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Franken endorsed on first ballot; I was at the dump
DFL delegates endorsed Al Franken on the first ballot in Rochester moments ago. I heard the results on MPR just as I was getting back from taking diapers to the dump in my rural Iron Range township. Later I am going to grill some stuff. The lesson learned? Well, first, we’ve got to potty train…
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Prominent Iron Ranger, Robert Zimmerman, endorses Obama
And that’s how the headline would have looked if Bob Dylan had stayed in Hibbing and run for the state senate. Seriously, in an unusual move Bob Dylan endorsed Barack Obama for president during a London Times interview published Thursday. While some might have assumed that Dylan is a liberal because his fans smoke the…
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Eat at Newt’s
People keep asking, “Hey, MinnesotaBrown (well, usually they say Aaron), are you going to the DFL convention in Rochester this weekend?” The answer is no. I made the conscious choice not to pursue a delegate slot or blogger credentials this year because of my book deadline and the general insanity of our multi-child household. I’ll…
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Minnesota Steel project to be self-financed by Essar
Business North has a clear explanation of the current status of Essar’s Minnesota Steel Project on the Iron Range. Check it out. Related posts: No related posts.
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Fightin’ Eighth’s back bench is deep
Yesterday I gave you my list of potential DFL candidates to consider in the event that Democrats take the White House and longtime Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN8) is offered the position of Secretary of Transportation. As I said, this is not necessarily likely, but worth thinking about in the event that it happens. After all,…
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On deck in the Fightin’ Eighth
Recently I posed the question: “Who might succeed Jim Oberstar if he moves up to Secretary of Transportation in a hypothetical Democratic Administration?” It’s a question full of logistical problems, including the need for Democrats to win the election, Jim Oberstar to be offered the job and Jim Oberstar to take the job. Overall, people…
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Mulling a Post-Oberstar World
According to an item in MinnPost, U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) is strongly suggesting that if Barack Obama wins the presidential election this fall that he nominate Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) to be Secretary of Transportation. Oberstar is the longtime ranking Democrat and chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Oberstar has represented Minnesota’s…
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Persell endorsed in 4A
John Persell was endorsed over the weekend by the DFL for House District 4A, the seat that will be vacated when Rep. Frank Moe (DFL-Bemidji) leaves office at the end of the year. CASS LAKE — Beneath John Persell’s soft-spoken, low-key approach lies common-sense issues that will woo voters to send him to St. Paul,…
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Range project loan payments were extended as favor to company
Another Excelsior Energy audit story ran Sunday in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. This one focused on the decision by Iron Range Resources Commissioner Sandy Layman to unilaterally extend the interest payment deadline for this company a couple different times. The story seems fairly benign, but the bigger story for me is that the DFL dominated…
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Obama to declare victory in MINNESOTA
Hell yes! The only better news would be if he did this at Zimmy’s bar in downtown Hibbing. This is the first true 21st century election of our lives. It’s never been a better time in history to be a Minnesota political junkie with limited social skills and a laptop. Get ready! From the Associated…
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Optimistic news about Minnesota Steel on the Iron Range
Like a lot of people who have followed the story of the proposed Minnesota Steel integrated mining and steel making facility near Nashwauk, I’ve been getting nervous. While officials were receiving assurances that the western Iron Range project would go forward as planned, we were all getting mixed signals as Minnesota Steel’s new parent company,…
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Range school district deeply divided after failed referendum
I’ve been following the Greenway school district’s financial woes for a while now. The district posed a major extension of three excess operational levies to keep its budget afloat for the next few years. The referendum, opposed by a group touting fiscal responsibility, failed by healthy margin. I argued, and maintain, that this was a…
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Bakk again
OK, one more post on Tom Bakk’s exploration of a gubernatorial run. Then I’m done with this 2010 nonsense for a while. Folks have picked up that I’m skeptical about Bakk’s chances. I’ve been down the old timey Iron Range statewide whistle stop tour before. It’s like trying to occupy Russia in January. There is…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 5
Here is the final installment (this week) of “life as an Iron Range blogger,” the diversionary exercise that allows me to keep content on the blog while I work on my book. Here is the Hull Rust Mine on Hibbing’s north side. This isn’t natural. Every crook and cranny of this pit was dug by…
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Bakk is running
Hate to be scooped on a Range story, but here it is from MNPublius (broken by MinnesotaDemocratsExposed I believe): State Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) is running for governor. This is not surprising. Bakk has been hinting at this for a while. He’s getting out early probably to shore up union support and carve his piece…