Almanac: At the Capitol

Pawlenty ready with his budget, Coleman on move to seat Franken, Republicans propose a tax holiday, and a bipartisan coalition calls on the state to divest in Iran.

View the Capitol Update for January 22, 2009.

Just like it's created some buzz for Al Franken, a big union endorsement should help these congressional candidates. Here's the press release:

AFSCME endorses Bonoff and Tinklenberg for Congress

Terri Bonoff and El Tinklenberg were endorsed for Congress today by AFSCME Council 5, one of Minnesota’s largest and most politically active unions. State Sen. Terri Bonoff (SD 43) is running for DFL endorsement for the 3rd Congressional District seat being left open by U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad’s decision to not run for reelection. El Tinklenberg is seeking DFL endorsement for the 6th Congressional District seat to challenge right-wing extremist and first-term Republican Michele Bachmann in the 2008 general election.

AFSCME Council 5 recommended endorsing Bonoff and Tinklenberg because AFSCME members thought they were the strongest pro-working family candidates for the seats. David Cohoes, chair of AFSCME Council 5’s West Metro PEOPLE district and an assistant public defender for Hennepin County, said “Terri Bonoff is our best chance to elect a pro-working families congressperson who will help solve our nation’s heath care crisis.”

Marcia Provost, chair of AFSCME Council 5’s Central PEOPLE district and a financial aid worker at St. Cloud Tech, said “El Tinklenberg worked well with frontline state employees when he was Commissioner of the Department of Transportation. In Congress, he will be an effective champion for transportation funding for Minnesota – unlike Michele Bachmann who has blindly followed Bush’s policies that have hurt out state.”

“AFSCME intends to jump into these races with both feet – just like we have done successfully in other races,” said Mike Buesing, president of AFSCME Council 5 and a road design technician for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “AFSCME is fully committed to electing more pro-working families members of Congress, like Terri Bonoff and El Tinklenberg.”

In the 3rd Congressional District contest, AFSCME also screened DFL candidates Jim Hovland and Ashwin Madia. Republican candidate Erik Paulsen did not respond to invitations to screen with AFSCME.

In the 6th Congressional District contest, AFSCME also screened DFL candidate Bob Olson and Independence Party candidate John Brockberg. Incumbent Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann did not respond to invitations to screen with AFSCME.

It would be a bad sign if her colleagues didn't like her, but Terri Bonoff has announced an impressive list of endorsements including legislative leaders. I know her campaign wants to appear strong and in the lead and a move like this helps. Expect a 3rd District DFL debate in the coming weeks on Almanac, too. Here's the press release:

MINNETONKA, MN – Terri Bonoff has quickly garnered the support of House and Senate leadership as well as many DFL legislative colleagues in the third district, where she is running for US Congress. Today, Senator Bonoff announced that the following state legislators have endorsed her campaign:

• Senator John Doll, District 40
• Senator Ron Latz, District 44
• Senator Ann Rest, District 45
• Senator Linda Scheid, District 46
• Senator Leo Foley, District 47
• Senator Dan Larson, District 63
• Representative Maria Rudd, District 42A
• Representative John Benson, District 43B
• Representative Steve Simon, District 44A
• Representative Sandra Peterson, District 45A
• Representative Michael Nelson, District 46A
• Representative Denise Dittrich, District 47A
• Representative Linda Slocum, District 63B
• Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, 60A
• Senate Majority Leader Lawrence Pogemiller, District 59

“I couldn’t be more honored. My fellow legislators are community leaders and valued colleagues. I’m thrilled that they have stepped forward to offer their help and support to our campaign. Over the next year, and into the future, I will look towards the experience and counsel of my fellow legislators. I want to personally thank them for their support and I look forward to working with them to earn the DFL endorsement and win this race,” Bonoff said.

I'm not sure I've ever gotten more reaction on a blog post than yesterday's comments about Terri Bonoff and the 3rd Congressional District race. Last night I got a call on my cell from Sen. Bonoff concerned about what I had to say. I pointed out that while I mentioned some tough stuff, I also said some nice things. I try to criticize and reward equally. I gave Bonoff credit on WCCO-AM in my weekly segment Thursdays with Mondale and Jones for having the guts to call me and have a professional, productive conversation. Sometimes it's easier for people to digress to name-calling, like what's going on in the comments on MDE right now. It amazes me the vicious things people will say with anonymity online. Would they ever say these cruel things out loud to someone's face? After more than a decade working in commercial and public television I know viewers can say some nasty things, it seems they forget we are real people with real feelings. I know I have crazy hair, but I love public television for actually allowing me to embrace my naturally curly Norwegian fro. When I worked in commercial television I was not allowed to have my naturally curly hair, I had to cut and straighten it because news anchors don't have curly hair. I want it to be about my journalism, not my hair. Also, it seems common fodder for web writers to try to call me a Democrat or a Republican. For the record: I'm neither. I'm nothing. I'm a journalist. I see good and bad ideas from both sides and all around the middle. I was raised by a fair and brilliant journalist who taught me to see the validity of many opinions and make my quest educating people from a non-partisan point of view.

So much for the race to replace Congressman Jim Ramstad being a two-person race. The DFL field has gotten complicated. State Senator Terri Bonoff was the frontrunner or the only DFL candidate for a while, but that's no longer true. Dems have had a history of slugging it out to primaries while Republicans clear the field for one annointed candidate. Dems had been doing better at that in recent years realizing how it put them at a competitive disadvantage. I'm hearing other DFLers are getting into the race because there's a bit of uneasiness about Bonoff. She has great credentials and a solid resume. But in this new media world, one has to wonder if Minnesota Democrats Exposed video of her missteps at her campaign announcement have hurt her. I know a lot of MSM don't want to give bloggers that credit and power, but they're not to be overlooked. I've got to say to me Bonoff has been professional and pretty impressive, but this video does not look good. She is the only candidate for major office to personally call me to invite me to her kick off. That's a personal touch. But now that Edina Mayor Jim Hovland and Iraq war veteran Ashwin Madia are in the race it's gotten messy. Speaking of new media, Minnesota Campaign Report and Eric Black's new site have some interesting posts on this.

It's just hours after Terri Bonoff officially announced her campaign for the 3rd Congressional District to replace Congressman Jim Ramstad and the war of words has begun. In this district where a Democrat hasn't won in decades, but now appears in play, Bonoff will try to cast herself as a moderate.

“This is a critical time for us as Minnesotans and Americans: an unending war, a healthcare crisis and a transportation system that has been starved of the necessary resources for even the most basic construction and repairs. We need strong voices in Washington. But we also need people who are willing to listen and bring people together to create a common vision,” said Bonoff.

But minutes after that statement arrived the Republican Party fired off this press release:

No matter how extreme the makeover she attempts during this campaign, Terri Bonoff won’t be able to convince voters that she is a bipartisan problem solver and moderate in the tradition of Jim Ramstad. All of the out of state big money in the world she is raising can’t obscure the fact that Bonoff is too partisan and too liberal for the Third.