One Brief Shining Moment

“Don’t let it be forgot
That once there was a spot,
For one brief, shining moment
That was known as Unallot.”
Governor Pawlenty claims that he has the power to unallot billions of public dollars absent an unexpected emergency.  If that is true, Minnesota effectively has a democratic monarchy. That is, we have an elected [...]

Pawlenty’s Fiscal Mullet

Is it possible for Governor Pawlenty to raise “fees” by about 21% while continuing to brag about keeping a no new “taxes” pledge?
As Minnesota 2020 notes: “While some fee increases may be necessary to pay for increased costs, it is clear that fee increases are also being used to back fill a hole [...]

Al’s Rationale

Before the first Tuesday in November, Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken has three primary messaging To-Dos to accomplish: 1) Wrestle the ethics issue to neutral; 2) Prove that Norm Coleman has been a Bush loyalist; and 3) Convince swing voters that Franken is an acceptable alternative.
In terms of countering ethics charges, Franken has [...]

What if we held a blockbuster Senate race and no investigative reporters showed up to cover it?

Regurgitation of polls, attack news conferences and ads. That’s mostly what we have seen in the coverage of the Minnesota Senate race.
We’re continually told that this is the most intriguing senatorial campaign in the nation. But the coverage has been almost entirely focused on transcribing the predictable spin of campaign hacks. [...]

What If Franken Shot Straight?

What if beleaguered U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken just bought a big hunk of TV time and shot it to voters straight?

Hi, I’m Al Franken, the rookie candidate in Minnesota’s campaign for U.S. Senate.
As you probably heard, I messed up my business taxes badly. A lot of political consultants told me not [...]

Tankin’ Franken?

Top ten signs Al Franken’s U.S. Senate campaign against Senator Norm Coleman is in trouble.
10. Matt Drudge’s nipples involuntarily harden every time he hears Franken’s name.
9. Minnesota DFLers actually start remembering The Hyphenated Dude’s name (i.e Franken’s DFL opponent Jack Nelson-Whatever).
8. Coleman replaces all of his staff cosmetologists with more private investigators.
7. [...]

Franken Questioning the Question

The embattled Franken for U.S. Senate campaign is fielding questions today about survey findings showing that Mr. Franken’s tax problems make most Minnesotans less likely to support him (59%). Half (51%) say he should withdraw from the race. Tough stuff.

In a Strib online story, the Franken campaign officials said [...]

Premature E-Accusation?

We knew taxes would be an issue in the Minnesota U.S. Senate campaign. But some of us hoped to be reading stories about the tax evasion of the wealthiest 1% of Americans who were handed Bush-Coleman tax cuts, not tax evasion of the Democratic candidate.

Yes, “evasion” is too strong of [...]