Rambling from the North

John McCain has come out to criticize former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld as one of the worst defense secretaries in our nation's history.

McCain says that Rummy made a lot of mistakes, and basically was a moron at running a war. I can't disagree with him on any of these statements. The problem is, everyone else was saying this a year ago. Where was McCain?

Once again McCain doesn't know where he actually stands on issues. This article sounds like he woke up one morning and realized, "crap! I've totally pushed away all of the moderates, maybe I should curry their favor again!" While this is all well and good, he missed this one. What good is it to criticize someone when they are out of office? Boo-urns on you McCain, Boo-urns.

Labels: McCain 08

I have just come from the TriTek tower in Minneapolis, where Al Franken has officially kicked off his campaign for the United States Senate. The rally was attended by about 20 students, and about 6 adults. An interesting sighting however was former State Senator Ted Mondale's appearance at the rally, fully squelching the possibility of him running for Senate.

Franken's actual announcment was short, I'm running, check out our website. But then he took about 20 minutes of reporter's questions, ranging from whether he thought a comedian could actually be a good candidate to his actual legitimacy. He handled the reporter's questions like a pro. He spent a little bit of time talking to supporters, like you do, and now is off somewhere, campaigning.

I haven't heard much about his campaign team yet- so far Andy Barr (SP?) is managing him, with Dusty Trice (again can someone check the spelling?) running his field. Dusty was formerly with the DNC organizing the Minnesota "Fighting" Third. He is a fairly decent organizer, and knows his stuff, so Al is at least recruiting the right kind of people into his organization.

As for this blog- we will stay neutral for now, unless someone offers us a job, we'll probably sit, watch, and provide commentary on all potential candidates, and keep you, the reader, informed.

Labels: Franken, Senate '08

Mit Romney has officially entered the Presidential race.

DEARBORN, Michigan (CNN) -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney returned to his native state of Michigan on Tuesday to kick off his bid officially for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

he telegenic Romney, 59, who was a successful venture capitalist before entering politics, finished a single term as Massachusetts' governor in January, after opting not to seek re-election. He was elected to the top post in the overwhelmingly Democratic Bay State in 2002 after leading a successful turnaround effort at the scandal-plagued Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Romney is a fairly strong candidate for the Republican nomination. He has good moderate credibility, and is seen as filling the gap between McCain and Giuliani. While those two battle it out, he has a good chance of slipping in between the two and snatching the nomination away. However, being Mormon will effect his chances, is the US ready for a Mormon president? While this shouldn't matter, I doubt it.

Labels: 2008 Pres Campaign

There has been a lot of speculation about who is in and who is out in 2008 for the US Senate Race.

I'm going to provide a bit of speculation on the race right now and who I think is in based on observations at this weekends business conference.

The foremost who is definititely in is Minneapolis Attorney Mike Ceresi. There are several clear indications that he is going to enter the race. The clearest of these is hiring DFL strategist Ed Gross, who's specialty is winning DFL endorsement conventions. Ceresi also attended the business conference, something unusual for Ceresi, unless he is planning to announce. I think he is in.

Fmr. State Senator Ted Mondale is also a consideration for the Senate seat. He also attended the Business Conference, an unusual move for Mondale. MDE has him listed as not running, but there is always a possibility, especially if he is increasing his attendance at party functions, like the business conference.

State Senator Mee Moua- sources close to Senator Moua indicate that she is going to wait 08 out and there is a strong possibility of her running for Governor. The fact that she isn't appearing and starting to talk to more DFLers again indicates her desire to wait out this election cycle and potentially run in 08. I think she's out.

More on this race later.

Since the 2008 Senate campaign appears to be upon us, i thought I would remind everyone about Coleman's ethics.

In 2005 Coleman had more private travel expenses than any other person in the Minnesota delegation. In fact, he was one of the highest traveled Senators that year. I have provided screen shots of the news clips (they are not available online that I could find, if one of my readers finds them, please tell me so I could link it.

Just a break down for everyone- Coleman took more than $37,000 in privately funded trips in 2005. 2005 was actually less than 2003 for Senator Coleman, he's been at the top of the privately funded trips. But yet he has ethics. In the article, he also states he would list his privately funded on his website. I've searched and couldn't find them. They don't exist. Another prime example of Norm and his ethics. Read the article, its interesting and it really does show how Norm has been paid for by special interests, and he's really not the moderate he's pretending to be.

Here is the article. I'll be adding more reminders of Coleman's lack of ethics later this week.

In recent news, the current Governor of Texas, Rick Perry ordered HPV vaccines for girls in Texas. This unprecedented move by a Republican Governor, should open the door for other Governors to do the same.

HPV is a serious and deadly disease, and it is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer in women. The reason why there is backlash against Governor Perry is because of the link between HPV and sex, usually the first few years of sexual activity. This means that some of those on the crazy right, believe its a means of punishment for people who engage in pre-marital sex. So anyone who supports a vaccine for it, clearly supports pre-marital sex. Makes sense right?

But the important thing is that Governor Perry is doing what is right. He has placed the needs of the population above his own personal morals, and I applaud him for doing so.
I also think it should be done right here in Minnesota. Please join me in e-mailing Governor Pawlenty's office, and asking him to do the same.


For more information on this subject, please visit: www.hpv.com

After receiving a lot of feed back from a lot of people, I decided to go back to the old template. Sure, its boring. Yes, its orange, but its better than what I had.

In other news, MDE is reaching out by attacking a former State Senator in his latest posts. Is Brodkorb just out of new material? My guess is yes. If you've got nothing else, start attacking the old. Did Hottinger mess up? Its looking like he did, but does it matter since he's out of office? eh... Is it front page news? Definitely not! Ah well, I'd rather have him waste his time there than actually doing something useful, like serving me lunch.