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MN-8: Jeff Anderson runs with Range roots, Duluth experience
Today my series on Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District continues with the first of several posts about the DFLers running to unseat Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8). Today I’ll post two items about the candidates who’ve announced, Jeff Anderson and Tarryl Clark. We begin in alphabetical order with Anderson. A Duluth city councilor, radio station ad manager,…
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COLUMN: Range towns should look inward for future possibilities
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 26, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Range towns should look inward for future possibilitiesBy Aaron J. Brown I’ve learned that a sound, compact wooden railroad design will yield many fun adventures for my boys. A poor design will collapse easily, requiring numerous repairs and…
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MN-8: The campaigns that never were
My series on the early status of the MN-8 congressional race in northern Minnesota continues. On Monday and Tuesday I’ll be posting updates on DFLers seeking to unseat incumbent freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack. This post focuses, surprisingly, on all the top tier DFLers who opted not to run. Normally you’d just ignore these people. Most…
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Brown on the Air: SHUTDOWN?
The “Between You and Me” program on 91.7 KAXE this Saturday morning represents a bit of a departure. The show, which begins at 10 a.m. and runs until noon, dedicates its weekly discussion to the impending state government shutdown. I’ll be joining the conversation with my usual weekly commentary, this time sounding a bit more…
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MN-8: Cravaack readies defense against DFL challenge
My series on the upcoming 2012 race in MN-8 continues with a look at the candidates. The list includes Republican incumbent Chip Cravaack and several northern Minnesota Democrats mulling a challenge. I plan to conduct interviews with all the candidates at an appropriate time in the future. Most candidates, including Cravaack, have already committed. The…
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MN-8: A new district in more ways than one
Today we begin my series by discussing Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District and how it might change in 2012. I’ve written about redistricting before, and the changing nature of the district. Below are three possible redistricting scenarios, each of which would produce a very different situation for northern Minnesota politicos. Remember the basic composition of the…
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MN-8: covering a key northern toss-up
MinnesotaBrown is the only daily news blog operating on Minnesota’s Iron Range (Right? Why not? I’m going with that). As a result, when the conch shell is blown I will cover the closely-watched 2012 MN-8 congressional race. This week I’m posting a series on the state of the race at this early date. I’ve held…
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Civic engagement, a dry topic that greatly matters
Peter Levine presents a paper on improving civic engagement in communities that’s worth a look. Below are the five strategies from his executive summary. Strategy 1: Create a Civic Information Corps using the nation’s “service”infrastructure to generate knowledge. Take advantage of the large and growinginfrastructure of national and community service programs by requiring all serviceparticipants…
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Alaska Sen. Begich to join Sen. Klobuchar on the Range
Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) will be on the Iron Range Friday night to appear at a fundraiser for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota). This is Begich’s first public trip to the Range since he was elected to the Senate from his home state. He is the nephew of former State Rep. and current IRRRB board member…
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Promising new blog from Harvard econ major with Range roots
I’ve got to give a plug to Tony Sterle over at “A Little Bit of Liberal.” Tony will soon graduate with an economics degree from Harvard (the actual one, not the nickname for the community college where I work). Tony’s point of view is that of a pragmatic liberal advancing reasoned, researched ideas about modern…
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The Lazarus Option in MN-8
Well-known political commentator Stu Rothenberg wrote a fascinating profile of former U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan for Roll Call. Nolan is considering a monumental political comeback in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. I mean, just read it, if only for the picture which shows Nolan looking like all of your dad’s friends when you were 6 years…
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MPR: Shutdown would have big impact in northern Minnesota
The Minnesota Public Radio MinnEcon blog took a hypothesis of mine and ran with it. A while back I theorized that a state government shutdown could have a disproportionate effect on rural Minnesota and here on the Iron Range. Molly Bloom reports that, indeed, the hit would come from the fact that state government wages…
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MPR: Northern Minnesota’s politics is about to get ugly
I have the MPR News Commentary today with a piece about the changing nature of Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District after Rep. Chip Cravaack’s defeat of former Rep. Jim Oberstar in 2010. Check it out and pass it along if you can. Related posts: No related posts.
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Range energy project given breath of life by desperate lawmakers
I did not miss the fact that the state legislature expanded the exceptions and special language for a proposed Iron Range coal gas power plant advocated by Excelsior Energy, a new company formed in 2001 by energy industry lobbyists. I saw the news. I was well aware of this bill’s slow slinking through the back…
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Ship named for former Rep. Oberstar christened
The James L. Oberstar was christened yesterday and set off into Lake Superior fully loaded with iron ore for Indiana. The giant laker was named for the now former Iron Range Congressman after his decades of transportation advocacy, including near total expertise on Lake Superior shipping issues. (Story, WDIO) Related posts: No related posts.