MN Local

Minneapolis Projected to End 2010 with 2nd Lowest Number of Homicides in 25 Years

By Eric Ostermeier on December 15, 2010

Despite media cries of a murder rampage in January, the number of homicides in Minneapolis is on pace to tie its second lowest tally since 1986

The Sky Is Not Falling: Minneapolis 2010 Homicide Tally Settling at Decade-Long Average

By Eric Ostermeier on June 23, 2010

Despite rash of homicides in January, number of murders in Minneapolis projected by end of 2010 right at 10-year average

How Predictive is the Recent Spate of Minneapolis Homicides?

By Eric Ostermeier on January 12, 2010

Episodic events at the beginning of the year should not be cast as signs that the City is in the midst of a violent crime frenzy

Should RT Rybak Run His Gubernatorial Campaign as a Tough-on-Crime Democrat?

By Eric Ostermeier on December 4, 2009

Minneapolis October '09 Crime Rate Falls 10 Percent from a Year Ago Despite 27 Percent Rise in Unemployment

Was Ranked Choice Voting a Success in Minneapolis?

By Eric Ostermeier on November 5, 2009

Less than half utilized 2nd choice option in mayoral race; voter turnout down by 25,000+ from 2005

Chris Coleman Posts Largest St. Paul Mayoral Victory in a Quarter Century

By Eric Ostermeier on November 4, 2009

Coleman received 68.7 percent of the vote - one tenth of a percentage point higher than his 2005 victory when he unseated Randy Kelly

How Competitive Can Eva Ng Make the 2009 St. Paul Mayoral General Election?

By Eric Ostermeier on September 17, 2009

Barack Obama won all 104 precincts in St. Paul, winning 75.6 percent of the vote and notching a 53.2-point margin of victory over McCain city-wide

Minneapolis Index Crime Rate Falls 18 Percent from April 2008

By Eric Ostermeier on June 12, 2009

The Minneapolis Police Department's official Uniform Crime Report data for April 2009 finds crime in Minnesota's largest city down 18 percent from one year ago. The 18 percent 12-month drop is the largest in the city dating back more than two years to February 2007, when crime was down 23.9...

Political Luminaries Rally in Support of Ranked Choice Voting at FairVote Minnesota Fundraiser

By Eric Ostermeier on April 15, 2009

More than two hundred Minnesotans - from party leaders, to legislators, to mayors, to city council members, to interested citizens - rallied in support of ranked choice voting at a fundraising event held for FairVote Minnesota in Minneapolis Tuesday evening. Ranked choice voting (aka instant runoff voting, or IRV) passed...

Minneapolis Crime Rates Continue to Fall as Unemployment Rises

By Eric Ostermeier on April 9, 2009

As unemployment rises month-by-month in Minneapolis, along with the rest of the Gopher State, serious violent and property crimes continue to fall in Minnesota's most populated city at an impressive rate. Minneapolis' non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 7.1 percent in February - its highest rate in decades. However, even though...

Governor vs. Governor vs. Governor

May 16, 2012

The last election cycle saw five ex-governors attempt to win back their old jobs, with success stories in California (Jerry Brown), Iowa (Terry Branstad), and Oregon (John Kitzhaber). But in 1904, the State of Wisconsin saw three governors on the general election ballot: two-term Republican incumbent Robert La Follette, former two-term Democratic Governor William Peck (elected in 1890 and 1892), and former two-term Republican Governor Edward Scofield (elected in 1896 and 1898). La Follette - with Teddy Roosevelt at the top of the ticket winning the presidency - cruised to an 11.3-point victory over Peck with 50.5 percent of the vote. Scofield ran a distant fourth on the National Republican ticket with just 2.7 percent - also losing to Social Democrat William Arnold who received 5.5 percent, but beating Prohibition and Socialist Labor candidates.

A Vote for No One

May 9, 2012

More than 50,000 North Carolina residents who voted in the Tuesday's Republican presidential primary opted for 'no preference' on their ballot, or 5.2 percent. That marks the second highest percentage of those who have done so in the 40 years of the modern primary era, behind the 9.8 percent who indicated no preference during George H.W. Bush's rout over Pat Buchanan in the state twenty years ago in 1992. In 2008, 4.0 percent were likewise noncommittal, with 1.7 percent voting no preference in 2000, 3.8 percent in 1996, 1.0 percent in 1988, 2.7 percent in 1980, and 1.7 percent in 1976.

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