- Home
- About Us
- Contributors
- Departments
- Topics
- Back Issues
- Weekly Archives
- AmSpecBlog
- Subscribe
- Newsletter
- Advertise
- Donate
- Contact Us
- Daily Digest
- Templeton Essays
search
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Campaign Crawlers
Blue Minnesota
Minnesota has never been a red state. A state that elected Humphrey, Mondale, Wellstone, Ventura, and -- almost -- