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No U.S. Senate candidate has Range advantage
The Iron Range doesn’t always line up votes in statewide endorsement battles, but often it will. Not so this year. If you recall some of my earlier posts about Range politics (Part 1 and Part 2) the Range has three basic DFL factions: labor, progressives and opinion leaders. Sometimes they line up and sometimes they…
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Obama wins Iowa
Here I am, in my easy chair. My three young babies are asleep in their beds. I grew up on a family-owned salvage yard in northern Minnesota in a place called the Iron Range. As I grew up, my dad was a diesel mechanic who after being laid off in the 1980s managed the junkyard.…
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News from the Iowa front
I’ve been getting some hilarious e-mails from a friend of mine who lives in Dubuque, Iowa. I wrote her because I was curious about what life was like in Iowa amid the nonstop statewide campaigning going on by the 8 or 9 top presidential candidates. She gave me these hilarious details: 1) She hasn’t had…
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MinnesotaBrown endorsements: Obama, McCain
2008 will be regarded as an historic turning point election in the United States. Someone always says that about every election, but this year we have some evidence. No modern U.S. election has ever featured such wide-open primaries in both parties. No modern presidency has ever left such deep ideological divides in this county as…
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Happy 2008!
We’re in a bit of a holding pattern today. Not much locally and all the national news focuses on Thursday’s Iowa caucuses. The MinnesotaBrown endorsements — irrelevant though they may be — will be out tomorrow. So, Happy New Year! I’ll post later if I hear something. Related posts: No related posts.
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Rukavina’s flag law takes effect
The legislative delegation of the Iron Range is known for great successes and monumental failures over the course of state history. They are also known for quirky stands on random issues. Rangers put their full pressure behind legalizing low-grade fireworks a few years ago. They made a Quixotic stand against the smoking ban last year,…
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The shot heard ’round the Range
That old DWI could keep you out of CanadaThanks to post-9/11 border security, new crime databases and a tougher stance on DWIs, U.S. citizens get the cold shoulder. By LARRY OAKESStar Tribune, December 30, 2007 INTERNATIONAL FALLS, MINN. – Yanks with youthful indiscretions, beware: That faded citation for driving drunk or smoking pot might not…
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Holy Highway
The Star Tribune has an interesting story today about some Christians’ interpretation of scripture that I-35 is a “holy way” indicated in the Bible. The relevant verse is Isaiah 35:8, which reads: “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools…
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Behold 2008’s great bounty
Stop! What’s that sound? That gentle ringing … or it buzzing? Why, it can only be one thing. The future! The rest will have to wait; it’s time to answer the call. Behold, my 2008 predictions for the Iron Range and to a lesser extent … THE WORLD! POLITICSThe political world is shocked to its…
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Brown on the Air: Time
I had the high honor of appearing as the guest on this morning’s “What’s for Breakfast” segment on the 91.7 KAXE Morning Show. Tomorrow, my weekly essay will appear on “Between You and Me” between 10 a.m. and noon. The topic this week is appropriate for today: time. See, today is my birthday, the big…
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Minnesota could lose Congressional seat in 2012
For Minnesota political junkies, this is an old assumption. Our slow population growth in Minnesota could cause us to lose a Congressional seat after the 2010 census. This would mean a contentious redistricting battle that puts increased importance on who controls the legislature and governor’s office in coming years, especially after the 2010 election. For…
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MinnesotaBrown endorsements are coming
On Jan. 2, the eve of the Iowa Caucuses, MinnesotaBrown (OK, me) will be endorsing a Democrat and a Republican for their respective party’s nomination. I am doing so for two reasons: 1) to attempt to have some influence on a process that will leave me nothing but the decision to rubber stamp the front-runner…
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Christmas decompression
We survived a rather extensive family Christmas marathon involving lots of meat, cheese and potatos and very few green vegetables. Also, lots of baby holding and toddler chasing, but that’s a given these days. Santa brought Cranky the Crane, so all is well. We seem to have a news hole right now. Nothing significant, other…
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Merry Christmas from MinnesotaBrown
I’m laying off the blog ’til Boxing Day. Enjoy some time with your friends and family. That’s my plan. Related posts: No related posts.
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T-Paw saves disfigured bear from lethal injection
In northern Minneosta, bear stories are on the news all the time. If I blogged every one this thing would be called MinnesotaBear. But I feel bad I’ve waited so long to talk about Solo, the one-eared bear from the Vermilion Range. Solo and her two cubs are hibernating underneath someone’s porch. They called the…