Progressive Minnesota

Franken Lies

2007-07-26T22:53:00.000-05:00

Here is part of an answer to an interview that appears on Al's website.

"I tell this story about my son. Remember when the Vikes lost like 43-nothing in a playoff game against the Giants? I hate to remind everybody. So, on the Friday, my son Joe goes to school with a Chris Carter jersey on and takes all kinds of crap, of course, from his friends, but he’s — you know — a Vikings fan. So we lose 43-nothing and on Monday, he goes back to school with his Chris Carter jersey, because he’s a Minnesotan. We’re big Twins fans, too"

Except that when he went to the Twins game to do a little meet and greet and have a treat for his interns, he left at like the 5th inning. Big Twins fan my ass.

Also,

"Budgeteer: So did you just miss Minnesota because it was home, or were you thinking politically?
Franken: Kind of both. I had always considered moving back."

Ugh. At least he admits he moved back partly to be a Senator but you know what, being honest doesn't help the fact that he moved back partly to run for Senate. To say he moved back because he misses his home is silly to me, he only lived here for like 13 years when he was growing up, I really don't see how he could have that much of an attachment after living somewhere else for 30 years. Comparing 30 years of adult life in one place and raising kids there to 13 years of being a kid and calling the 13 year place home is absurd and a lie. Is his wife even from MN? They met in college so I am doubting it.

He does his best to distance himself from NYC, "I’m very embarrassed; I cannot tell you what’s on Broadway. Matter of fact, I can’t tell you what’s been on Broadway for the past 30 years. " Well duh you're straight. Very few straight guys could tell you what was on Broadway, even if they lived in NYC.

I just don't find anything he says genuine. He is not from Minnesota and should not be running for the US Senate. If he were not a celebrity, everyone would be saying, who the hell is Al Franken and why is he running for the Senate in MY state. Go home and let a real Minnesotan win this fight against Coleman, we are quite capable of taking on Republicans as slick as Norm you know. Don't need the help from some big celebrity from NYC, we got it under control.

God Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer better run. If he doesnt, I dont know what to do because Mike Ciresi bugs me due his wishy-washiness with abiding by the DFL endorsement and I refuse to work for a self-funder.

Coleman's Approval Ratings

2007-07-25T15:03:00.001-05:00

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=ff954ea5-ea5f-49b1-a582-9dd73e4855c7

Disapproval 48%, Approval 43%. This is the first time that Coleman's approval is lower than his disapproval.

This makes me quite optimistic about the Senate race. It makes me think that maybe Franken can win it. I have little to no doubt any of the other candidates have the ability to win but Franken is the most worrisome to me and well, with approval ratings like this, Franken can do it. Granted, Franken probably has worse approval ratings....

Swing State Project

2007-07-23T23:55:00.001-05:00

The Swing State Project (which can be found in my Blogroll) posed the question, how do you list the vulnerable races. Minnesota ranks anywhere from fourth to seventh in every list except for the one guy who gave it an 8.

8. Minnesota. If Al Franken would just get over his egotism and step out of the way, this one would rank much higher. Coleman is a savvy politician, slick as they come, and can easily tag Franken with any number of his previous on-air statements, branding him as "too liberal" for the mainstream. I know that Franken, having been a friend of Wellstone's, wants revenge. From an emotional standpoint, I completely understand that . . . but, logically, it's just a bad idea for Franken to run. Sigh.

4. MN: I agree with the comment about Franken, and about Coleman's savviness, but this state is just trending too blue, and the climate is just too bad for Republicans.

Minnesota-(Coleman)- Minnesota is a Democratic leaning state. Coleman is a weak incumbent due to the fact he narrowly won his last Senate Race. Franken and Ciresi are benifitting from Bush's unpopularity. This race is unpredictable.

4. Minnesota- Al Franken is fundraising well and I think will be the Democratic nominee. He also has personal wealth he can spend. If the political enviroment is bad in Minnesota in 2008 Coleman will be in even more trouble.

5)Minnesota- State leans Democratic. The Republican Incumbent is a freshman that narrowly won the last time around.

6. Minnesota. Lets see how Franken handles himself. So far I'm impressed, but are the voters?

My own personal list puts Minnesota definitely in this range. I am quite pessimistic and believe us to be more towards the seventh than the fourth, mainly for the same reasons as the guy who ranked us eighth. Franken has zero business being in the Senate race. He is a great guy, can do a lot for our party and I think he would be a good Senator but I don’t see any compelling reason for why he should be Minnesota’s Senator.

I really hope that he doesn’t scare anyone from the large amounts of money he is raising. The day we choose someone to represent us in an election because of the money they are raising is a very sad day. He can bring in the early money but any other candidate can rake in the dough once they are our torch-bearer. I know I spend a lot of my posts hating on Franken but I just can’t understand how anyone can really believe he should be our candidate. It is so obvious that he is nothing but a carpet bagger. We have amazing DFL’ers here in this state, they are the ones who should be taking out Norm, not some NYC’er.

I love Walz

2007-07-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

As reported by cqpolitics.com

"Freshman Democrats will be looking to an unlikely ally for help in the coming weeks: President Bush.

Rep. Tim Walz of Minnesota said there is growing consensus among freshmen to join forces with the president on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind education law (PL 110-107).
Walz, a former high school teacher, said all 42 freshman Democrats were elected by voters who would like to see more bipartisan cooperation. Like Bush, the freshmen back accountability requirements and want to ensure that standards are properly administered, according to Walz.
But Democratic leaders insist that a reauthorization be accompanied by increased education funding. Walz and his first-year colleagues would like to work out a compromise.

“There’s a movement and a commitment to make this better, not scrap it. This is one that all the freshmen feel very strongly about,” Walz said."

I am glad he is doing this. He represents a swing district that we can hope goes Democrat in the presidential election (it probably will) and I think Walz showing his bipartisan creds considering some bloggers (MDE) feel the need to attack Walz constantly for voting like a Democrat.

Bob Olson to Switch to CD-6 Race?

2007-07-13T21:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.twincities.com/ci_6367668?nclick_check=1
The article is interesting, particularly that the DCCC is tapping Olson.

Bob Olson is quite possibly one of the worst speakers I've ever heard. He had no fire, no energy, he didn't connect with the audience (which was a bunch of college students), I was just bored. Thank god he only spoke for 5 minutes.

If he runs for the House and gets the nomination, I'm not even going to bother driving home to vote against Bachmann, I'll register to vote in St Paul so I don't have to get up at 5 am like I did in 2006.

Honestly, Olson wants to raise $20,000 for the entire Senate DFL nomination, hell, that probably isn't even good enough for district 6. Will he lower it to $5,000 for a congressional run?

I know the DCCC doesn't really like to get into primaries and just encourages people they think are good candidates to run but I really am a fan of kicking out the not so good candidates and getting the one candidate who can win through the nomination perfectly and get them to that general election. They can focus their money, they get all the press, it is much easier to unite the party behind one person a year and a half in advance than have everyone working against eachother (in a friendly manner mind you) and then joining together for a 6 month spring to the finish line.

Bob Olson.... great ideas, wish he knew how to put them together in an interesting speech. I really love that he is such a huge environmentalist and Bachmann being a mother earth hater (think of the endangered otters!) but I could just imagine the debate. Bachmann being passionate and really getting people to listen, raising her voice when needed, calming it down to emphasize points. Then there goes monotone Olson and the audience passes out.

If you can't do public speaking, then you shouldn't be a politician.

I was watching C-Span Today

2007-07-11T19:09:00.000-05:00

And both C-Span 1 and 2 had great things going on.

On the House, they were discussing the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007.

As a college student, I was very interested in this. I find it is so unacceptable that so many people are unable to go to college because they simple can't afford it. My one friend had a 3.95 GPA and was an Astrophysics major and had to stop attending college because she couldn't afford it. I think that is disgusting, especially since her major is something that will add so much to our country.

