Tag: MNGov 2014
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Hamline Debate Highlights
I watched and live-tweeted yesterday’s gubernatorial debate from Hamline University, which was telecast on Fox9. For starters, it wasn’t the worst debate format I’ve ever seen. Fox 9’s crew of hairdos (I have long since stopped paying attention to Twin Cities anchor teams) largely stayed out of the way of the three reporters – Rachel…
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For Whom The Shill Polls
As part of a campaign to portray his election inevitable, because the economy is juuuuust hunky dory, Governor Messinger Dayton and his praetorian guard, the Twin Cities media, is pushing hard the notion that unemployment is down. Jeff Johnson rightly responds that underemployment – people working for less than they’re qualified for, because they’re taking…
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Doug Grow, Narrative Policeman
Surgeons do surgery. Baseball players? They play baseball. And Doug Grow? For four decades and change, generations of Minnesota voters know that Doug Grow is synonymous for flogging and fluffing the DFL narrative. Yesterday’s MinnPost piece on the Severson press conference (which I wrote about yesterday) is one for the record books. The DFL and media…
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Quote Of The Day
GOP governor candidate Jeff Johnson at yesterday’s debate in Duluth, asked if he and Governor Messinger Dayton had anything in common: “We both love our dogs, and want to control my life”.
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Promises, Promises
Governor Dayton, reacting to rumors that have circulated among everyone in the state who’s paying attention that he’s going to resign within a year or two of re-election, to leave Tina “The Butcher” Flint Smith as an unelected governor, promises he’ll serve out his term if re-elected: Dayton, 67, told The Associated Press in an…
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What Conservatism Needs In Minnesota
In the middle of a year that promises to be a good, if not great, year for Republicans nationwide, Minnesota Republicans are hoping to flip the House, so as to at least contest control for the state, and praying for an upset in the Senate and a come-from-behind miracle for Governor. It was ten years ago…
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Crocodile Airtime
Tom Scheck notes that this year’s gubernatorial race isn’t a “visionary” contest: The race stands in mark contrast to the contest four years ago, when two bold candidates for governor – Dayton and Republican nominee Tom Emmer – offered vastly different choices for Minnesota voters. Um, yeah. And what does the Minnesota media do when…
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Chanting Points Memo: Democrat Fakery Labor Party
Bill Glahn notes that the Dayton campaign’s latest TV ad – featuring a “beleaguered middle class family” – continues a long DFL tradition: The Ports are in no sense “middle class.” Steve Port owns his own businessin Burnsville, employing several staff. In true, “What’s the Matter with Kansas” fashion, I’m not sure the Ports—by supporting…
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Waves
Watching last night’s gubernatorial debate in Rochester, it’s easy to see why Governor Messinger’s Dayton’s handlers didn’t want to have too many televised debates, and wanted to make sure they were only televised on outlets like C-Span and Farmington Cable Access. He was awful. At one point, I could have sworn I heard him mumble…
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More Of That “Blowing Sunshine Up Minnesota’s Skirt” Thing…
I read yesterday’s headlines about the new, Preferred-One-Free MNSure rates, and got ready to write. Then, I got an email from a friend who works in the Healthcare industry, which explains it much better: The headlines on MNSure saying premiums rose only 4.5%. This reminds me of an old story. A friend of mine was flying…
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For Those Tired Of That “Smoke Up Their Skirt” Feeling.
Daytonomics – a noun, referring to economic conditions that look rosy on the surface, but worse and worse the more one examines them. See also: “Potemkin”. The DFL is running the bulk of their state campaigns – the Legislature, the Constitutional Officers and Governor – on the notion that two years of Daytonomics have left…
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I Heard It On The NARN
Jeff Johnson for Governor.
