Rambling from the North

Once in awhile I'll post non-political related news. This I guess could be considered political?

Self-proclaimed Jedis ‘Umada’ and ‘Yunyun’, joined by hairy wookie Chewbacca, called for official acceptance of their ‘religion’ at London’s UN headquarters. Umada, better known as 27-year-old John Wilkinson, pushed for tolerance of the Jedi faith - which attracted 390,000 followers in the 2001 UK census. He said: "We have come here today to ask that we are recognised as the fourth largest religion in this country".

Now, I'm a Star Wars fan. I'd be lying if I didn't openly say, I try to slip in a Star Wars quote into normal conversation, at least once a week (between family guy, Simpsons, and West Wing quotes... damn I watch way too much TV) but this is going a little bit too far.

Soon though, the Christian Right Wing will get wind of this, start burning Luke Skywalker and Yoda action figures (thats right, I said action figures, don't you dare call them dolls!) and protesting screenings of the movies and the books. I only see this as a money maker for George Lucas honestly. He and L. Ron Hubbard should duel eachother sometime and see who's religion is better.

With 169 votes to 86 votes, Democrats in the US House have named Hoyer Majority Leader for the upcomming session.

This will be an interesting year. Hoyer and Pelosi have a history of not getting along real well, and its no help that she backed Murtha. Hopefully they can work together on this, rather than being divided.

Labels: Democrats, Hoyer, Pelosi

Now that the state and federal elections are over, its time to move into the next phase of our political lives. The DFL Business conference is in early February where we will elect or re-elect officers for the DFL State Party.
The question is who is going to run, or not run, and for what?

Current speculation says that Brian Melendez will run for re-election. I have not confirmed this with him as this blogger is in extreme disfavor of the Melendez administration for asking questions However, the performance of the DFL in these elections will probably give him enough to easily win re-election. I am unsure whether I will support him or not in this endeavor, having earned his and his clique's wrath in recent months. But as of yet, there are no other candidates.

Donna Cassutt is the Peace First person in the DFL. She has kept a fairly low profile to my knowledge in recent days. While there are talks of a few people challenging her, she is fairly popular with the Peace First crowds who were first able to push her election, and can probably do it again.

Sue Rego, the current Secretary has made no waves. In my opinion she has done nothing extraordinary, but nothing bad either. I would like to see her take more of a leadership role and expand her job. I have heard of no one else running for this position (CD5 Chair Dave Lee will not be seeking his old office) so hopefully in the next two years she can expand this job to be something more.

Bill Davis the treasurer was just elected a few months ago. He's got buttons from that run and since there wasn't really a challenge then, there won't be this time around.

Megan Thomas the AAO officer- Megan is the only one who is officially declared her intentions of running for re-election. Megan has served the party well and will probably not have anyone challenge her. Each time we've had someone else besides her in the past several terms it has met with devastating results- Angela Burkhalter being the perfect example of this.

So, the question is, who else should run, and for what?
I'm going to do an open thread (assuming the few readers I have care to comment?) about these elections and ask for suggestions/comments.

Labels: party elections

Late Sunday night Rep Mark Olson R-Big Lake, was arrested on charges of domestic abuse. Olson is being held on allegations of fifth-degree domestic assault.
Olson was re-elected to his eight term last tuesday with 58.1% of the vote. I'm betting the voters of Big Lake are regretting their decision.
Olson, who has a lackluster record in his 16 years of service in the state house, is just another in a long line of Republican scandals. They couldn't learn after losing the election, hell the couldn't even wait a week before the next one broke.

Domestic abuse however, is not a laughing matter. Even fifth-degree assault charges are serious. If you, or someone you know is being victimized by domestic abuse, please check out http://www.ndvh.org/ or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.

With Election Day well behind us (2 days) Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa has announced his plans to seek the presidency.

Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa took the initial step in his long-shot bid for the White House Thursday, establishing a presidential campaign committee and seeking an early jump on 2008.

"Americans sent a clear message on Tuesday. They want leaders who will take this country in a new direction," Vilsack, Iowa's two-term governor, said in a statement. "They want leaders who share their values, understand their needs, and respect their intelligence. That's what I've done as governor of Iowa, and that's what I intend to do as president."

This doesn't come as any surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention since 2004. Vilsack, the current chairperson of the Democratic Governor's Association, has been maintaining a high profile in the party, in order to draw support.

How will he do? That remains to be seen. I have heard him speak and met him a few times. He does not have Clinton's charisma or passion, but he's got some. It will be interested to watch what he does for the next two years, he has a chance of being a strong dark horse in the race, but all eyes are on Clinton/Obama right now.

