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Coming up at MinnesotaBrown
You may have noticed less political content at MinnesotaBrown lately. I’ve been focusing on my book and resulting book promotion lately, much of which is apolitical. Also I’m trying to detox after the busy election season. The ongoing U.S. Senate recount in Minnesota is to a decompressing political junkie what Black Velvet whiskey is to…
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On transportation, punditry and vultures
By now you’ve probably heard the speculation that U.S. Rep Jim Oberstar is on President-elect Obama’s short list for Secretary of Transportation. The Mesabi Daily News welcomed the idea in a Monday editorial. This speculation has been around a long time. I wrote about a collection of potential succession candidates should Oberstar move over to…
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What a child sees, remains
This is my weekly column for the Sunday Nov. 9, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. What a child sees, remainsBy Aaron J. Brown When I was a kid, maybe 4 or 5, I remember staying overnight at my grandparents’ house in Keewatin. I don’t remember why I was there, but for some reason my teenage aunt…
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Range towns continue to heighten drama in Franken/Coleman race
The Mesabi Daily News is reporting that Norm Coleman’s campaign is filing a data practices request after 100 additional ballots for Al Franken were recorded Thursday night from the Iron Range city of Mountain Iron. Naturally, Coleman’s people are in a tizzy amid the escalating national drama of the impending recount. Though I don’t know…
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Still jonesing for some red/blue maps? Check this out
Check out this graphic from the Pioneer Press showing the last five presidential election results in Minnesota. This is something I have lacked the time to do for the Iron Range. Look at big blue up there in the north. That’s the Range. And, what’s interesting in this graphic that I hadn’t considered before was…
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Oh, Buhl
The Iron Range town of Buhl (home of Buhl Water) made headlines when its election officials accidentally went home without reporting their results to the Secretary of State’s office. This led to a lot of confusion and jumpiness when the need for a statewide recount in the U.S. Senate race became apparent. I will avoid…
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Landslide Country: A look back at 2008 legislative results on the Iron Range
I’m posting MPR’s fine customized election results widget in this post to preserve it for all time (or until MPR cuts off the feed, whichever comes first). I’ll just make a few comments about the legislative races on the Iron Range, mostly for the benefit of about eight people. First, the results: I’ve already discussed…
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Revisiting the seven precincts on the Iron Range; Obama holds the line
As I’ve said, the Iron Range held for Obama with only slightly reduced margins. The strange nature of the Senate race put Franken’s totals far behind Obama’s. On the Range, however, I’d attribute almost every Barkley vote as a lost Franken vote. Those were by-and-large disaffected Democrats. Coleman held the GOP index (which isn’t much…
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A-changin’
Meantime, Bob Dylan was in Minnesota last night. Though the Star Tribune described his vocals as “more-ragged than usual” (never a good comment to hear at a Dylan concert) Hibbing’s Bobby Zimmerman got a big cheer when he said “it looks like things are going to change. Related posts: No related posts.
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Iron Range DFL wall holds for Obama
Fears that racism and the culture wars might keep blue collar Iron Range voters from supporting Barack Obama have proven largely unfounded. Though Obama just slightly underperformed Kerry in some of the key precincts I’ve been following, he was within roughly two percentage points of the 2004 DFL share of the Range electorate. In general,…
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After hours
Oh, brother. I have to work tomorrow. Here’s what I know. None of my “seven precincts to watch” on the Iron Range have reported yet. Most of the core Range towns haven’t reported yet to the Secretary of State. So, while the presidential race is settled, the U.S. Senate race is not. I imagine that…
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YES. We. Can.
Barack Obama has been elected the next President of the United States of America. My kids are 3, 1 and 1, respectively. They don’t know who the current president is, but when they are 7, 5 and 5 — maybe older — the only president they’ll know is President Obama, the son of a Kansas…
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OHIO!
MSNBC calls Ohio for Obama. This is the ball game. Beer. More beer! The beer may affect my reporting of Minnesota results. I’m sorry. Related posts: No related posts.
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Tracking the results (Thanks, MPR!)
A hearty thank you to Minnesota Public Radio for providing free customizable election results widgets for blogs. As you can see on the right hand menu bar I will have the Secretary of State results for Minnesota President, U.S. Senate, and the Iron Range and Duluth Legislative races. I have also included 4A, 4B and…
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‘Can I get a witness?’ and other turnout tales
Voting is ongoing across the Iron Range. I just got a report of 1,000 votes cast by just after 11 a.m. in Chisholm, which is a third of all registered voters before the afternoon shift comes home from the mines. That’s big. I’ve been asking for stories from the front lines of voting and GOTV.…