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7B status update; Stenersen spurns TV for food bank
Ask and ye shall receive. Here is an anonymous assessment of the 7B primary race from a reader in Duluth: Just a update about the 7B house DFL Primary race. I have seen a lot of (Roger) Reinert and (Marsh) Stenersen signs and billboards. John Derbis has been knocking on the doors, Brandon Clokey has…
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Duluth’s compelling 7B DFL primary just a month out
I haven’t written much about Duluth’s 7B DFL primary, now just about a month away. If anyone has field reports or news about forums or other events please send them to me or post them in the comments. Duluth city councilor Roger Reinert put out a press release today saying he’d be taking a week…
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They’re baaaaack …
It’s been a rather pleasant several weeks not discussing Excelsior Energy’s boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project proposed for the Iron Range. It reminds me of what I imagine the future will be like: a world where this terrible idea is merely a memory of the bad things that can happen when massive amounts of state and…
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Newsweek to analyze the South; the North should take note
Newsweek is focusing this week’s edition on the changing and yet somehow unchanging nature of America’s South, where the shadow of the Civil War still looms large even in the 21st century. The cover story is truly compelling. Something about the South reminds me of my native Iron Range. Not necessarily the racial strife, though…
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Range-connected name a U.S. Senate contender
Followers of the national political blogosphere know that there’s a doozy of a U.S. Senate race up in Alaska this year. Embattled and indicted GOP incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens faces a tough challenge from Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, nephew of former Iron Range legislator Joe Begich. Sunday, the Mesabi Daily News interviewed Joe about…
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Range editor, veteran makes insightful observation about ‘surge’
Hibbing Daily Tribune editor Mike Jennings made an interesting observation Sunday based on his experience serving in Vietnam in regard to today’s debate over the success of the so-called surge: Could we have sustained what seemed in 1970 a durable degree of security in Vietnam? Of course. All that was necessary was to keep American…
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Finally, a voice of clarity
Matthew Yglesias nails the latest bout of conventional campaign criticism that we should all be worked up because Barack Obama isn’t “breaking it open.” Yglesias correctly points out that the winning candidate this year was probably never going to get more than about 53 percent in the general election and that our country’s political make…
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‘Those mobster ads’ and why union choice issue really matters
One of the great setbacks in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate campaign is how Republican operatives — more specifically big business operatives — have been able to cloud the water over the issue of the Employee Free Choice Act. Their ads featuring mobster-like figures pressuring pleasant looking workers into joining unions have fueled many misconceptions held by…
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Union outreach aims to hold Democratic line for Obama
Electricity was down again this morning (it rained last night; that’s how it goes out here in the woods) so I got a late start on all things electronic. All I’ve got right now is an item on an AFL-CIO political outreach campaign in the swing states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan to reassure…
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Breaking down data in the Fightin’ 8th
Jeff Rosenberg has created something I haven’t seen before, which is a series of maps breaking down the 8th Congressional District by precinct to show the Democrat/Republican split based on the 2006 election results. Get geeky and check it out. Related posts: No related posts.
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Global resove vs. grocery shenanigans
So Barack Obama goes overseas last week. At every turn, Obama was speaking about U.S. foreign policy in a way that re-united our allies and forces his opponents to subtly rephrase their positions to sound more like his. Oh yeah, and he shows up in Germany and 200,000 people come out to hear him speak.…
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Sunday’s Iron Range news roundup
Here’s a roundup of Range stories from this morning. State Sen. Tom Bakk offers a tepid endorsement of Al Franken for U.S. Senate in today’s Mesabi Daily News. Bakk is one of a small cadre of Minnesota officials who were shocked, shocked!, to learn that Franken had once made a living as a late night…
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A dose of intrigue in Range House races
As I’ve said before, State Rep. and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich faces a primary challenge from Marc Pocrnich (check out his official website) this year and there is a Independence Party primary in my home District of 3A between Bill Hamm and Chris Pfeifer. I have way too many conflicts of personal interest to…
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Itasca DFL kicks off major effort on Wednesday
Readers come here for many different reasons. So, my apologies to those of you uninterested in DFL campaign news. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30 at the Itasca County DFL headquarters in Grand Rapids there will be a volunteer training session, phone banking push and — the biggie — the delivery of Al Franken…
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Building trades officially "encourage" Bakk to run for governor
Are you growing tired of the “hard facts” of the 2008 election? Wouldn’t your rather resume the political analysis based on hearsay and guessing we all enjoyed last year? I have just the item for you. State Sen Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), one of two Iron Rangers and 50-plus other DFLers considering a run for governor…