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The Iron Range votes
These are the seven precincts I’m watching tonight to see how Obama’s and Franken’s numbers are holding in different parts of the Iron Range (My analysis was posted yesterday). I would not be shocked or overly alarmed if there is a small bit of underperformance, especially for Franken who is in a three-way race. A…
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Election Day on the Iron Range
It’s here. By God, the day has finally come. With a coming tsunami of book publicity, a night up at the family deer shack and other shenanigans around the corner, I’ve decided to play it cool tonight and just blog from the deep woods. I’ve got to work bright and early tomorrow anyway. I haven’t…
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Seven Iron Range precincts that could decide the election
Today is election eve and, like most of you, I’m all charged up about what could, would or should happen tomorrow. On the Iron Range, I don’t expect any surprises in the legislative races. I also expect U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar to enjoy another easy re-election. The most interesting story on the Iron Range will…
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4A, 4B, 12A: not just random numbers and letters anymore
KAXE has a great roundup on three close legislative races in north central Minnesota: 4A (currently DFL, true tossup), 4B (currently GOP, leans GOP) and 12A (currently DFL, faint lean to DFL). Related posts: No related posts.
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Northland papers defend against Red Menace; Huzzah!
Unsurprisingly, the election year conservatism of the Mesabi Daily News and Duluth News-Tribune have led to McCain endorsements. Both endorsements used taxes as the primary justification. The DNT editorial board, which — during most of the year — advocates an active government that pays as it goes, has even reversed itself now in calling Obama’s…
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Era of awkward disagreement to end soon (we hope)
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. My new blog design allows you to look at past columns by clicking “Columns” on the menu bar. Era of awkward disagreement to end soon (we hope)By Aaron J. Brown Maybe you’re a Democrat. Maybe you’re a Republican. Maybe you’re an…
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Another take on Coleman and the Range
Another blogger, Eric Zaetsch, reached an interesting conclusion about Norm Coleman’s Iron Range newspaper appeal. Related posts: No related posts.
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Norm’s Range plan, and why it’s half baked
As a former daily newspaper editor, who never once endorsed anyone for political office while editor (I don’t believe that newspaper endorsements are wise editorial policy), I have been watching with interest the ferocious attention paid the newspaper endorsements this 2008 election cycle. In the old days, when the assumption was that newspapers were liberal-leaning,…
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All Hallow’s Eve Special
My car is still in the shop so I am riding around in the family minivan today. I got to drive over the spot on 56 where I scraped three Gs worth of car parts off my wagon’s undercarriage in the car/deer incident a few days ago. The blood spot looks like an execution site…
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Red and Blue history
You’ve probably got an image of the map of red and blue states (ie: Republican and Democratic electoral vote results) in your head from the last three U.S. Presidential elections. But this site, which I found through my favorite electoral vote tracking site Electoral-Vote.com, shows the history of the electoral vote map going back to…
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Range’s biggest paper uses bloated boondoggle to endorse Coleman
First, the least surprising news in the history of the Iron Range: the Mesabi Daily News endorsed Norm Coleman for re-election on Sunday. This could have been predicted from the very beginning of this election from the paper’s heavy spin of Coleman as the “jobs” candidate and the constant pushing of anti-Franken stories and editorials.…
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Iron Range division on Legacy Amendment (and my thoughts)
Minnesotans are starting to see a fairly intense effort to pass the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which would create a set fund from state revenue for environmental and arts initiatives. In this story, the Mesabi Daily News profiles former State Sen. Bob Lessard, who first pioneered the idea, while explaining what the…
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The scary season
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. The scary seasonBy Aaron J. Brown Halloween is coming. This is one of those holidays that grew from bizarre, pagan origins to cultural mainstay and then descended back into debauchery. What am I saying? “One of?” It’s pretty…
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Comment insanity at the MDN
The Mesabi Daily News is the Range’s largest newspaper. Its online comments section is like Lord of the Flies. Look. Do not get involved; these are stray dogs not to be petted. OMG. (And, no, I am not one of the commenters). Related posts: No related posts.
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SNL’s best political sketch of the year
This is everywhere, but sometimes Saturday Night Live can summarize in six minutes what a historian or political scientist could write in an entire book. Republicans won’t like this sketch, but it a brutally stark look at the cultural and political dynamic of the GOP ticket in 2008. Will Farrell as Bush is the best…