I’m still sorting data, but here’s a fun fact: Matt Entenza’s 2010 run for governor: About 80,000 votes and 18 percent.Jerry Janezich 2000 run for U.S. Senate: About 90,000 votes and 20 percent. And who can forget the millions Jerry spent on that race! He’s been pouring lower grade whiskey at his bar ever since.…

Mark Dayton defeated Margaret Anderson Kelliher in yesterday’s DFL gubernatorial primary. He’ll go on to battle Republican Tom Emmer and the Independence Party’s Tom Horner in the November general election. Dayton won this thing exactly how people thought he would, with the 8th CD and support from traditional, older DFL voters. The only drama was…

State Rep. Roger Reinert advanced easily in the open Duluth State Senate District 7 DFL primary tonight against former school board member Harry Welty. Reinert faces largely token opposition for the seat held by Mark Dayton’s running mate, Yvonne Prettner Solon. It appears former 8th CD chair Kerry Gauthier will also advance in the DFL…

It’s primary election day in Minnesota! First, just go vote. Second, the DFL gubernatorial contest, the most competitive and highest profile race on the ballot today, should provide ample drama as it rolls to its climax. Tonight’s result will answer many questions and distribute the labels of genius and chump to all manner of people,…

Tuesday is primary day in Minnesota. The marquee match-up will be the DFL gubernatorial race, as Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza test all sorts of political science theories, many of which involve my native Iron Range and Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. The candidates all exist on this ballot for some cosmic reason,…

Since the heady days of the 2008 primary season I’ve been gradually weaning off doing endorsements on this blog. Who cares, right? I’m just some guy and no doubt I’ve got an agenda all my own. So I’m not going to call this an endorsement, though you’re free to call it that if you want.…

What does “jobs, jobs, jobs” really mean? From the local chattering class, to state media, to everyone still running for office, the phrase, most often attributed to the Iron Range’s own Gov. Rudy Perpich, is the 2010 election Pledge of Allegiance. Those of us on the Range have heard “jobs, jobs, jobs” often before, recited…

We didn’t take in any of the Iron Range parades, street dances or fireworks this year. Little kids, including two with a shared birthday in the weekend mix, kept us busy with a different sort of fun — mostly involving family and barbecued meat products. What was the economic, political and social vibe and/or gossip…

The political redistricting of 2012 is the elephant (or donkey, if you prefer) in the room for those involved. Politics in Minnesota’s Charlie Shaw interviewed me and a favorite former interview subject, state demographer Tom Gillaspy, for a story on how places like northern Minnesota’s Iron Range might be affected by population change and redistricting.…

My friend State Rep. Tom Anzelc, who I helped get elected as his campaign manager and strategist in 2006 and who, like me, lives out in Balsam Township, has been in the news these last two days. An ex-girlfriend slapped Anzelc with a restraining order full of salacious charges, pretty much the widest gamut of…

Over my lost weekend at O’Hare I missed this Bill Hanna story (subscription only, sorry) from the Mesabi Daily News that was reprinted in other SPC papers, including my column’s benefactor the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Headline: “[Iron Range Resources] position directly led to no new jobs.” I almost did a spit take when I saw…