Category: Campaign ’14
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Primary Responses
Brad Carlson and I were on the air until 11 last night. And I’m happy to see the MNGOP has finally learned to do elections for radio; the final call on the gubernatorial race came 5-10 minutes before we went off the air. Couldn’t have timed it better myself.
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For Second Amendment Freedom
Hot on the heels of yesterdays’ legislative report card from the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance comes today’s list of endorsements from the Minnesota Gun Owners’ Political Action Committee. The 78 additional endorsements join four endorsements for state representative previously announced by the MN Gun Owners PAC. A full list of endorsed candidates is below.…
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The Really Good Guys
Since we’re talking endorsements, the Minnesota Gun Owners Political Action Committee has issued its endorsements for this round of elections: • Tony Cornish – House District 23B, Republican Party of Minnesota • David Dill – House District 3A, Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party • Steve Drazkowski – House District 21B, Republican Party of Minnesota “Each of these three…
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The Good Guys And The Bad Guys
The Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance has released its biennial Candidate Ratings list. I don’t vote entirely based on this list – there are other issues – but suffice to say nobody with an “F” is going to get my vote, or any meaningful support, ever, no matter what. The biggest surprise – Ron Erhard’s petulant outburst to a…
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The Strib And Berg’s 11th Law
Over the weekend, theStribissued its endorsements for the GOP primaries. And they were mostly utterly predictable – if you keep Berg’s Law in mind. In this case, “Berg’s 11th Law of Inverse Viability” (“The conservative liberals “respect” for their “conservative principles” will the the one that has the least chance of ever getting elected”), and…
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Slouching Towards St. Paul
The Invisible Primary heads for it’s exciting dramatic interesting necessary conclusion. There have been no polling updates. No shocking endorsements. No conflicts. A candidate ended up in the hospital…due to an ulcer. The slouch towards the Minnesota GOP choosing a candidate to go up against Gov. Mark Dayton will end in the next two weeks,…
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Why I’m Never Running For Office
About ten years ago, a sitting (at the time) GOP representative and long-time friend of this blog told me “you do realize, Mitch, that between the blog and your show, you can never, ever run for political office, don’t you?” The fact that my written body of work is, no doubt, some oppo researcher’s dream…
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The Invisible Primary
The electorate hits the snooze button on the Minnesota Republican gubernatorial primary. It’s been 20 years since the Minnesota GOP had a competitive primary for, well, anything. And with just over a month to go before voters chose Gov. Mark Dayton’s general election opponent, that rust is showing. Whether it’s the airwaves, newspapers, or even…
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Polling
A recent Quinnipiac poll shows that 33 percent of Americans pick Obama as the worst President since World War 2. Dubya comes in second at 28 percent. So let’s try it this way: Let’s rank the presidents since WW2. In the comments, respond with your rankings of the presidents since WW2, in order from worst…
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Two Patties Of Sizzling Ugh
A friend of mine from South Minneapolis emails. The bad news? : Oh great, my favorite local bar and burger place where I have taken many of you is now world famous. The POTUS just had a “Jucy Lucy” at Matt’s. Crap. We’ve been going to this place for decades and now…the place will be…
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Contempt Of Populace
They say that dissatisfaction with the status-quo – everything from trite “anti-incumbency” to a genuine disgust with the power-mad “House Of Cards”-like ways of Washington (which Obama certainly didn’t invent, but which he’s moved front and center as the defining feature of his reign) will be the driving force in this fall’s election, and possibly…
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Fortune Favors The Bold
Rand Paul, speaking in Iowa, nailed a few key points the GOP needs to remember, nationally and here in Minnesota: “There are people who say we need to be more moderate,” he said. “I couldn’t disagree more.” “I think the core of our message: we can be even more bold,” he added. “When Ronald Reagan…
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Greatly Exaggerated
To: Democrats, and the K Street GOP Establishment From: Mitch Berg, Irascible Peasant Re: Cantor All, Keep repeating to yourself – “The Tea Party’s dead. The Tea Party’s dead….” That is all.
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I Went To Rochester, And All I Got Was A Hotel Bill
People have asked me what I thought about last week’s GOP convention. First things first: I’m happy that Jeff Johnson won the endorsement. I never, ever “endorse” candidates myself – it’s really arrogant, it’s hell on bookings, and who cares what I think? – but I was honestly torn between Jeff and Dave Thompson, and…
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One Day In The Governor’s Office
SCENE: The office of the Governor of Minnesota. Gathered around a table are: Carrie LUCKING, the Executive Director of Alida Messinger’s “Alliance for a Better Minnesota. She is at the head of table. Bob HUME, the Governor’s chief of staff, sits at LUCKING’s right. Tina FLINT-SMITH, the governor’s other chief of staff, is at LUCKING’s left.…
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You Can Laugh If You Want To
You would not be the first. A few weeks back, the Ventura Independence Party, which has throughout its history been a center-left party of people who just loooooove to tinker with the buttons and levers of government – which is the opposite of “libertarian” – endorsed a political newcomer who’s never held elective office, never…
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Rangers: They Hate You. They Really Really Hate You.
Why were the DFL’s array of sock-puppets out in such force writing about the GOP convention? To draw attention away from their own, up in Duluth. First came reports that the DFL were denying media credentials to reporters from newspapers that had criticized Dayton. Which is one way of silencing dissent. Another way to silence…
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It’s Contest Time!
The Democrats are unveiling a new slogan, we’re told. If they’re going for something zippy but that is still compliant with “truth in advertising” laws, I’d suggest: Stay The Curse! But I’m open to other suggestions. We may have a poll on this later…. NOTE: Nominations close at 5PM. Going to the primary is not…
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America’s Bargain
SCENE: As America decides its political course for the next few years, an omniscient narrator asks an illustrative, rhetorical question. THE OMNISCIENT NARRATOR: So, American electorate: if you have a choice between being beaten to death, or living a normal life, which do you pick? THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE: Those are the choices? THE OMNISCIENT…
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Of Convenience, Part II
First things first. I’ve got nothing against Hannah Nicollet. If you go by what little she’s said in public about her political beliefs – she supported Ron Paul in 2012 – I probably agree with her 90-odd percent of the time. Indeed, now that she’s been endorsed to run for Governor, my biggest dream is…
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The Failed War On Women
The Democrat “War on Women” rhetoric was entirely calibrated to try to win the votes of white women (Obama already controlled non-white womens’ votes). But for all the palaver? It didn’t work. Michael Medved in the NYTimes last week (with emphasis added): A closer look at the numbers reveals that Mr. Obama’s success…
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For It Before He Was Against It
Al Franken supported a program that uses taxpayer money to give foreign companies a leg up in the market over US companies… …until someone whispered “Hey, Al – this directly harms Minnesota business, and uses Minnesotans’ tax dollars to do it…”. But in politics, policy must become parochial for a politician before they see the…
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Confronting The History Thief
Question: will the media force Elizabeth Warren – putatively the Democrat second choice after Hillary! – to meet with Cherokee women who’d like to talk with her about her phony claim to being a member of their tribe? And profiting from it? (Answer: Sure they will. When they get done holding Ryan Winkler accountable for…
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Hope?
Only 40% of Minnesotans think Al Franken is good enough or smart enough, according to this poll.
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Among The Bitter Gun-Clinging Jeebus Freaks
Insulting Iowa farmers… …is probably not a great idea if you’re running to represent them in the Senate. That’s Iowa Democrat Bruce Braley. He’s running against Chuck Grassley (who is, partly in the interest of disclosure but mostly as a matter of fun trivia, either a very distant relative or at least someone whose ancestors…