If politics is your thing, the Iron Range DFL will be holding a bean feed and rally at the Miners Memorial Building in Virginia Thursday night with DFL nominee for governor Mark Dayton, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar and others on the DFL ticket. Virginia native Paul Metsa will be on hand as the musical entertainment.…

Tonight’s second MN-08 debate between Rep. Jim Oberstar (D) and challenger Chip Cravaack (R) in Grand Rapids was a marked improvement over the first. A civil and well-run affair, this debate allowed Oberstar and Cravaack to detail — albeit in shorthand — the core principles of their campaigns. Moderators Patrick Marx, a journalist formerly of…

I spent the better part of a year trying to ramp down my political blogging. I was waxing poetic about the small joy of mist rising over the pits and the unknown possibilities that are ignored in the small towns and townships of the Iron Range. I thought I could weave a tapestry of wonder…

Another Iron Range political race worth watching on Nov. 2 is in Eveleth. City councilor Liz Kuoppala is running against Bob Vlaisavljevich in an open mayor’s race. This is another instance where I know one candidate better than another, having interviewed and otherwise conversed with Kuoppala recently, not to mention our shared Cherry High School…

U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar and his GOP challenger Chip Cravaack will take part in their second debate Friday night at 7 at the Davies Hall on the campus of Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. This event will have limited seating, mostly dedicated to students. One hopes this debate goes better than the one…

Itasca County Sheriff I know you have your own ridiculous local sheriff’s race to worry about and, really, that’s the point of me writing about mine. Here in Itasca County on the western Mesabi Range where I live, home to 1,000 of Minnesota’s “10,000 lakes,” we’ll have a new sheriff in January. Current Sheriff Pat…

This is part of a rolling series of analysis on off-the-map political races from the Iron Range region. St. Louis County Commissioner – Dist. 6 I’ve written recently about the unique universe of St. Louis County politics. Today we look at one board of commissioners district, #6, that runs from the area just north of…

Politics in Minnesota recently sniffed around the theory the Iron Range could see increased political power after this year’s election. The Briana Bierschbach story most specifically explores the possibility of State Rep. and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) becoming Speaker after the departure of Margaret Anderson Kelliher. I’m quoted within, but my most predominant…

This is Part 2 of my post analyzing the 2010 showdown between Rep. Jim Oberstar and Chip Cravaack in northeastern Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. (Read Part 1). Long term, both political parties — indeed, leaders of all stripes — need to consider the impact of inevitable, ongoing demographic change to northern Minnesota. This region’s unique…

For 60 years northeastern Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District has stood as one of the nation’s most fascinating political anomalies. Granted, until this year a majority of the MN-08 contests in this period have been fairly boring DFL routs, except of course for a couple high-drama DFL primaries. Even this year’s well-publicized bout between longtime DFL…