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Mary Lahammer — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:42:55 -0500

The national and local buzz is huge that Pawlenty will be McCain's running mate. A new Quinnipiac poll helps that thought, it shows McCain essentially chopping down Obama's once double digit lead in Minnesota. The 46-44 lead for Obama now compares to 54-37 back in June. Also, Pawlenty has an event in Bloomington for McCain today. He'll talk about lowering gas prices. The poll shows that issue is working for McCain, one in ten changed their minds and now favor drilling.

“Sen. McCain is gaining strength, particularly among younger voters, independents and the Twin Cities suburbs, but the situation remains fluid with more than a third of independent voters saying their minds are not yet made up,” said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“Democrat Al Franken still faces an uphill battle in his quest to unseat Sen. Norm Coleman, with almost 20 percent of the voters in his own party voting for the Republican incumbent.”

Franken still has trouble down 53-38 compared to 51-41 in June. This is generally a well respected poll, it has a good sample and talks to real people. But many are questioning the big swing. Franken's campaign pointed out that "The party ID breakdown from the poll was 14% Republican 23% Democrat 64% Independent."

DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez says the polls are everywhere and no one knows what to believe. The Democratic Party head did have a barbed quote when asked about Pawlenty for VP, after wondering if the governor would resign his state post to run for national office, Melendez delivered this back handed compliment about Pawlenty "He's done a great job sucking up to John McCain."

Pawlenty Not Engaging in VP Talk

Mary Lahammer — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:37:57 -0500

As rumors swirl about McCain announcing his veep pick, Gov. Tim Pawlenty says "I've stopped engaging in all this vice presidential discussion." He made the statement apparently from McCain campaign headquarters on a live appearance on FOX. He repeatedly refused to talk about his place in the veepstakes, but told the interviewer it was "nice to ask." When she pressed if he has been contacted by McCain about being a running mate he again said he's stopped engaging "because there's so much speculation." But when it came to the qualities McCain is looking for, Pawlenty said first and foremost is someone ready to be president. Second, Pawlenty says McCain will be looking for a person who "balances his strengths," adds to issues, messages and someone McCain is comfortable with. It seems to me he's not talking because maybe a decision has been made, but I won't engage in the speculation either :)

There's also an increased collective sense that Pawlenty is not at the top of the list anymore. Even a boxing commentator Crackrockid posted a commentary on YouTube saying "Pawlenty's veepstock has taken a sudden plunge." He cites dropping approval ratings, no idea what he's talking about here, and shows this photo of Pawlenty playfully posing with kids accompanying a comment of "whispers of inproprietry" which can only be an odd reference to the WCCO Radio comment about having sex with his wife. It continues to amaze me how Minnesota which is seen as prude by the rest of the nation seems to have a better sense of humor about our politicians. But the legit national press said last week that the "chattering class" has moved on to a new flavor of the month for VP like Jindal and Romney.

Campaign Notebook

Mary Lahammer — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:15:14 -0500

Looking back at the week in politics, the U.S. Senate race was the story. From Jesse Ventura's announcement with Larry King on CNN that he wasn't running to 7 Independence Party members jumping in from former U.S. Senator Dean Barkley and former IP Chair Jack Uldrich. Getting less press is the fact there are also 7 DFLers in this race, most notably Priscilla Lord Faris who is challenging Al Franken. It was a madhouse outside the secretary of state's office for candidate filing.
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Making Presidents: Chapter 3

tptadmin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:09:39 -0500

body

David exercises the "awesome power of the press pass" and gets a comparison point for the upcoming RNC.

Short Description

David wonders, "Can the war hero generate the same volume as the triumphant senator?"

Stream URL

rtmp://webflash.tpt.org/tpt_streams/AATC/presidents3.flv

IP's First Ad

Mary Lahammer — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:02:38 -0500

One of the Independence Party candidates for U.S. Senate, Jack Uldrich, tried to prove he's going to have a different approach to his campaign. He rolled out a YouTube-inspired web commercial. Uldrich is a smart and thoughtful guy, but this ad may be too smart and too complicated for the web. One young person who saw the ad told me it's too long and confusing.
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Last-Minute Senate Surge

Mary Lahammer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:40:36 -0500

The media were there in mass to watch the unpredictable last-minute candidate filings at the secretary of state's office. The Independence Party of Minnesota will have quite the spirited primary with more than half a dozen candidates now in the mix.
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Bachmann to ANWR

Mary Lahammer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:06:02 -0500

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is headed to ANWR with fellow Republicans. She just appeared on CNN and said if we drill for oil in Alaska we can have "two-dollar-a-gallon gas again." When asked about the environmental and wildlife impact she said, it's "dark most of year" and there are "no trees" so it's the "perfect area" to drill.
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Jesse Not Running

Mary Lahammer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:23:08 -0500

Here's what Jesse had to say: "This is an agonizing decision...felt like '98...my personal life...my family...my children were attacked by Minnesota media...do I want to put my family on the firing line again...maybe I'm not religious enough...God has never spoken to me...maybe at 5:00 God will send me to file...I came close...my daughter feared....won't put my family through that again...I don't see how Al Franken can win."
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Campaign Notebook

Mary Lahammer — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:38:57 -0500

In my Campaign Notebook this week, Gov. Tim Pawlenty watches as Sen. John McCain embraces First Lady Mary Pawlenty. Potential first lady Cindy McCain also got a big hug from Pawlenty. Sources have long told me that the two couples hit it off quite some time ago. Could this be the future first and second couple? McCain praised Pawlenty again visiting Minnesota, but neither gave any indication that they're going to share a ticket.
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Blogger Happy Hour

Mary Lahammer — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:21:46 -0500

Thanks to MDE and MnPublius for hosting a bi-partisan happy hour for bloggers. We were there to work (and alas not participate in happy hour) but it was so refreshing to see active, engaged, partisan and non-partisan people talking, laughing and getting along. The perception is that people on the left and right hate each other. Talking to people face to face makes it much harder to say or maybe even write mean things.
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