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Four Days in Denver
New York Magazine tapped former “West Wing” writer Lawrence O’Donnell Jr. to write a script about a potential scenario at the 2008 Democratic Convention. Titled “Four Days in Denver,” the piece is lengthy but quite entertaining and good salve for people who miss “The West Wing.” In a way, it reminded me of a guest…
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Over at MNBlue today…
I’m running errands this morning, but will be back with some newer material tonight. Meantime, check out my latest contributions at www.mnblue.com. They are rehashes of material I’ve posted here before about wind power on the Iron Range and the potential Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar. Sometimes the discussions take interesting turns with…
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Oberstar awaits nameless opponent in 2008
U.S. Rep Jim Oberstar (D-MN8) is the longest serving member of Congress from Minnesota. He’s a socially conservative, economically liberal DFLer in a socially conservative, economically liberal district that is the size of a New England state and where campaign news is still most widely spread by word of mouth. He’s an Iron Ranger in…
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Minnesota bonding bill: "Deal or No Deal?"
The Minnesota House and Senate conference committee released its bonding bill list today and there’s some good news for northern Minnesota. Among other smaller projects across the Iron Range, Itasca County would receive $28 million for infrastructure for Essar’s proposed Minnesota Steel plant near Nashwauk. That’s not nearly the amount required to build the pipeline,…
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Ventura U.S. Senate speculation
Jesse Ventura is toying with the idea of running for the U.S. Senate in his native Minnesota against incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and his top challenger Al Franken. On one hand this is more plausible than the presidential campaign rumors we heard last week, but on the other I can’t help but think this…
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Genes at the ballot box
Read how one British scientist believes that political ideology might be at least part genetic. This means that I need to start making plans with my family for what might be a long, slow descent into Libertarianism and gun hording. The only known treatment is whiskey, which yields sketchy results. Related posts: No related posts.
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March: In like a ?, out like a ?
As I was walking through brown, crappy snow and lamenting the fact that I picked the wrong kind of jacket to wear … again! … I had a flashback to first grade at my now-defunct Forbes Elementary (My elementary school closed in 1988 and is now a bar called “The Boondocks”). We would make these…
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Iron Range editor pens fascinating Obama speech analysis
Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on race, “A More Perfect Union,” was designed to open a national dialogue to chart a way past the racial bitterness of the past. It was also, from a practical standpoint, designed to put out the flames of controversy that had engulfed Obama’s campaign after inflammatory video of hateful comments by…
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Ventura for President chatter reaches cable news
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is at the center of presidential political chatter again. This morning CNN has been promoting an upcoming interview with Ventura that leans heavily on his potential candidacy. What’s still unclear to me is how Ventura would actually run for president. As an independent? On the Unity ’08 ticket? Libertarian? He’s…
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Outcome prediction at the statehouse
I haven’t been writing much about the legislative session because the talks have been rather stagnant lately. Here are the questions to be answered next week and beyond: Will we get a bonding bill? If yes, does the governor get the exact dollar figure he demanded or does the legislature put more projects in there…
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Coal Hacks Are Making Propaganda (CHAMP!)
There’s an ad in this week’s Scenic Range News (a weekly newspaper on the western Mesabi Range) promoting a new group, CHAMP, or Citizens Happy About the Mesaba Project. This is an obvious turn on CAMP, Citizens Against the Mesaba Project, a large well-organized citizen group that has held the line against Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba…
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Internet changing the nature of news?
Here’s an interesting column from Swampland’s Michael Scherer on how the Internet has changed the ebb and flow of the national news media. Here is a basic shift that has occurred in the news business: Because of the Internet, you, the reader, no longer have to buy information in pre-fabricated packages like “newspapers.” You can…
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‘Round the dinner table on the Iron Range
I can’t stress enough the importance for Democrats to resolve the presidential race soon, before the convention, before June and preferably before Memorial Day. I write from the Iron Range, a place that gets little attention in political coverage ironically because of its reliably important role in Minnesota’s electoral makeup. The Range delivers 40 point…
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Range power boondoggle, despite 80 percent backing from feds, remains likely to fail
I’ve written and blogged plenty about the Mesaba Energy Project (notably here, and most recently here). This boondoggle proposal is built on a foundation of lofty economic and environmental promises that can’t be fulfilled without a realignment of the universe. So I’ll just point out this interesting MPR story from last week that shows the…
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Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goal
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 23, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. My columns are archived at my writing page. Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goalBy Aaron J. Brown Anyone familiar with the news these days knows that the issues of race and gender play a big…