's 6th CD are listed as "Republican favored" - two of ten GOP seats...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 25, 2009
Although President Barack Obama’s first Address before a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening was pitched by the White House as a "plan to confront our nation’s economic and fiscal crises,” more than 70 percent of his speech focused on other domestic or foreign policy issues. A Smart Politics content...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 23, 2009
Smart Politics recently documented a notable shift in Party ID in Minnesota favoring the Democrats in recent years, and found that this shift is more of a result of Democrats attracting independents to their corner than the Republican Party losing its base to independents. However, despite this shift in Party...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 22, 2009
Although President George W. Bush lost Minnesota in the 2004 presidential election and Republicans lost 14 seats in the Minnesota House from the 2002 election cycle, the GOP still held a slim advantage in Party ID in Minnesota that year, as well as across the Upper Midwest. That advantage has...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 20, 2009
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s provocative commentary and characterization about the state of race relations in America on Wednesday night before his Department of Justice employees has drawn both great fire and praise from across the political spectrum. Holder’s comments, however – a mixture of prose that challenged America to...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 19, 2009
As the Minnesota U.S. Senate election trial ends its fourth week on Friday, partisan criticisms against Norm Coleman continue to mount from the left. Coleman has been accused of belaboring an election process which has left the Gopher State now without its full complement of Senators in D.C. for 47...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 18, 2009
As Barack Obama's victory in Minnesota was never in doubt, the DFL had three main priorities in the 2008 election: 1) Win Norm Coleman's U.S. Senate seat, 2) pick up at least one U.S. House seat (either Jim Ramstad's open 3rd CD seat or Michele Bachmann's 6th CD seat), and...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 17, 2009
Just like Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty would make history in the Gopher State if he won a third term (making him the longest ever serving Governor in the state), Governor Jim Doyle would also make history in Wisconsin if he should run and win a third term. A successful...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 16, 2009
Although history tells us it is a rarity for the party in control of the White House to make gains in congressional seats during mid-term election years, all the numbers from the 2008 elections point to the Democratic Party to remain in a very competitive position to add to their...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 15, 2009
A bipartisan group of Minnesota legislators made an impassioned plea last week, hoping to build political momentum for the legalization of medical marijuana in the Gopher State. While neither Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher nor GOP Minority Leader Marty Seifert have endorsed such a bill on the House side, neither have...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 13, 2009
In a media availability held at the Minnesota House Minority Leader's office Friday morning, Republican Marty Seifert expressed great 'disappointment' that voter ID, his caucuses' top priority on election reform, failed to get out of committee this week. Seifert is fairly confident his caucus will get another shot at...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 12, 2009
To the surprise of few, the House State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee voted down Republican Tom Emmer and Mary Kiffmeyer's "Voter Integrity Act of 2009" on Thursday morning by a vote of 11 to 8. The bill would have required residents to show a valid...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 12, 2009
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie outlined a long legislative 'wish-list' at a press conference Wednesday morning to improve the state's electoral process: · Permitting early voting of 15, 30, or even 45 days before an election to alleviate the burden of absentee ballots on local officials. · Requiring a...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 11, 2009
A recent article at MinnPost explores how Governor Tim Pawlenty is out of step with many state leaders, and governors across the nation, in taking a "hands-off" approach when it comes to lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass federal stimulus legislation. Pawlenty has not always been shy when it...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 10, 2009
Norm Coleman is leaving no doubt to the public or the press that he stands firmly behind his decision to launch his U.S. Senate recount legal challenge. Coleman has drawn significant attention for his frequent courtroom appearances and the Senator has hardly been a shrinking violet when it comes to...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 8, 2009
While Minnesota taxpayers are on the hook for approximately $200,000 to pay for its 62-day U.S. Senate race recount, that long process, and Norm Coleman's subsequent court challenge, is saving taxpayers' money nationwide as Minnesota's Class II Senate seat remains unoccupied. Last month Smart Politics documented how the 'non-vacant' vacant...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 7, 2009
While Al Franken remains fairly elusive, Norm Coleman is keeping a high profile these days as his court challenge of the Minnesota U.S. Senate recount plods along. Coleman is adept, somewhat too adept, his critics might say, at skillfully tailoring his message to his audience, and that skill set was...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 6, 2009
Even though Minnesota is experiencing unprecedented month-to-month increases in unemployment and a $5 billion budget deficit, Governor Tim Pawlenty's political stock has not (yet) been devalued in the Gopher State. A Smart Politics analysis of more than 5-dozen public opinion polls conducted throughout his one and a half terms in...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 5, 2009
As December’s unemployment numbers demonstrate, Minnesota continues to endure a skyrocketing rate of job losses, especially when compared to its neighbors to the south and west. To the west, North Dakota and South Dakota have the second and third lowest unemployment rates in the nation, at 3.5 percent and 3.9...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 4, 2009
As DFL legislators tore into Governor Tim Pawlenty's budget plan in committee hearings on Tuesday, the DFL caucus looked very much like a party with supermajority (Senate) or near supermajority (House) status. The DFL's icy reaction to the Governor's plan for corporate tax cuts and state bond sales did not...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 3, 2009
With updated budget numbers expected in the coming weeks, Minnesota’s current $2.6 billion projected budget gap for 2010 ranks as one of the top 10 largest in the nation, according to new numbers compiled by the Naitonal Conference of State Legislators. Minnesota’s 14.7 percent budget deficit ($2.6 billion) for 2010...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 2, 2009
From the rising unemployment numbers to the state budget crisis, the news in Minnesota seems to be getting worse and worse. Adding insult to injury came the recent news last week that Minneapolis ranked as the fourth least desirable metropolitan area to where Americans would like to move out of...