For the Record: I was going to support former Gov. Mark Warner, but he announced he would not seek the presidency, so at this time, I have no favorite. I am leaning towards Richardson, but am still undecided. Gov. Vilsack might have had my support but when I heard him speak a few months before the election, he and the Gov's ass. had all but written off the Hatch campaign and weren't planning to do much for him. That annoys me since had they put even a tiny bit of effort into the campaign, we might have won. Just a thought.

Today we had a lot of victories- the DFL took the state house in a big way, pulling in candidates who no one thought had a chance. We dominated the state Senate as well, getting rid of some of the worst offenders. We took every state office, but the governor's so far, with large margins.

We have now the best government for women- A Minnesota Female Speaker of the House and a female speaker of the US House. South Dakota voted against banning abortion.

On the down side however, 7 states banned same sex marriage. Horrible. We may or may not win the governor. And now we have 2 years to prove ourselves that we know what we're doing with this country or the pendulum could swing back.

I am excited. Tim Walz won. Our house is now not 4/4 but 5/3. Give us another time and we'll take back the 6th, and then the 2nd, then the 3rd. The sad news is that Wendy Wilde actually did worse than Deborah Watts.. i'm not sure how but that scares me.

I'm going to bed now as its late, I have tests and papes tomorrow. But tomorrow morning I will wake up and ask the following two questions of myself: 1) How can we retain our majorities in both houses in 2 years, and 2) Who am I supporting for president? These questions are hard but they are going to be on everyone's mind tomorrow morning.

Today is election day (woo!). Tomorrow, all of this will be over, we'll return to our normal lives, and hopefully have a new government in which to make those lives better.
But the Republicans are doing everything they can to try to prevent it.
Word has come down that there are poll challengers in 42a (Maria Ruud) that are stopping anyone they can and making it a real hastle to vote in that district.
This is going to be a close election so we need to be extra careful and watchful for things like this. These watchers however, are probably not following the law, (i.e. challenges must be in writing). They are just there to harass good citizens that are voting.

If you hear of any other challengers or nasty business like this, please call 651.251.6384 Which is the DFL vote protection line. We need to ensure every vote is counted, and that people want to vote. The Reps think this is a game, they don't care about the actual civic duty of voting, only winning. And clearly they will do whatever it takes. So get out there, and lets get a victory!

Ok, There isn't much time left. No one will read this hopefully because they are all out doorknocking and doing that kind of stuff. People will read this on wednesday and I'm glad they'll wait that long. If I weren't in class, I wouldn't be posting either


Senate- Amy will win by 12 points. This one is a no brainer. She'll win hands down, probably is already picking out office furniture in D.C.

Governor- Hatch. Despite everything else, he will squeeze this out by 1.5%. Its not a huge victory. And it shouldn't be. There were problems the entire way and if you don't fight and use all tools in the tool box you don't win by large margins. He's hurt himself this last weekend but I think people are fed up enough and wanting a change that it'll go to Hatch, just barely.

AG- Swanson- Despite a lack of a campaign, Minnesota hasn't voted for a Republican AG since the 70s and we won't start now.

SOS- Kiffmeyer. As much as this pains me, I think she'll win. No one's paying attention to this race. It hasn't gotten a lot of press and people are more likely to vote for the name they know. I think it'll be close 1-3% victory, but I just don't think Ritchie has put the effort into the campaign he should have. He hasn't been anywhere visibly until this last few weeks, whereas Kiffmeyer has sent staff to everything to explain the new voting machines. That plays well with a lot of people and I think they'll re-elect her

Auditor- Otto. Now, everyone else is saying Anderson. Perhaps I've just got to be different? I think Otto has run a good campaign for it being this position. Otto's commercials are right in there and make you believe in her ability and in the incompetance of anderson. I think she's done enough to keep this race in the headlines to win.

State House- I believe we will pick up 6 house seats but lose one with a net gain of 5 seats putting us in the low 70s. The Reports I'm hearing tell me Aaron Peterson is in the fight of his life, I just hope thats not the seat we lose.

State Senate- Not a lot of opportunity for either side. My biggest hope is that Sandy Rummel beats Maty Reider. One of the craziest Republicans in the Senate. I think we'll pick up 2 seats, Reiders and one other, enough to make our majority very solid.

US Senate: I think it'll be 51-49. We'll lose Tn but pick up VA and MO to give us a solid majority... assuming Lieberman doesn't switch sides... he gets to become the most powerful member of the Senate for the next few years. Oye!

