Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report - Vol. 3, Issue 8 - 8/17/2007
The DFL U.S. Senate Contest
On the eve of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R) bringing President George Bush to town for a fundraiser next week, the national Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) has released a poll showing Coleman with a 41% approval rating among Minnesota voters (Bush comes in at 24%). The poll also shows that 58% of Minnesotans rate Coleman's job performance as fair or poor (75% have that opinion of Bush). Perhaps more significant--and granted the poll was paid for by the DSCC--the poll has respondents saying that only 37% of Minnesotans would vote to reelect Coleman; 47% say they prefer a new Senator.
Combine that with the most recent KSTP-sponsored Survey USA polling showing Coleman at 48% to 42% for DFL Senate candidate Mike Ciresi (with 11% undecided), and Coleman at 49% to DFL candidate Al Franken's 42% (with 9% undecided), and one can understand that the energy and intensity levels of the Ciresi and Franken campaign's are high.
Both campaigns are doing the nuts and bolts and tough work of meeting one-one-one with DFL-endorsing delegates and other party activists all over the state. The best anecdotal story we heard from the campaign trail this week is that former (and beloved) DFL Rep. Ted Winter made a mean "bananas flahmbow" on his grill at an event at his home for Ciresi. Both campaigns are raising and spending big money to win the endorsement -- because both have pledged to abide by it.
Only in Minnesota does a public affairs show debate 15 months before a general election matter: Mark August 25 on your calendars because that's when Ciresi and Franken, along with the other announced DFL Senate candidate, Jim Cohen, will appear together on the sacred Almanac couch. In our view, this is an important event for the two major campaigns. Ciresi, while great one-on-one, hasn't started any fires in television appearances we've seen so far; and Franken, in the same venues, hasn't overcome looking and sounding like a highly partisan and former snarky comedian.
As best we can tell, there will not be other major candidate who will enter the race, because both Ciresi and Franken are flooding the delegate zone and getting commitments. This makes it virtually impossible for someone new to have a shot. We hear that First District DFL U.S. Rep. Tim Walz isn't interested in a Senate bid, and that DFL Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is looking at the governor's office, not the U.S. Senate.
Franken, by the way, has launched a cutting edge web site with lots of bells and whistles. One of our favorite features are the rotating glam photos and endorsing statements by Sen. Don Betzold (DFL-Fridley), Sen. Jim Carlson (DFL-Eagan), Sen. Sharon Erickson-Ropes (DFL-Winona) Rep. Bernie Lieder (DFL-Crookston), Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing), DFL State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Sen. Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul), Sen. Dan Skogen (DFL-Hewitt) and Rep. Cy Thao (DFL-St. Paul). [We're not knocking glam photos; photoshopping works for us, as well.] But it does lead to a question to our readers: Is a state-of-the-art web site a good thing or a bad thing in a contest among hard-working rank and file Democrats? Let us know at staff@politicsinminnesota.com.
Finally, Ciresi gets a "by the way," as well. In case you missed it, the cover story of the August/September issue Minnesota Law & Politics on Mike Ciresi, written by respected writer and editor David Brauer and photographed by Larry Markus (who we bet does very little photoshopping). The piece flags what may well be Ciresi's strongest card against Franken: Ciresi has a record of getting things done, not just talking about it.
Leeches Or Worms?
Happy Birthday U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R). As is common in Congressional fundraising circles in both parties, the Coleman campaign sent out a birthday email asking for money. It was written under his wife's, Laurie Coleman's signature, and in part, reads, "He may not want to be reminded that he's turning 58, but I do know that the real number that Norm's proud of is 27. [Emphasis Coleman's.] That's the number of years Norm has been driving up with me and my family to go fishing, his favorite hobby, and relax the Minnesota way."
Hmmm. We're trying to picture Coleman baiting a hook. If any of our readers want to send Coleman a birthday greeting, you can do that here.
Capri Pants Or A Suit?
