-
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…
-
IRR budget tabled as meeting began to heat up; sympathies to the Rukavina family
Our sympathies go out to Rep. Tom Rukavina and his family after the news of his mother’s death arrived during last night’s budget meeting at Iron Range Resources. The meeting was adjourned and the budget issues will be resolved at a future meeting. During the meeting, Rukavina had just proposed cuts to the commissioner’s proposed…
-
Norman and the green screen, UPDATED: no green screen, just weird
UPDATE: Coleman campaign releases statement insisting green screen rumors are false. This is old news to blogger types, but all over Minnesota’s blogsphere — especially among my friends at MNBlue and MNPublius — observers are chattering about Sen. Norm Coleman’s latest ad featuring his wife Laurie. If you didn’t know, one of the rumors that…
-
Source: Oberstar’s campaign manager to seek DFL nod in 7B?
A source familiar with Duluth DFL politics says Blake Chaffee, Jim Oberstar’s campaign manager, is strongly mulling a run for State Representative in District 7B, the West Duluth seat being vacated by the retiring DFL Rep. Mike Jaros. I haven’t met Chaffee since he succeeded current Duluth Mayor Don Ness in the job of Oberstar’s…
-
Who’s in, who’s out in 7B?
The DNT has a nice story about the retirement of State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth) today. I don’t know Jaros, and I’ve learned that I didn’t know much about his very interesting background, either. I always hear he’s a good guy. In the story, Duluth city councilor Roger Reinert, after acknowledging Jaros in the story,…
-
Before food/gas price spike, health care was important, too
Right now we hear plenty about the problem of rising food and gas prices. Indeed, these prices matter greatly in the lives of everyday Americans, but they’re explainable. Food prices are rising with global demand. Gas prices are actually just readjusting to inflation after years of relative American underpricing (and, again, rising global demand). But…
-
If this is how we’re going to cover polls I am going to shoot myself in the face*
OK, not really. But I’ll want to. Maybe you care (I hope you don’t) but our Minnesota blogosphere is freaking out over SUSA’s latest poll on the state’s Presidential and Senate elections. The poll shows Barack Obama only up by one point (most other polls have him up by up by 8-12 points) and Norm…
-
CONFIRMED: Duluth councilor Reinert to seek 7B seat
Duluth city council president Roger Reinert will announce his intention to run for the House 7B seat being vacated by longtime State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth), according to a political ally. Reinert will seek the DFL endorsement next month, according to fellow city councilor and DFLer Jeff Anderson. The only other announced candidate for the…
-
Duluth state rep Jaros to retire, UPDATED
Longtime State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth) will not seek re-election in 2008. He told fellow DFLers and the Duluth News Tribune he was retiring from his seat in solidly working class DFL West Duluth this afternoon. I need to do some research to see who the potential candidates might be in this race. Political novice…
-
The parasite debate
This is my weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, June 15, 2008. I went a little crazy this week. This is the result of living in the deep woods of northern Minnesota and watching too much political news on cable. The parasite debateBy Aaron J. Brown Good evening and welcome to Nature’s Hall at…
-
Franken/Coleman a dead heat
Old news, perhaps, but yesterday Rasmussen released numbers on the Minnesota Senate race. Norm Coleman leads Al Franken 48-45, within the margin of error and largely unchanged from the previous poll. But check out these demographic breakouts: Moderates:Coleman – 32%Franken – 56% Age 18-29:Coleman – 35%Franken – 65% This year may well be decided by…
-
Old vs. New
Though it will frustrate the heck out of Obama supporters, Peggy Noonan makes an interesting case in her latest Wall Street Journal column about the dynamic of this year’s presidential election. I don’t agree with her whole premise, but I think she’s really close to how many outside of Obama’s most enthusiastic demographics (the young…
-
Iron Range Renaissance? Or Recovery?
Officials of all stripes engaged in back patting and speech-making on the Iron Range this week for the dedication of Mesabi Nugget, a new facility that makes iron nuggets from low grade iron ore near Hoyt Lakes. They also toured Minnesota Power’s new Taconite Ridge wind energy project by Virginia. This year we’re producing innovative…
-
Tom Bakk: the MinnesotaBrown interview
Iron Range State Sen. Tom Bakk, chair of the powerful Senate Tax Committee, is exploring a run for governor in 2010. He’s been making the rounds to newspapers and blogs telling people his decision-making strategy. Paul Demko did an interview with Bakk earlier in the week for the Minnesota Independent. His political team approached me…
-
Gubernatorial showdown on the Range
While I’m (slowly) working on a post about my interview with Tom Bakk, here’s a story from Monday’s Mesabi Daily News about the prospects for a rural governor, specifically an Iron Range governor, in the 2010 election cycle. What’s interesting is how the two potential Range candidates, State Rep. Tom Rukavina and State Sen. Tom…