Shot in the Dark

Tag: A-Klo

  • Hot Dishes Are Great For Smuggling Rat-Tail Files

    Remember when Amy Klobuchar, former Henco Attorney, tried to paint herself as “tough on crime”? Apparently only if the criminal was poor and black: Perhaps because of the lure of [legendary Ponzi schemer] Petters’ campaign cash or his deep connection to Minnesota Democratic politics, Klobuchar used the power of her office in 1999 to ensure…

  • Frequently Asked Questions V

    Here are some of the questions that’ve come over the transom lately. “Hahahaha!  Kurt Bills is going to lose!  That’s a loss for you!”:  Well, I am not on the ballot, so it’s not a loss for me. And I supported Severson at the convention.  Now, it is a fact that Kurt Bills would be…

  • Just Like Old Times

    Nick  Coleman – the same one that used to sneer down his patrician mainstream-media nose at all of us villein bloggers – is blogging up a storm these days.  He Who Knows Stuff has some advice for A-Klo: Amy Klobuchar has been working hard to win the endorsement of Republican car dealers, like the ones featured…

  • Chanting Points Memo: The Rigger’s Dilemma

    It’s my contention that the Star/Tribune “Minnesota” poll is, and has been for two and a half decades, less a “public opinion” poll and more an instrument of DFL propaganda.  I’ve supported that contention with a raft of circumstantial evidence; proof that the Minnesota Poll underestimates GOP turnout – especially in races that are perceived to be…

  • The Campaign That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, Part III: “How Ya Doing, Rockford?”

    On paper, the Minnesota Third Congressional District is “purple”.  And by “on paper”, I mean “In the Strib“. Yes, for decades the district was represented by moderate, IR-era Republicans like Jim Ramstad, Bill Frenzel and Clark McGregor. And Erik Paulsen has had to work with a lot of different constituencies to win in the Third; he’s…

  • Chanting Points Memo: “Minnesota Poll” Has Your Delivery Of Sandbags Right Here

    Yesterday, the Star Tribune “Minnesota Poll” also delivered its mid-cycle tally of support for the Voter ID Amendment. And coming barely a week after the generally-accurate Survey USA poll showing Voter ID passing by a 2:1 margin, the Strib would have you believe…: Slightly more than half of likely voters polled — 52 percent — want the changes…

  • The Bandwagoneers

    Have you noticed something? No “Minnesota Poll” yet this cycle.  Ditto the Humprey Institute. Usually by this point in an election cycle, they’ve run a poll showing the Republican candidate down by some absurd amount that turns out to be many times greater than the eventual margin of victory (or defeat) for the DFLer. Now,…

  • Facts In The Dark, Part IV: Clarity

    Call me a cynic, but for me, the prototype of all of the “fact-checking” columns in today’s mainstream media was in this piece here: With the world breathing a collective sigh of relief following the violence-free passage into the year 2000, an international coalition of terrorists issued a reminder Monday that the new millennium does…

  • Facts In The Dark, Part III: “Poligraph” And Selection Bias

    For years, now, I’ve had questions about how politicians’ statements get selected for MPR’s “Poligraph”. If you Google the feature, one might be forgiven for thinking the feature should be named “MPR’s Michele Bachmann Bureau”.  That’d be unfair; Poligraph reporter Catherine Richert does spread some of the fact-checking love around among parties. But I do…

  • Facts In The Dark, Part II: “Poligraph” And The Path Not Taken

    Yesterday, I suggested that it might be a good idea for Minnesota Public Radio’s “Poligraph” feature (for whom Cathy Richert is listed as the “lead reporter”) might do well to add an “Oversimplified” rating to its rather cut-and-dried set of verdicts. I suggested it because at first blush, it might be used to cover Richert’s own…

  • More Of That Vaunted Democrat Tolerance For Dissent

    When you live in a Democrat stronghold like Saint Paul, you get used to the idea that your political signs are expendable.  Every single year, I put signs out on my lawn, on a modestly busy street (which is busier now that University looks like Stalingrad). And every year, they are stolen, or destroyed, almost…

  • Brian Barnes: “Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Teh ExTrE3M?”