Last Sunday, the Star Tribune's Rochelle Olson and Jon Tevlin wrote an extensive front page profile story about Lt. Gov./MnDOT Commissioner Carol Molnau. In the piece, the two wrote about Molnau, "At a post-bridge collapse news conference last Monday, wearing white Capri pants and a nautical theme T-shirt, she praised the media's coverage, then turned the session over to her assistant, Bob McFarlin. She stepped away from the microphones and sat down."
At first blush, the Capri pants and nautical theme T-shirt seemed to be an odd addition to the story. In our minds, the first time we read it, we thought it was a reflection of the commissioner being on the scene, ready to go anywhere in the wreckage (making a suit and heels most inappropriate). Others thought including the clothing details was sexist. Here's a letter from a reader the paper printed written by Donn Satrom from Roseville, "News or fashion story? It was interesting to read in the Aug. 12 article about criticism of Carol Molnau's position at the Minnesota Department of Transportation that, at the news conference after the bridge collapse, she was "wearing white Capri pants and a nautical theme T-shirt." This is just what your readers need to evaluate her work. Why did the article not include similarly newsworthy information about the governor and mayor?" Good question, and one we called Tevlin to ask. Tevlin said that there were dozens of people there, and Molnau's attire was the buzz, and also that it was striking, given everyone else participating in that day's press conference was in a suit (the rest of them were men). To the sexism issue, Tevlin reviewed other published profiles of men...and most include clothing details.
Look for the Star Tribune's Reader Representative, Kate Parry, to address the issue in Sunday's column. Meanwhile, readers, what say you? Write us at staff@politicsinminnesota.com. Recall that Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul) was the first woman to break the dress code for women and wear pants on the Senate floor in 1993. Is that relevant?
Special Session Slow Down
You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief in that the rush to do
something about the I-35W bridge collapse seems to be slowing down.
That's good. The collective finger-pointing and blame game has gotten old on
both sides of the aisle.
From our perspective, the operative questions now are should there be a
special session? If so, what issues should be on the table? To be frank, it's
late in the day on Friday and we're just as eager to enjoy one of the last
Minnesota summer weekends this year. Therefore, we won't summarize who has
said what so far, but rather ask our readers. We've heard from many of you the
last few weeks, but consider those comments off the record. So, let's try
this. We'd love to hear what readers think and hope you'll send us your
thoughts which we'll print verbatim and with attribution. Send them to
staff@politicsinminnesota.com. And, if you choose to remain anonymous, we'll
respect that, although we'd like the O.K. to identify your general political
perspective, like "northern rural DFLer," "exurban GOPer," "hardcore urban
liberal," etc. You get the drift.
Fox News Caught Altering Franken Wikipedia Entries Anonymously
Wired magazine reported this week that CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith matched every one of the millions of 'anonymous edits' on the popular reference website Wikipedia to the organizations where the edits originated. Every anonymous Wiki edit created an IP address record, and Griffith simply matched those IP addresses to available lists of who controls them. He quickly discovered that everyone from the Central Intelligence Agency to the New York Times and the Church of Scientology have anonymously changed entries, generally to quietly promote their respective organizations' agendas and PR interests, or else delete embarrassing material. (You can try Griffith's lookup system yourself!) The Minnesota angle is that someone on the Fox News Channel computer network (working from IP 12.167.224.228) changed several entries about U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, back when he was hosting a show on the Air America network. Staff at the Franken campaign told PIM, "We are beginning to suspect the Fox News Channel has something of a bias when it comes to Al." Originally, Franken's entry said:
Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the [[National Public Radio]] program ''[[Fresh Air]]'' on [[September 3]], [[2003]], Franken said that Fox's case against him was "literally laughed out of court" and that "wholly (holy) without merit" is a good characterization of Fox News itself.The Fox staffer added the elements we bolded: (here's the exact revision):
Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the liberal [[National Public Radio]] program ''[[Fresh Air]]'' on [[September 3]], [[2003]], Franken said that Fox's case against him was the best thing to happen to his book sales.The Brit Hume Wiki entry once contained:
Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt’s views.but the same Fox terminal added this material:
Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt’s views in an attempt to ride Mr. Hume’s coat tails in the ratings race as Mr. Hume hosts the highest rated political program on cable television.The anonymous (and busy!) Fox editor also liked to label people (and NPR) 'Liberal' and deflate Keith Olbermann's MSNBC ratings, among other subtle moves, such as striking the word "some" from "Some conservatives feel that Olbermann's reporting carries a liberal bias." Still letting their audience decide? Also someone from the Israel Policy Forum anonymously added a City Pages link to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's page, about his political history. The whole thing is really amusing: everyone got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Visitors at Wired.com are voting for their favorite shady hacks, and we have a few more editors caught red-handed on a post at PoliticsInMinnesota.com. It's a really excellent view into how so many in the establishment get annoyed by Wikipedia and then manipulate it. Everyone who thinks they can count on Wikipedia for accurate material should keep in mind that major corporate PR firms and intelligence agencies have just been caught spinning and erasing data en masse. Liberals, conservatives, and conspiracy theorists in the alternative media all feel vindicated after previously accusing Wikipedia of bias and suppression.
