Capitol View®

The Daily Digest: 9-27-06

The war in Iraq and President Bush lead the digest today. A MPR/St. Paul Pioneer Press poll says people aren't happy with the war and President Bush. Here's a story by MPR and one by the Pi Press.

Mark Kennedy's U.S. Senate campaign released the ad that got the chief spokeswoman of his Democratic rival fired. The Pi Press and Star Tribune have stories. I also wrote about this in an earlier post.

The Center for Public Integrity has an interesting analysis of how much consultants, like the person who created Kennedy's ad, made in past years. Scott Howell made $16,532,521 in '03 and '04 as a media consultant.

Think there are too many negative ads this year? The New York Times says it's a theme across the country.

WCCO's Pat Kessler has a story on how polls are conducted, which features Kennedy's campaign manager ripping a Star Tribune poll.

The St. Cloud Times says two of the three candidates running for Congress in Minnesota's Sixth District debated yesterday. Democrat Patty Wetterling was one of those kids who was doin' her own thing and didn't attend. That led to accusations from Bachmann and the MNGOP that she was ducking the debate. Wetterling's folks say they never agreed to attend. You can read about the entire flap at Eric Black's blog. Warning: This type of campaign spin can make you dizzy.

Roll Call (subscription required) says the GOP is going all out for Bachmann even though they insist it's a conservative district. That leads to this question - What does it say about the GOP's chances this year when they're investing all of this time and money on a race that they think they can win?

The GOP should hope that there are plenty of married couples in the Sixth. USA Today says strong GOP districts are stacked with married couples.

House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio is reportedly going to campaign for fellow Republican Gil Gutknecht in October.

The candidates for governor debate the issues tonight.

Meanwhile, Governor Pawlenty starts talking timber. The Duluth News Tribune and Star Tribune have stories. I wonder if he'll tell those future unemployed workers that "Minnesota's economy is red-hot!"?

Hatch's office says they called for the summit last week. This story focuses on the fact that Hatch couldn't walk the letter across the hall.

The Marshall Independent picks up on Michael Brodkorb's posts on Hatch.

The MNGOP has a news conference on the issue today at 2:15 in St. Paul.

The Duluth News Tribune reports that the state subsidies for politicians who abide by the spending limits have been sent.

WCCO-TV and KARE-11 have stories on a debate between the two candidates for Ramsey County Sheriff.

Tim Dolan's bid to become police chief of Minneapolis may have hit a snag says the Star Tribune. The city council discusses the issue today in an executive session.

Finally, good bye to Byron Nelson. May your journey be all fairways and one putts. The Masters won't be the same without you on the first tee on Thursday greeting all of those golfers.