Presidential Primary

Mary Lahammer — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 11:06:14 -0600

There's a wave at the Capitol wondering if Minnesota should scrap the caucus system and go to a presidential primary. Sen. Ann Rest apparently has a bill that would retain caucuses for party business but create a presidential primary. Sen. Dan Larson and Rep. Steve Simon both have bills to establish a presidential primary but the bills didn't advance past a couple of committees. After last night with voters being turned away from the polls things could change. Nearly every person I've talked to today wonders if reforms won't be on the way. Last week when I talked to the governor he was saying the Republican caucus system should be examined to at least have binding delegates. MPR had this classic quote from the gov who has no love for the caucus system:

"I lost the caucuses in 2002," Pawlenty said. "If I can't win them for myself, how can I win them for someone else? You'll remember that Brian Sullivan thumped me pretty good in the caucuses. So they're really one step in the process, but they really aren't good predictors of what the outcome will be.

Capitol Update - April 9, 2007

tptadmin — Mon, 9 Apr 2007 10:08:06 -0500

Headlines

tptadmin — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 15:36:09 -0500

The bonding bill passes both chambers with lots of money for colleges and mass transit, putting the legislature on another collision course with the governor. The House unveils its health care bill that tries to cover all kids.