    Brian Barnes is running for Congress in the 3rd CD. You might not have heard of him, even if you live there.  He’s run a fairly hapless, lackluster campaign, with none of the cachet or pizzazz of Ashwin Madia.   I think the only serious question about his campaign so far has been “is Erik…

  • Top Billing

    DFLers are whining because Kurt Bills – GOP-endrosed US Senate candidate – released an ad that paid homage to an ad that Paul Wellstone ran during his first campaign. Here’s Bills: Here’s Wellstone’s ad: Pretty much a shot-by-shot remake, if you leave out the whole “liberty versus onerous socialism” bit, huh? Many liberals are outraged…

  • Paul Supporters: Your Best Days Could Still Be Ahead

    In the last few weeks, since Ron Paul got eliminated from the running for the nomination, I’ve seen not a few Minnesota Ron Paul supporters waxing mildly suicidal that their guy didn’t pack the gear to go the distance in the primaries and caucuses.  Paul nabbed three states, if I recall correctly, including Minnesota –…

  • Welcome To The Battleground

    The latest Survey USA poll shows Obama’s lead in Minnesota has been cut in half since the last one: In the election for President of the United States, three months till voting begins, Barack Obama captures the North Star State’s 10 electoral votes, defeating Mitt Romney 46 percent to 40 percent, according to a SurveyUSA…

  • An Investment – Like The Brooklyn Bridge

    Jeff Rosenberg from MNPublius has sent an “Open Letter To Amy Klobuchar” that explains, if nothing else, how little DFLers really understand about their “Senior Senator”: Congratulations on your endorsement by the DFL this weekend, and on what looks to be a relatively easy re-election bid. (As a side note?  Look for a lot of “bandwagon”-mongering…

  • The Exposed Intellectual Id Of The DFL, Chapter CXXVI

    Today’s example of the DFL’s exposed intellectual id is Nicholas Dolphin of (where else) Minneapolis, who wrote a letter to the editor in the Strib – featured, naturally, as their “letter of the day” about a week ago. Mr. Dolphin wrote: State Rep. Kurt Bills, newly endorsed by the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate race, is…

  • No Real Reason

    On the one hand, Democrats – and their out-house PR flak firms like “Common Cause” – whinge about “the corrosive power of money in politics.”. On the other hand, they celebrate it when they have lots of it. The MinnPost has the current money situations for the all the Congressional canddiates.  And the same Democrats…

  • Maybe It Was A Bad Day

    The Twin Cities media has been painstakingly buffing and spit-shining Senator Amy Klobuchar’s reputation as “the nice Senator” – not just in terms of being uncontroversial, but just plain personable. And if you meet her at a DFL event, or at the fair, surrounded by her staff and on point, she sure can seem like…

  • SOPA: A GOP Win?

    No, it’s not my opinion – it’s from a bunch of lefties.  And I’m not talking your Twin Cities Leftyblogger chump kinda lefties – according to Althouse, it’s the big-time ones. The first observation – and it’s one I’ve made, although perhaps not enough – was a fun one: The Tea Party, [David Dayen of “Firedog…

  • Open Letter To Senators Franken And Klobuchar

    To: Senators Franken And Klobuchar From: Mitch Berg, Potential Target Re: SOPA Pillaging Senators, Everyone from Wikipedia to Keilth Ellison is blacking out their sites today to protest the idiotic “Stop Online Piracy Act”, which would “stop piracy” by giving the Executive Branch the ability to wantonly shut down websites for linking to sites that had…

  • Everyone’s A Pirate!

    It’s not the game-changer for this campaign.  But it could shave off a lot of votes for a lot of candidates. It’s the Stop Online Piracy Act.  Posited as a means of protecting copyrights and against counterfeit drugs, the act – sponsored by Lamar Smith, with a slew of co-hosts – is rife with opportunity…

  • Amy Klobuchar: Gun Grabber

    Modern American liberalism is predicated on the notion that you, the people, aren’t to be trusted. On much of anything,really; there’s experts for pretty much everything; they all know more than you, and you, peasant, should defer to them.  Because that’s what peasants do. Educating your kids?  There’s experts. They know more than you.  Just…

  • I Heard It On The NARN

    Ed writing on Lightsquared. Kool Aid Report is back.

  • In Re The Senate Race

    The upcoming Minnesota Senate race, say some, is a foregone conclusion.  A-Klo in a walkover, says the conventional wisdom. The MNGOP has three candidates vying for the nomination, so far..  Former State Representative Dan Severson is, by most accounts, the front-running.  Joe Arwood and Tony Hernandez round out the field of applicants so far. I’ve…