I listened to some of the debate and this particular Congresswoman from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx pissed me off. I know this is a Minnesota blog but when such Republicans say things so irrational and disgusting, I'm allowed to branch out. She equated this bill, a bill to help people go to college, with welfare. Disgusting, especially since she meant welfare in a negative way. Not being able to afford to go to college and asking for help is not welfare. The U costs $20,000 a year, times that by 4 and voila, you owe the bank $80,000. You give me a college student who can afford that. Most people are lucky to have parents that will cosign loans and help them pay for them but some, like my friend, she can't get loans because she is too young for the bank to trust her.

Welfare is a program for people who are in quite the pickle and can't afford to live and need help. The program has its flaws of course, people abuse it but I really feel nearly everyone who hates welfare doesn't know enough about it. I can't wait to do this program next semester where I get to learn about being poor in the Twin Cities. I get to see firsthand these welfare programs and see that they do indeed help millions of people. All the Republicans ever focus on are the negatives and the people who abuse it while dismissing the millions of people who desperately need it. People make mistakes in their lives and need government help, Republicans are just downright heartless and greedy jerks who would rather have the poor dying in the street then have their tax dollars go to help them. (That is quite an overstatement but that is how it seems sometimes, especially with Congresswoman Foxx).

If people actually tried living on Welfare and Food Stamps, they would really have such a higher respect for the people who use these programs. Basically, the people who hate these programs are people who have probably never even conversed with a person on Welfare, have never tried to understand these people, they are people who are ignorant and don't care to educate themselves about what it is actually like to not be able to live off your own salary.

This act is not welfare. We expect people to go to college. We need people to go college and for us to say only the rich can go is so un-American. The act has some welfare like aspects but the connotation of welfare is that someone made a mistake in their life and now need assistance, helping people who are 18 go to college, people whose financial situation sits solely on their parents, is necessary if we are to ever move forward as a country.

Ramstad voted for this act as did all the Democrats, while Bachmann and Kline clearly don't like college students. I really hope Bachmann comes back to my university next year like she did this past year so I can grill her on this vote. Dispicable, she has no business ever showing her face at a college or university. The act passed 273-149 with all Democrats plus 47 Republicans voting for it. It really is votes like that make me despise Republican philosophy. It is such a heartless, selfish, rich person only philosophy. It makes me wonder why anyone who doesn't make over $100,000 a year would ever vote for them.

On C-Span 2, they were debating Iraq. They had just taken a vote on Sen. Webb's amendment saying that soldiers get to be at home for as long as their last tour of duty before going back to Iraq (ie, real breaks before being redeployed). It was filibustered 56-41 and Coleman was one of the few Republicans to vote to bring the amendment to a vote.

If he continues voting this way, he may be able to pull off a win in 2008. It will be a close squeaker of an election most likely, Minnesotans have Republican fatigue like no other but I dunno, the man is a fantastic politican and I mean politician in the bad connotation, slimy, lying, conniving, smiling. I am personally very skepticle about our abilities to win this seat, I don't care how much money Franken wins, he has a big mouth still. It's not that he said things in the past, its that he still says things he shouldn't, such as that we need to defund the troops. That is a fantastic Republican attack ad in the making.

Minnesota May Lose a Congressional District

2007-07-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

My opinion, keep the 8th pretty close to what it is, put St Cloud back into the 7th to make it more Democrat, leave the 1st alone as much as possible, keep Minneapolis and St. Paul in two seperate districts because I like having two sure DFL districts. And then combine the 3rd, 2nd, and 6th as much as possible. Especially the 2nd and 6th, they have very similar interests, have similar constituents and similar extreme conservatives holding the seat. I'd pray Kline would get the GOP nomination if it came to him and Bachmann.

Although, I'd throw Washington county in the 4th, it's nearly a blue county and if we have to add more population to the 4th, throw that county in there. Oh man, Bachmann vs McCollum, wouldn't that just be beautiful!

However, combining a lot of the 2nd and 6th would make one ridiculous gerrymandered district and they'd have to tamper with the 3rd somewhat and I think the 3rd is very well represented and the constituents are all very similar.

The 2nd and 6th would be extremely conservative and Republican, it would it a very boring district for us DFL'ers but maybe adding St Cloud to the 7th will make the district a bit more competitive when Peterson retires. When he does, that seat is almost as good as gone (It's the most Republican district in MN).

Guess we have some time to attract people to MN and ensure we don't lose a CD. Plus, the other states we are competiting with to not lose a district are in the South, definitely give them less representation and less electoral votes!

Franken Out Raises Coleman

2007-07-09T12:27:00.000-05:00

Franken raises 1.9 million, very very impressive. Franken enjoys the most name recognition, probably even better that Coleman (the negatives are pretty bad though along with that).

Statistics I like about his fundraising, he only recieved $5,500 from PAC's, $5000 being from Sen. Durbin's PAC and the other $500 was from an Allied Workers Association. Last quarter, Coleman got nearly a third of his money from PAC's meaning he is a tool for big money interests. I really hope Franken never succumbs to recieving PAC money because once the race gets going and it becomes apparent he is a real threat to Coleman, the PAC's may come a spending.

Other notable things is that in Franke's first quarter, he raised 1.3 million. He only was able to raise money for about half of that quarter and as Minnesota Democrats Exposed points, if he were to keep pace, then he should've raised 2.6 million this quarter. But alas, the first quarter was probably dominated by people who knew him as a comedian, not as a real contender for the US Senate so that 1.3 million is inflated with people who donated because he was Al Franken, not because he was running against Norm Coleman.

I'm still not supporting Franken. Raising money is incredibly important, especially if you can outspend your opponent but man, why can't we have a real Minnesotan running that is able to raise this kind of money and have such broad name recognition. I really hope Jack NP officially decides to run, my broke college student self would even consider donating money to him on top of the numerous hours I'll spend campaigning.

Darned Internet

2007-07-08T10:51:00.001-05:00

My internet is awful and barely ever works so I'll add some new posts when I have time and when my internet works, something that rarely happens at the same time these days....

Bachmann to Visit Iraq!

2007-07-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

"WASHINGTON — Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is part of a six-member congressional delegation that is visiting the Middle East to assess the U.S. military situation in Iraq.

Bachmann's office said the group left Sunday and will meet with military and civilian officials in Iraq, Kuwait and Pakistan and will meet with U.S. troops serving in the region.

This is Bachmann's first trip to the Middle East. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November."

(http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1280148.html)

This makes me very happy obviously. I'm sure she'll come back saying how well off the Iraqis are and all sorts of crap that is cleary untrue. God I hope she learns a thing or two about the country, she has been so misguided before, the redistricting plan that she made up, this could be good. It will also probably be one big event she can use for publicity.

Q2 Fundraising

2007-07-03T20:28:00.001-05:00

The Startribune started reporting on the numbers.

Ciresi raised $735,000 which is quite respectable. And the article notes that he started fundraising in May, meaning he lost at least a month of this quarter. The Startribune also reported that Ciresi is worth $26.73 million. I am against self-funding, if you can't win the support of Minnesotans financially, then you shouldn't be able to win their support in the election. While this isn't true in reality, I think in principle it should be. However, I find it borderling disgusting that Al Franken has held fundraisers in California and New York so I guess if Ciresi needs to self-fund to keep up with Al, it is not as unethical in my opinion. But, still slightly unethical nonetheless. Oh, and 73% of Ciresi's money came from MN, something Franken won't be able to boast I'm sure.

Coleman raised $1.5 million and has $4 million cash on hand. ::sigh:: He is a great fundraiser. However, about a third of his money comes from PAC's (out of the last $1.5 million he raised, $470,000 was from PACs). The money he is raising is going to make him such a tough opponent. It's a good thing its been proven that money isn't everything you need to win.

Franken has yet to announce his totals, however the Star Tribune reported today that Andy Barr spoke on behalf of the campaign and said he has 30,000 donors. I don't know if that means 30,000 total now or 30,000 from Q2 alone. Either way, that is some serious cash. It'll be interesting to see how many of them are from MN though.

Matthew Shepard Act

2007-06-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

The Senate is preparing to start debating the Matthew Shephard Act that would add gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the list of hate crimes. The Human Rights Campaign has been campaigning aggressively to get this passed, as it should, it is much needed since hate crimes based on sexual orientation account for one in sex hate crimes . They have produced a fantastic Youtube video which can be found here http://youtube.com/watch?v=GOqlrHgrSgc.

The House has already voted, Minnesota's delegation voted along party lines except Peterson of course joined the ~~bigots~~ Republicans on this issue.

The Senate is about to vote so I of course e-mail Coleman and Klobuchar to urge them to vote yes. I never got a reply from Klobuchar because her constituent services are, well, terrible it seems. (I never get replies from her.)

I did however get a very prompt reply back from Coleman (as always, I know Klobuchar is new but her office should be able to reply back to a simple email by now). And you know what his email said, since Minnesota has such anti-discrimination laws and they work fine, I am "inclined to support this legislation." SINCE WHEN DOES HE SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS! It's one of the reasons he turned Republican I've heard, abortion, gay marriage, and because he didn't think Democrats did enough for education (ha).

I really am quite confused. He refused to sign onto any gay right's issues as mayor because the issues started including transgendered people and this legislation does too. I really am baffled as to why he is inclined. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that he saw the light, well at least partially, but I really just don't get it. Meh, we'll take all the votes we can get I spose. Maybe this will just be another thing to nail him for in his primary.

Minnesota Road Congestion

2007-06-28T14:31:00.000-05:00

MNpublius has a great post, yet short, discussing how Minnesota's urban roads have been ranked as the 49th best in country in terms of congestion meaning that only one state in the entire country has more urban congestion than us.

What was one of those bills that Pawlenty vetoed last legislative session, oh yeah a bill to raise the gasoline tax and other fees so that we can properly fund transportation and build more mass transit systems.

Thanks Pawlenty......

MNpublius post can be found at http://www.mnpublius.com/

Coleman and the Immigration Debate

2007-06-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

MSNBC has an article talking about the immigration debate and it profiles two Senators, one being our very own Coleman. The article discusses Coleman's amendment to the immigration bill that would make it so that "sanctuary cities" can no longer pass laws and would nullify laws already passed that would require police officers to not question the legality of one's immigration status. So in other words, a police officer can't ask a person if they are here legally whether if the person is arrested or if the person is requiring assistance.

I am iffy on police officers asking if someone is a legal immigrant when they have arrested someone. I don't believe it is their job to deal with illegal immigrants and nor should they care. It's something the Federal Government needs to deal with. Plus it leads to racism, racial profiling and so forth.

When it comes to police asking if someone is an illegal immigrant when they require assistance, absolutely not. Then illegal immigrants won't ask for help when they need it.

There is a great parallel in this, especially since I am a college student, to underage drinking and getting injured. My friend hit her head relatively hard while drunk, when they called the hospital on what should they do, they were told to bring her in. The guy calling for my friend told the hospital that she was underage and was drinking and asked if she would get a minor. The hospital said no, then people who have been injured while underage drinking would not come in and ignoring injuries is a much worse offense than not giving someone a minor.

This goes right along with Coleman's amendment, it is far worse an offense to not call the police when you really need help than to not arrest an illegal immigrant. People could die because of this amendment, people could have their cars stolen, be held at gun point, be robbed, be assaulted, raped even, but they would be afraid to be deported.

Coleman may not vote on this bill then if his amendment isn't passed, which it has already failed once so I see no reason that it will pass this time. I'm kind of surprised by this. Coleman is fairly conservative on many issues but I always figured he wouldn't be such a hardliner on this. This certainly appeases his Republican base, and adds fuel to the fire for us to defeat him.

The article also says "Coleman, elected in 2002 with only 49 percent, faces a tough re-election battle next year, likely against Democrat author-comedian Al Franken." It appears everyone believes it will be Franken but I still think it is entirely possible that it won't be.

The article can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19444984/.

Analyzing the Senate Candidates

2007-06-27T11:53:00.000-05:00

Since I said some negative things about Al Franken and it got on MDE, I figured I should share my opinions on all the candidates, both good and bad opinions because I think plenty of great things about Al Franken as a candidate and I don't want to just be sitting here blogging only negatives about some candidates and only great things about some candidates. No candidate is really ever our "dream candidate" and I hate how people never discuss the negatives about candidates on their own side. If you don't discuss the negatives, how will we ever overcome them?

Bob Olson (http://www.bobolson.org/)

I have heard him speak once before. It was an absolute snooze-fest. He has good intentions with his run. I am in love with his campaign signs having the windmill on them, switching to renewable forms of energy is extremely important to me and many progressive Minnesotans but is he the best one to sell this in the Senate when he couldn't even sell this to me in an impromptu 5 minute speech at the MYDFL state convention back in April or May. He only plans to raise and spend $20,000 for the endorsement, something that severely limits his ability to get the endorsement. Plus, I don't see how he will raise this $20,000 considering his website doesn't even have a contribute button.

Mike Ciresi (http://www.ciresiforsenate.com/)

First thing, I wish his head wasn't cut off by the top of his website. It's nit-picky but I like candidates with a nice, full head. His colors and logo that he is using in his campaign I think are great, they really set him apart. His website is also well put together. It's great to show his endorsements right on the front page, he is really milking that Betty endorsement (who I don't like that much anyway, she isn't in the House Progressive Caucus and that kills me, SHE REPRENTS ST. PAUL!!! I mean come on!) However, it appears his website is solely about the endorsements, which happened over a month ago. If something exciting hasn't happened in your campaign for over a month that is newsworthy, that is not good.

His website lacks any place where it talks about events he will be having so if I wanted to go and meet him and see what he is about, I'd have no idea where to go! Also, he doesnt have a page discussing the issues. Those two things are such huge problems that it really hurts his candidacy in my eyes.

He is kind of wishy-washy on if he will abide by the endorsement and that irks me. Decide if you will or you won't. But even if he decides to not abide by the endorsement and lets say Al gets it, I have no doubt that Al would pummel him in a primary, Al has the name recognition and will be able to raise the money, although Ciresi has his own fortune to fall back on to self-fund, something I personally frown upon.

I think he definitely has the record of helping Minnesota, he will be able to raise the money, he is a legitimate candidate and I definitely think he can do it. He can beat Norm Coleman, he just needs to fine tune the easy to fix problems.

Al Franken (http://www.alfranken.com/)

He is by far running the best campaign. By far, no doubt about it. It is meticulous, every detail is thought through, just flawless. You go to the website and it is always different, it is always being updated, telling you where you can meet Al. I think he is working the hardest to get the endorsement and it certainly shows. He is doing three parades on the 4th of July, count em, three. He always has a full list of events, which makes him the most accessible candidate. Minnesotans deserve to meet their candidates and Al makes it the easiest to do. I really admire his drive and committment to getting that endorsement.

I also think Al will do the best job at energizing the Democratic base. My friend, bless her heart, knows nothing about politics. She goes online, goes to the candidates website and makes sure that they are a Democrat she can support. She asks me lots of questions and I am just happy she at least tries. However, she heard Al Franken is running, she was all over it. She was so excited and I think that speaks volumes to Al’s ability to rev up the voters who don’t care that much. If he is our candidate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minnesota’s voter turnout be legendary, he will draw out the people who have never voted before.

However, on the other side, he may draw out more voters because they don’t like him. A March 13th Rasmussen Poll (http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008/election_2008_senate_races__1/mn_senate_poll_coleman_46_franken_36) put Franken’s unfavorable ratings at 46%, that is just plain scary.

I also don’t like the fact that he just moved back to MN. I firmly believe he moved back only to run for the Senate seat. I am sure he has always had a bit of Minnesota in his heart and it tore at him to see Norm Coleman deface Wellstone’s seat but I want a candidate who has been working for Minnesota for longer than three years. I feel like his appeal in Minnesota is due to what he has done nationally, and not locally.

The many quotes he has had, I am sure it will turn off a number of independents, it will turn on the Democrats, it would turn off the cross-over Republicans who have Republican fatigue, which is what helped in 2006 immensely.

The question is will the zeal that his campaign has shown in working towards getting Al the nomination be enough to get the nomination.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (http://mostimportantdecade.com/)

Jack’s website also has the events page, something that is so important. It baffles me Ciresi and Olson don’t have these. He is also very available and I love that he does conference calls. Monday potlucks at his office, very down-to-earth Minnesotan.

I also think his work as a college professor helps him immensely. He was able to teach what he believes. He teaches in the Justice and Peace Studies department at the University of St. Thomas and through these classes, he is able to teach students the issues of injustice, and inequality in the world. He has also worked tirelessly with the peace movement in Minneapolis, something that gives him credibility in being a true voice to end the war.

He has written 13 books and novels, he knows the issues. His issues page gives the most detail, the most information, and he gives you a list of what he thinks we need to do. If you want to know what he will do as a U.S. Senator, all you have to do is look at his list of things he wants to see accomplished, that is something more politicians need to do Most give such vague, general ideas, such as let’s get universal healthcare, well how? Jack tells you how.

I like how you are only allowed to contribute $250 max to his campaign. It’s very Wellstone-esque and while he will won’t be able to raise nearly as much Franken, I think the point is that Jack will get many, many more contributions, which will show his support through numbers, not money. Now if he manages to get the number support rather than the money, he can win the nomination and the general, and if he can’t, he doesn’t stand a chance and will become a distant third in the nomination process. It’s a gamble but a necessary one.

His only drawback I think is that he is probably too liberal but again, Wellstone showed us that being uber-liberal can be winnable anyway. But I don’t know, Al Franken shows some moderation in his views while Jack lays them out there, regardless of the liability. Again, it’s a gamble but it’s necessary, especially in this election season which will again be about radical change.

His greatest challenge will be getting the name recognition. If he gets the nomination, name recognition won’t be too huge a problem, all challengers start out with little name recognition, but getting the DFL nomination will be tough with little name recognition, especially against name-recognition-heavyweights Ciresi and Franken.

Republican Senators Break from Bush and Iraq

2007-06-26T21:11:00.000-05:00

Voinovich (R-OH) and Lugar (R-IN) have both spoke out against the failed strategy in Iraq.

"In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved," Lugar, R-Ind., said in a Senate floor speech. "Persisting indefinitely with the surge strategy will delay policy adjustments that have a better chance of protecting our vital interests over the long term." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19426648/)

He (Voinovich) said the Iraqi people must become more involved and "I don't think they'll get it until they know we're leaving." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19442715)

However, both articles also state neither will support legislation to end the war.

I believe our own Norm Coleman has taken very similar positions, speaking out against the war, doubting the strategy, doubting the president's ability to make decisions in this war, yet refuses to end the war.

That is what is wrong with the current Republicans and the war, all talk, no votes. I wouldn't be surprised if Norm Coleman says all of these great things against the war during the campaign but will neglect to tell Minnesota that his rhetoric doesn't match his votes. That is why he is a great politician, slimy, lying, and he does it all with a beautiful new smile, new because he had that gap fixed.

2007-06-25T14:25:00.000-05:00

Twin Cities Pride ended yesturday and might I say, it was quite amazing to so many Minnesotans supporting the GLBT community. I had a blast, it's great going from a very Republican town in Michele Bachmann's district to the Block Party at the Saloon where the place is packed with people supportive of gay rights and are accepting, loving people.

The down side of the day was when I visited my friend who was working the information booth in Loring Park and he told me that by far the most commonly asked question was, where is the Al Franken booth. I am a former Franken intern now supporting Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer 100%. My reasons for why I support JNP and not Franken.

1. Franken has too much baggage and entirely too many incriminating quotes, quotes that he still makes.
2. Franken would've voted for the Iraq War resolution.
3. Franken can't beat Norm Coleman.
4. Franken has horrible approval ratings. I have heard they have been lower than Anne Coulter's, that is just appalling.
5. He is not from Minnesota. I don't care if you lived here when you were five but you left for college and didn't come back. He lived in NYC for 30 years and just moved back to MN in 2004. I severely doubt that he would've moved back to MN if he did not intend to run for the US Senate meaning he has little to no desire to actually live in MN but rather he has a large desire to be in the US Senate.

I know he is our celebrity in the Senate race but that celebrity needs to wear off because MN can do better in picking a Senate candidate who can beat Norm Coleman. Luckily, the MN public does not get to pick who gets the DFL endorsement does, delegates to the convention do and normal people who fawn over celebrities don't generally bother with celebrities, they know what is best for the state, and hopefully they figure out that is Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. It just really irks me that so many people have already assumed Al Franken will win the endorsement and having the entire DFL endorsement written off already due to a celebrity coming to MN to run for the Senate can only hurt the party and democracy. Lets hear what all the candidates have to say and judge them based off their politics and positions, not on the number of people who have heard the name before country wide.

McCain in Minnesota

2007-06-22T13:40:00.001-05:00

McCain in Minnesota with Pawlenty at his side. His campaign is failing, Fred Thompson has taken over the second place in the polls even though he hasn't even begun to start campaigning, this man is in trouble and Minnesota probably isn't much help.

And there is our lovely governor, sucking up to him so he can become vice president. Unfortunately, the next president will be a Democrat, it's almost a sure thing.

Pawlenty says "I plan to serve my entire term." (Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1261113.html). However, saying you plan on serving out your full term leaves it wide open to changing your plans, not like McCain will get the nomination so it really doesn't even matter that Pawlenty is all over McCain. I hate when politicians talk like that, so ambiguous.

I just hope that if McCain somehow miracously becomes the nominee and chooses our ~~beloved~~ Governor as his VP, Minnesotans don't decide that they suddenly like Pawlenty and vote Republican so we could have a Minnesotan in the White House. I highly doubt we'd be that stupid to throw away the title of the longest running blue state in the country so that we could send a guy who barely won re-election against a somewhat weak opponent to the White House but alas, politics can be surprising. I wonder if Pawlenty has ever lost an election. Hmmmmm, there's a first time for everything I spose.

Star Trib: State's Senate candidates: Big names, little experience

2007-06-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

The Star Tribune had an article on Tuesday about the current DFL'ers running for the DFL nomination to go against Norm Coleman in our 2008 US Senate race. The article mentions three of the men running for the nomination, Al Franken, Mike Ciresi, and Peter Agre and talks about their extensive resumes and their experiences yet points out not a single one of them has ever served a day in political office and only one, Ciresi, has ever even run before.

That is a valid point and yes, it worries me as it worries the Minnesotans who want to see Coleman gone. But the list of US Senators from Minnesota who have never served in political office is as follows, Paul Wellstone, Rudy Boschwitz, Mondoale was appointed Attorny General so he wasnt a running candidate and I won't bother going past 1950's. While I would love to have someone with some political experience running, I feel that having political experience, while being a great asset, is not a deal breaker.

I am a bit dissapointed that the article doesn't mention Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. The Star Tribune is giving more publicity to Peter Agre, a guy who doesn't even officially live in Minnesota again yet and then there is JNP, a guy who has lived here all his life and has done a lot for the progressive community in Minneapolis. He has been all over the world working with the poor and disadvantaged, has written 13 books and novels, and is an Associate Professor at the University of St. Thomas in the Justice and Peace Studies Department and they don't include him in the list of DFL'ers with immense amounts of experiene but none of it being as an elected official? JNP got cheated.

The article can be found here, http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1255558.html

Another Liberal MN blog?

2007-06-21T01:11:00.001-05:00

Yes indeedy, I'll start writing stuff tomorrow.