Minnesota Democrat Abroad
Months ago, we noted that former respected DFL staffer and media consultant Tom Kelly was moving his family to Croatia so that he could work for the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Here's an update. Kelly is the Croatia Country Director for NDI. [The former director was Mike Lynch, who was the former chief of staff to U.S. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).] Kramer supervises a staff of 12, all very experienced in democracy-building and some are veterans of the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
For those not familiar with NDI, there's also an International Republican Institute (IRI) that does the same thing: Work with political parties in democracy-building and grassroots organizing. This year, Kelly's group is working with small minority parties, Roma, Albanians and Bosnians, on the same but also on parliamentary work because this is the first year their parties will have members in the body. Kelly also notes that they are working with women candidates who have historically been excluded from politics there. Writes Kelly, "As you could imagine, they are the best students since they can multi-task!"
For those who want to get in touch with Kelly, here's his contact info: Tom Kelly, Country Director, National Democratic Institute - Serbia, Strahinjica bana 42a, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. Tel: +381 11 3283-970 or tkkelly@aol.com.
Bits & Pieces
A fond farewell to Kitty Gamble and condolences to her family and friends. Kitty died this week at the young age of 71 from lung cancer. Gamble was a long-time GOP activist who went on to run former GOP U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger's Minnesota office, and then former GOP gubernatorial candidate and crackerjack lawyer GOPer Doug Kelley's law office. Kelley reports that Gamble called him just last Friday to say she was coming to work. He also plans to tell the tale of the "hot phone" Durenberger made Gamble keep at their home so that he could always reach her. When the phone, which was red, would ring, her children would sing out, "Mommy, Mommy, it's the Davey Phone!" Gamble was truly a gem. At the time when she was a big shot in MN politics, she always treated the peons well. That, of course, speaks volumes about a person. You can sign the online Gamble guestbook here.
On the other end of life's spectrum, as we publish today, Minnesota Democrats Exposed Michael Brodkorb is live-blogging the pending birth of his twins. Fingers crossed and best of luck to Mrs. MDE (Robin Brodkorb). Best of the comments on Brodkorb liveblogging the blessed event is from MPR's the Polinaut, aka Bob Collins, who writes, "Michael, seriously. There are times when you need to stop blogging, and breathe life in. This is one of those times." However, Brodkorb did blog, "My wife laughed when I told her I would blog during "appropriate" breaks. She asked for my definition of an "appropriate" break. I didn't have a good answer."
Mark September 7 on your calendars for the "Hottest Ticket in Town." That's the title given to a night to honor former GOP House Speaker Steve Sviggum at a dinner and program (NOT a fundraiser) hosted by former Minnesota GOP Rep. and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz, former DFL Sen. Maj. Leader Roger Moe and former GOP House members Doug Stang and Charlie Weaver. For details and to RSVP to what's sure to be a memorable evening, hit this link.
Speaking of Washington, where once the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune had full-blown Washington bureaus, now there is only one full-time reporter covering the Minnesota D.C. delegation. Fortunately, that reporter is Kevin Diaz, who was with the Strib (and did great MN DC reporting) but got shuffled to Idaho and Alaska when McClatchey sold the Star Tribune to Avista Capital Partners. Smartly, the Star Tribune has rehired Diaz. He can be reached at kdiaz@startribune.com or 202-408-2753.
