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Who will build the party of the Iron Range?
The legislative elections on the Iron Range are usually only competitive if there is a DFL primary. That’s not to say that the Iron Range is excessively liberal or that there aren’t any Republicans around, it’s just that the DFL party structure dominates state politics around here, and has for half a century. Now, I’m…
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"Overburden" piling up
My new book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” continues to move through its final stages of print preparation. Today we shot the cover photograph up at the Hull Rust mine view in Hibbing. Unlike Bill O’Reilly, I am not the dominant element of of my book’s cover photo. My oldest son Henry, age…
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Brown on the Air: Circle of Life
Originally, “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE was going to take a hiatus for Saturday, June 28, but the independent public station’s summer fund raiser has been extended through Saturday so they are scrambling to put together a new show. The new topic is “cycles of life,” based in part on my column of…
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The Carlson Question
Grace Kelly over at MNBlue is discussing the possibility of former moderate Republican Gov. Arne Carlson jumping into Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race either as an independent or as a DFLer. What a world! What a world! The theory is based on some push polling that was done that included Arne’s name as a DFL candidate.…
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Unique candidates, typical election
Jeff Rosenberg at Minnesota Campaign Report wrote what I was thinking this morning. I honestly believed that Obama vs. McCain would be a dramatically different kind of political campaign. But it really isn’t. Part of the blame can be placed on Obama and McCain, but I think a good deal more of it belongs with…
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Gun ruling allows rural Democrats to focus on Democratic issues
One of the challenges of being a Democrat in a rural place is that you are often trying to convince your neighbors to join your cause for economic reasons (Democrats have, historically, reduced the national debt and grown jobs while Republicans have, historically, tightened the job market and driven up the national debt). But, while…
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High speed internet on the Range: Part of a national plan?
A healthy economic recovery on the Iron Range must include vast improvements to our technological infrastructure (or, in deference to my friends in the broadband business … the means of delivering our tech infrastructure). It’s one way to use our region’s mineral resources to lay out a non-specific red carpet for a huge number of…
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They come here with their pinstriped suits and …
Boom times a’ comin’ to the Iron Range. That’s the story and I mostly believe it. There will be jobs created here in the next few years, mostly because steel is selling high and our local iron mining operations are much more competitive in the global economy. If big new plants like the ones proposed…
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Peebles will come, Ray. Peebles will come.
OMG! Hibbing is getting a Peebles! A what now? For the last several years people in the Iron Range’s largest city of Hibbing have been anticipating the coming of a new retailer after the big Wal-Mart came in and precipitated the closure of our Kmart and Pamida while the local mall saw most of its…
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Gene Lyons’ Obama problem and how it affects Minnesota
My “hometown” paper is the Hibbing Daily Tribune (in as much as I live in a very rural township with no paper and this one is somewhat close and runs my weekly column). The Tribune, like most small town dailies, doesn’t run nearly as many syndicated columnists as it used to for budget reasons. One…
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My Meerkat Moment
So tonight I’m watching ABC World News and their cutesy tag story at the end is about the cult obsession with this Animal Planet show called “Meerkat Manor.” It’s a reality show about a community of meerkats. I’ve got to admit, I’ve never seen it before. Never even heard of it. But the news shows…
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RIP George Carlin, but the ‘seven words’ live on
I didn’t post anything about George Carlin’s passing yesterday. I am working on a column for next Sunday. Most who know me know that I hardly every use Carlin’s famous “seven words you can’t say on television,” but I realized after some contemplation that these words have been a tremendous influence in my life. And…
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Chaffee opts out of 7B run
Blake Chaffee, a Duluth DFLer and campaign manager for Congressman Jim Oberstar, has opted not to enter the race for State Representative in District 7B. This comes on the day when Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert officially announced his campaign and leaves Reinert with uncontested frontrunner status. Chaffee issues the following statement this afternoon:…
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Columnist Heffernan cut loose by DNT
Yesterday I finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” a novel about a man and his son searching for food and shelter in a post-apocalyptic America. They survive through sheer will, try to maintain hope despite absolutely no evidence that hope exists. Roving gangs of cannibals rule the landscape. And, with no intent to cheapen McCarthy’s…
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It’s official: Reinert announces 7B candidacy
I had already reported that he was planning a run, but Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert is officially announcing his candidacy for the House District 7B DFL nomination today at the Duluth Zoo. Reinert to Announce 7B Intentions Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert to Announce Candidacy for State House of Representatives Duluth, Minnesota…