Humphrey blog posts

Public Humphrey Events

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

U analysis of presidential press conferences wonders whether Obama is avoiding media

The Humphrey Institute's Eric Ostermeier compares President Obama's interaction with the media to former President Bush's.

"George W. Bush's lack of press conferences early in his administration was also of little surprise in light of the 'bristly' relationship he was viewed to have with the press corps," Ostermeier wrote.

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MinnPost
February 1, 2010

Minnesota GOP still needs attorney general candidate

Humphrey Professor Larry Jacobs weighs in on the GOP's possible candidates for Minnesota Attorney General.

"The Republicans are like the Rodney Dangerfields of the AG races," University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs said. "You have to go back decades to find a time when Republicans won it, so that makes it hard to recruit quality candidates."

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Associated Press
February 5, 2010

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Could some areas of health-reform consensus still move forward?

Amongst all that is going on in Washington D.C., Humphrey Professor Larry Jacobs comments on the possibility of a smaller bipartisan health care bill.

"So, it's a new day in Washington," Jacobs said.

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MinnPost
January 21, 2010

Census Bureau appeals to students

Humphrey co-director Harry Boyte is anxious to see what student involvement in the 2010 census is like at the university.

"From our point of view, this is the first [census] that incorporates civic involvement," he said.

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MN Daily
January 21, 2010

U analysis of presidential press conferences wonders whether Obama is avoiding media

Research Associate Eric Ostermeier releases an analysis showing that President Obama held fewer solo news conferences in his first year in office than all but three U.S. presidents dating to Herbert Hoover.

Ostermeier wrote, "Barack Obama, however, was considered by many throughout most of his presidential campaign, as well as the early months of his presidency, to have had a 'love affair' with the media -- viewed, by some of his critics, as a masterful marionette pulling the strings (and sometimes the heart strings) of sympathetic journalists."

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MinnPost
February 1, 2010

Twitter Twaddle

Psychology Today discusses Smart Politics' comment on the President's 8th grade level of verbal complexity.

"Obama has to accept that today's information environment is broad and shallow, and we now communicate in headline phrases, acerbic humor and ad hominem attacks," says Charles Blow from the New York Times.

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Psychology Today
February 1, 2010

New Mexico bill first step toward carbon storage

Humphrey Research Fellow Melisa Polak is quoted in an article about possible carbon storage in New Mexico and the legislation that might then occur.

"Every year there's more legislation and the area of property rights has been of increasing interest," said Melisa Pollak.

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Business Week
January 30, 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Why the GOP should still be nervous

Humphrey Senior Fellow Vin Weber makes a point to add that many American's want to see unity between parties.

Vin Weber says, "Voters don't want triumphalism. They still like the president as a person, so they don't want to see a party celebrating his decline... The country wants to see the parties working together."

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Politico
January 22, 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

It's hometown vs. old hand in spat in Franken's office

Humphrey Professor Larry Jacobs made a statement about Al Franken in an article about him and his spat with Mark Wilson, top legislative aide on farm issues.

"This is not a guy who has worked his way up from being on the city council to the state house, to running for Senate," said University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs. "This is a guy who basically left the state for decades, came back, and ran as a national figure."

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Star Tribune
January 12, 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Epic task of rebuilding Port-au-Prince is beset by hard strategic questions

Humphrey Institute Dean J. Brian Atwood was quoted in an article about the task of rebuilding Port-au-Prince after the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010.

"I think Bosnia, Sarajevo,'' said J. Brian Atwood, who led the U.S. Agency for International Development under President Bill Clinton. "Never have I seen anything this bad in one urban area.''

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Miami Herald
January 23, 2010

Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs