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Source: Bakk plans primary run for gov
A source tells me that, at a fundraiser for State Sen. Tom Bakk yesterday, the Iron Range lawmaker is telling people that he’s running for governor in 2010 and that he’ll run in the DFL primary regardless of the endorsement. This isn’t a surprise, but I think other candidates can now count on Bakk being…
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MinnPost reports on Blandin’s rural broadband work
MinnPost republishes a post from Minnov8 about the Blandin Foundation initiative to increase rural broadband access, a top issue here at MinnesotaBrown. This post gives a great idea of what Blandin is doing but leaves me with the same feeling I had after I learned that Hibbing voted down Fibernet. We aren’t getting anywhere until…
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Have you ever really been experienced?
A columnist Roger Bloom of the Orange County Register writes about the matter of “experience” in the presidential race. One of the most common criticisms of Barack Obama I hear is that he isn’t “experienced.” Bloom, joining others who have pointed this out, reminds us that great presidents haven’t necissarily had traditional Washington experience. As…
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7B status update; Stenersen spurns TV for food bank
Ask and ye shall receive. Here is an anonymous assessment of the 7B primary race from a reader in Duluth: Just a update about the 7B house DFL Primary race. I have seen a lot of (Roger) Reinert and (Marsh) Stenersen signs and billboards. John Derbis has been knocking on the doors, Brandon Clokey has…
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Duluth’s compelling 7B DFL primary just a month out
I haven’t written much about Duluth’s 7B DFL primary, now just about a month away. If anyone has field reports or news about forums or other events please send them to me or post them in the comments. Duluth city councilor Roger Reinert put out a press release today saying he’d be taking a week…
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Rudy, RIP, still taking flak from the papers
The Chicago Tribune used the biography of the Iron Range native and late former Gov. Rudy Perpich as grist for an attack on current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week. More than a few Iron Rangers will take issue with the characterization of Rudy, as did a Tribune reader and transplanted Iron Ranger now living…
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Obama more like ‘us’ than Cokie and Steve Roberts
Today, the Hibbing Daily Tribune ran a syndicated column by Cokie and Steve Roberts that bears the headline “Is Obama one of us? We’re not sure.” If the question is, is Obama an overrated national pundit thriving off of insider status, I suppose the answer would have to be “no.” But I still have no…
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They’re baaaaack …
It’s been a rather pleasant several weeks not discussing Excelsior Energy’s boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project proposed for the Iron Range. It reminds me of what I imagine the future will be like: a world where this terrible idea is merely a memory of the bad things that can happen when massive amounts of state and…
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Bobby Aro Highway
The St. Louis County Board is taking up a measure to rename Co. Hwy 7 after the late, great polka star Bobby Aro, who wrote and performed the 1957 hit “Highway 7.” Speaking as someone who grew up on Highway 7 not that far from the Aros, I think that’s a pretty good idea. Maybe…
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This week at MinnesotaBrown…
Today is our 8th wedding anniversary, officially ensuring that our marriage will outlast the Bush Administration. Happy anniversary, Christina. We made it! This week I’m working on a column that connects the historical parallels between the politics and economic news of the 1920s to those we see today. I’m specifically focusing on Minnesota and the…
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Newsweek to analyze the South; the North should take note
Newsweek is focusing this week’s edition on the changing and yet somehow unchanging nature of America’s South, where the shadow of the Civil War still looms large even in the 21st century. The cover story is truly compelling. Something about the South reminds me of my native Iron Range. Not necessarily the racial strife, though…
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Range-connected name a U.S. Senate contender
Followers of the national political blogosphere know that there’s a doozy of a U.S. Senate race up in Alaska this year. Embattled and indicted GOP incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens faces a tough challenge from Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, nephew of former Iron Range legislator Joe Begich. Sunday, the Mesabi Daily News interviewed Joe about…
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Range editor, veteran makes insightful observation about ‘surge’
Hibbing Daily Tribune editor Mike Jennings made an interesting observation Sunday based on his experience serving in Vietnam in regard to today’s debate over the success of the so-called surge: Could we have sustained what seemed in 1970 a durable degree of security in Vietnam? Of course. All that was necessary was to keep American…
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Finally, a voice of clarity
Matthew Yglesias nails the latest bout of conventional campaign criticism that we should all be worked up because Barack Obama isn’t “breaking it open.” Yglesias correctly points out that the winning candidate this year was probably never going to get more than about 53 percent in the general election and that our country’s political make…
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Modern life exposes soft underbelly of human nature
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Modern life exposes soft underbelly of human natureBy Aaron J. BrownFor all our bluster, we humans are really just soft, pink beings that consume more than we should and run much more slowly than other mammals our size.…