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I’m Only Happy When It NARNs
Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network – America’s first grass-roots talk radio show – will be on from 1-3PM! I’ll be talking with: GOP Gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson, about the ongoing MNSure debacle. Don’t forget – King Banaian is on from 9-11AM on AM1570, and Brad Carlson has “The Closer” edition of the NARN Sundays…
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Throwback Thursday
Governor Dayton says “the buck stops” with him in re MNSure: — Gov. Mark Dayton [said] that he ultimately feels responsible for the success or failure of [MNSure]. Dayton apologized for problems Minnesotans are having on the state’s health care exchange. The governor is promising to fix multiple website problems, as soon as possible. “I apologize…
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Apparently Preferred One Are Also “Tea Partiers” Who Are “Wrong For Minnesota”
Preferred One – the company chosen by about three of five people that were able to actually enroll in MNSure in the past year – is bailing out of Minnesota’s troubled health insurance exchange. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, [MNSure CEO Scott] Leitz said he is disappointed with the decision but Minnesotans will still…
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It Makes A Disturbing Amount Of Sense
Did Governor Messinger Dayton flush his former Lieutenant Governor… …Quick! Without looking below, name her! Can you?
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The Client Is Obviously My Client
Last week, I lit up MPR’s “Poligraph” feature for checking the “accuracy” of an utterly subjective bit of political smack-talk by GOP Gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson. Last Friday? Poligraph used subjectivity to “fact-check” GOP 8th CD candidate Stewart Mills. To be fair, Catherine Richert did smack down one of the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee’s more…
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The “Fact-Check” I’ll Wait Patiently For MPR’s “Poligraph” Feature To Get Around To Doing, Part II
The Claim: Every weekend for the past forty years, Garrison Keillor has closed his “News from Lake Wobegone” segment by claiming all the men are strong, all the women are good-looking, and all the children are above-average”. But we wanted to know – is it true? The Evidence: In Keillor’s favor, we note that not…
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Chanting Points Memo: The Dayton Economy Just Keeps Getting Better And Better!
Just keep repeating it to yourself, DFLers; the Dayton economy is awesome! The Dayton economy is awesome! The Dayton economy is awesome! Housing starts are off 15 percent in August (the full story appeared on MPR last night – but naturally isn’t available online today): Confidence in the local homebuilding market took a hit in…
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MPR: Everything Is Juuuuust Fine
Mark Twain once observed that there are three types of media “fact-check” efforts: Democrat PR puff-pieces, Bald-Faced Democrat PR puff-pieces, and legit ones. A good fact-checker will note that Twain said no such thing. My first paragraph was really a bit of hyperbole. As such, it wasn’t intended to be a “factual” statement, per se,…
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Their Master’s Voice
The latest poll numbers must be scaring the DFL; the Strib has officially switched into full-time shill mode. In a paper full of “reporters” whose prime directive seems to be “fawn on the DFL”, Ricardo Lopez seems to be aiming for Columnist’s Row with yesterday’s paeon to the wonders of the Minnesota economy: With business…
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NARN Never Repeats
Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network – America’s first grass-roots talk radio show – goes to the Minnesota State Fair! I will be on from 1-3PM today, live from the Minnesota State Fair! I’ll be talking with: GOP-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson for most of the 1PM hour. Kurt Daudt, GOP House Minority Leader and,…
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There’s Gambling Going On In This Establishment…
I’m not “Minnesota Nice”. Partly it’s because I’m not from Minnesota. I’m “North Dakota Dour and Taciturn”. Minnesota is a South Beach conga line dance compared to North Dakota. And when I hear “Minnesota Nice”, what I think is “Minnesota Passive-Aggressive”. Bill Salisbury – one of the deans of Minnesota political reporting – and Don…
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Six Of One…
Turnout was low at Tuesday’s primaries. Was a bad omen for the GOP, or just another data point with some interesting context? Bad Omen: Michael Brodkorb at Politics.mn throws up a warning sign: Back in February, in my pre-precinct caucus primer, I encouraged people to compare the number of total attendees at precinct caucuses for…