US House: I think We will make significant gains. I predict 230 to 205. I predict Wazl will win but Wetterling will lose. I want both of them to win but I just don't think its in the cards (please prove me wrong on this one!) Wilde has no shot but hopefully she's kept the pressure on Ramstad enough so he is a non-factor in this election, if she pulls over 35% it'd be huge though. Kline will win solidly (in the 60s), Oberstar in the 60s, and Peterson in the high 50s, Ellison will just cross 50% and be at 51-2%.

Happy voting people!

Mike Hatch is being accused of a calling a reporter either a Republican Whore or Republcian Hack depending on whom you ask.

The Duluth News Tribune reported today that DFL gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch called one of its reporters a "Republican whore" on Thursday.

Hatch said Friday morning his recollection was that he used the word "Republican hack," not whore, but multiple reports of angry responses to reporters prompted Republicans to step up their line of attack on Hatch's as too intemperate and hotheaded to be elected governor.

This was a bad move. Either way name calling directed at members of the press is a bad idea. It usually leads to things like negative press. However, I lean more towards Mike Hatch's version than the reporters. I have a hard time believing Mike Hatch uses the word whore in this context. Republican Hack? I've heard him use tht term many times. But throwing in whore just doesn't seem lie Hatch.
Hopefully they can just cross their fingers for the next four days and let this go away.
Appoloize, move on, get on with the campaign.

Finney has started running these ads on cable TV. While it is only a Sheriff's race, its one in which we can win and take back our county. Bob Fletcher has been a bully, his deputies have long ignored the suburban Ramsey County areas, and its time for new leadership.

That leadership is Bill Finney and I encourage you to support him on Tuesday.

This is a clip from a state Senate debate between Senator Satveer Chaudhary and his challenger Rae Anderson. Just watch it and trust me, you'll laugh, you'll cry... ok mostly laugh.

While Joe over at MCR has some great graphs and such, I thought I would do the world (at least the 3 readers I have, Hi mom) a favor and talk about the trend in the governor's race and why I think Mike Hatch will be our next Governor.

There are two important things to look at concerning polls, the first is the margin of error/confidence number. If the MOE is greater than 3 or 4%, the poll is probably worthless.
The second thing though, is whethe it is a trend poll or a snapshot poll.

Most polls are snapshots. They don't communicate anything other than, at that exact moment in time, who is leading. They cannot accurately predict who will win. The only way to accurately examine that, is through trends.

The latest polls have all had Hatch with a lead, between 1 point (MOE) and 9 points. The last 5 polls however, show something much more telling than those snapshot polls. Republicans can and do decry polls like this very easily. But, its harder to argue against trend polls.
By taking the last polls from: The Humphrey Institute's poll Hatch: 45, Pawlenty 39- This was a phone poll. Zogby 46/45- Internet (I am less inclined to believe in internet polls then any other but for now I'll leave it). St. Cloud State- 46/37- Phone. Rasmussen 45/44 IVR. and Survey USA 45/44 IVR.

I have run a trend analysis on the latest polls. The most accurate numbers right now
are as follows:
Mike Hatch: 45.4%
Tim Pawlenty: 40.2%



Thats right, according to the trends over the past two weeks have Pawlenty going down, and Hatch going up or stayng stable. I think at this point there is a clear movement away from Pawlenty towards Hutchinson. Hatch's numbers have rarely fluctated, but Pawlenty's are moving more and more, and I think since the debate he's lost some credibility as well.
So, what does this mean? Governor Pawlenty, have your defeat speech ready.

I just read this article from an electronics blog and wanted to share it with everyone: How shocking right?

Apparently Diebold's problems aren't limited to Maryland, Georgia or Alaska -- what a shocker. Down in the Sunshine State, during a week of early voting before next week's nationwide midterm election, certain Diebold machines have been registering some votes for Democrats as selections for the Republican candidate. For instance, Gary Rudolf, a voter at a polling site near Ft. Lauderdale, tried to vote for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis (D); however, when the Diebold machine gave him the final review screen, it showed his vote was about to be cast for Charlie Crist (R). The problem took three tries to get resolved with the help of a local poll worker. Mary Cooney, a Broward County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman, informed The Miami Herald that it's "not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot -- essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-workers manual."

I'm glad I'm not the only one worried about these machines. This is going to be a close midterm election, and if machines aren't working properly, if even a thousand votes are miscast, it could cost someone an election. This really is ridiculous. We need national legislation to require a paper trail in elections or why even bother having them? Without exit polls and with a machine that is proven to malfunction, we might as well all vote John Stewart in '08.