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Rural Iron Range sheriff rides into sunset (rise?)
Itasca County Sheriff Pat Medure announced today he wasn’t running for re-election. The top law enforcement officer in this rural, largely liquid northern Minnesota county made the announcement at today’s county board meeting. Theory of the day: We haven’t heard the last of Pat Medure insofar as elections are concerned. The pages of any paper…
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Cravaack reaches across the crevasse (formerly known as aisle)
So I’m just sitting there, being me (like I always do), and I get a phone call. It’s Chip Cravaack. He’s a pilot. But he’s not just a pilot; he’s running for the GOP endorsement for Congress in Minnesota’s 8th district. And he wants to talk to me, and my readers. First of all, reader…
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In Praise of the Iron Range
The right honourable Kermit over at the conservative Minnesota politics blog True North has penned an earnest screed entitled “In Praise of the Suburb.” Go over and take a read. He’s a little quick to turn an anthropological issue into a political one, but he presents a new point of view. Suburbs exist for a…
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Five GOP candidates seek Oberstar’s seat
After a couple cycles where the GOP candidate for the 8th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) emerged late in the process, I just realized that five announced Republican candidates are running this year. I knew that 2008 nominee Michael Cummins from Isanti and Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids were running, both…
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Iron Range may sway MN-GOV DFL endorsement
Over at Minnesota Progressive Project (yes, the lefties) I’ve written a post about how I believe the road to the DFL endorsement in this year’s governor’s race will pass through the Iron Range. I have decided to move more of my blatantly political analysis over to that blog (and possibly others) as I consider new…
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Lessons from Mass.
As political junkies of all stripes coke out on analysis of today’s Massachusetts special election for the United States Senate, remember this. Some residents of major party bastions will vote for other parties when 1) there is a major national wave; others when 2) the dominant party nominates an idiot and/or terrible candidate; and 3)…
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Phantom Woodsy Lakesy Park (a Minnesota story)
If you missed it, the state and U.S. Steel have reached a potential deal for the mining/steel-making giant sell a large chunk of land on Lake Vermilion to become a new state park. The Iron Range-area park was a rather unexpected proposal from Gov. Tim Pawlenty two years ago that stalled when U.S. Steel got…
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Speculation of the House
Iron Range media outlets (in this case, the Mesabi Daily News by way of the Hibbing Daily Tribune) are reporting on the potential for DFL House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) to become Speaker of the House under a handful of scenarios in 2010. The reality of this scenario depends on two things: 1) the…
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E-book/Wrath of God update
I am proceeding with plans to publish my series of DFL governor candidate interviews into a revised and improved (and highly affordable) e-book. Ideally this book will become outrageously popular with the 1,000-plus DFL delegates, campaign staffs and journalists covering the race. At $2.95 a pop you can imagine how papa might yet get a…
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The DFL 10: a MinnesotaBrown analysis
This week I finished my series of interview posts for the 2010 Minnesota DFL gubernatorial candidate field. For posterity, here are the links and dates of the posts: State Sen. Tom Bakk (June 13, 2008)State Rep. Paul Thissen (Nov. 17, 2008)Former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton (April 24, 2009)Former State Rep. Matt Entenza (May 4, 2009)State…
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R.T. Rybak: the MinnesotaBrown interview
Today my series of posts profiling the 2010 Minnesota DFL governor candidates ends with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Stay tuned for more news after the post. The interview First, the facts: This interview took place at Zimmy’s Bar and Restaurant in Hibbing on Dec. 9, 2009. It was very cold outside. R.T. Rybak is running…
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Iron Range agency extends funds for audit, limited operation at former Ironworld
The Mesabi Daily News is reporting (subscription link) that the Iron Range Resources Board has approved a $450,000 expenditure to the Minnesota Discovery Center, formerly Ironworld, “to pay some bills do an audit of the operation, heat the buildings, secure its historical documents and also to reopen the facility to those who want to use…
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Rybak post delayed by crushing force of reality
I don’t know what I was thinking by suggesting that my interview post on R.T. Rybak would be ready by this morning. With a healthy stack of papers to grade and some unexpected (well, more like “forgotten) tasks to complete today, I think this post will most likely appear in a couple days, no later…
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Rural Range district narrowly OKs consolidation bond
With few votes to spare, St. Louis County schools passed its bond referendum yesterday 52 percent to 48 percent. (Stories in today’s DNT, on WDIO and elsewhere). This affirms the district’s plan to consolidate its seven K-12 schools into four K-12 schools and an elementary school. The plan combines the building of new schools with…
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Interview with R.T. Rybak on the way
Wednesday I’ll be interviewing Minneapolis Mayor and DFL gubernatorial contender R.T. Rybak on the Hibbing stop of his Minnesota kickoff tour. Rybak reflects the FINAL entrant in my series of DFL candidate interviews and analysis. I’ll be leading an Iron Range-specific line of questioning that I hope will reveal a fair amount about Rybak’s Greater…