The National Conference on Media Reform (NCMR) will be held June 6-8 next year in Minneapolis. It's a project run by the Free Press and Free Press Action Fund, a progressive group that works on issues like postal rate hikes, corporate consolidation, defending low-power community radio and other concerns generally at odds with what they perceive to be the corporate agenda. The group also operates SaveTheInternet.com, defending so-called "Net Neutrality," the currently equal, but threatened, Internet data traffic prioritization system. [On the other hand, telecom groups & others oppose legislation to lock in Net Neutrality, as their supporters explain on HandsOffTheInternet.com.]
Writes Jim Romenesko, the former St. Paul Pioneer Press journalist who now wonderfully amalgamates and annotates media stories from around the country at www.poynter.org, "In Tim Droogsma, a former press secretary to a U.S. Senator [Republican Rudy Boschwitz] and a Minnesota governor [Republican Arne Carlson], told the Star Tribune after reading its sex relationships column: "I don't think I'm too prudish -- which, I realize, is what prudes always say -- but do we really want this sentence: 'She hopped on my lap, facing forward. I pulled up her skirt in the back, slid her panties out of the way, and unzipped'?" Droogsma was arrested this week in a midafternoon prostitution sting.
Liberal blog MNPublius took note of an unusual happening down in Mississippi involving social arch-conservative power couple Michelle & Scott Fischbach [Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) and State Senator (R-Paynesville), respectively]. Mississippi Right to Life (MRL), MCCL's deep south counterpart, endorsed GOP State Sen. Charlie Ross for Lieutenant Governor, despite admitting he and his opponents had "equal" pro-life credentials. But Ross was a client of Fischbach's consulting firm. In March 2007, Fischbach pitched his consulting services to Phil Bryant, one of Ross' opponents. Bryant just stomped Ross in the primary 57-43%. Zack Stephenson @ MNPublius speculated that Fischbach had perhaps put MRL's endorsement "up for sale," and in any case it's a bit lame for social conservatives to cherrypick pro-life candidates for no plausible reason.
Network wonks weigh in on Franken campaign office networking. The online feature Network Performance Daily (a company blog with tech news run by the firm NetQoS) talked about Al Franken's tech needs with Jon-David Schlough. "Schlough, in addition to IT operations, is responsible for the AlFranken.com Website content and production, and all online communication channels, including YouTube and Flickr." Daunting: The Intersection of Politics and Technology: Talking with Jon-David Schlough, Interactive & IT Operations for the Al Franken campaign.
Robert Erickson, the chair of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Foundation, will begin his sixth annual 2,300-mile bicycle tour Monday to raise awareness of the difficulties part-time students face trying to gain financial aid. Erickson, an avid advocate of increased funding for students seeking higher education, has ridden an impressive 11,500 miles to raise scholarship money since 2002. This year's trip is expected to last thirty days and will take Erickson to every one of the 53 campuses in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
Yesterday, administrative law judges recommended to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission that Big Stone II Partners be allowed to build new transmission lines into Minnesota to serve their proposed South Dakota plant. In response, an environmental advocacy group, Clean up the River Environment (CURE), has renewed its campaign efforts against the proposed construction. They have posted a video on YouTube and launched a new website "Beyond Big Stone II" in an effort to persuade the public to oppose Big Stone II Partners and any move Pawlenty may make in their favor. Environmentalists Patrick Moore and Duane Ninneman are spearheading the effort.
Politics in Minnesota: Lobbyist Watch
--Who is working what issues--
From the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure
Board:
It's been awhile since we've made a dumb error, and last week we made a doozy. Writing about the Star Tribune and the paper's outstanding bridge collapse coverage, we wrote that the paper had never earned a Pulitzer. That's wrong. In 1990 the paper won an investigative reporting Pulitzer "for or reporting that exposed a network of local citizens who had links to members of the St. Paul fire department and who profited from fires, including some described by the fire department itself." Apologies to all at the Star Tribune, especially the investigative reporters on the story, Lou Kilzer and Chris Ison.
Morning Reports
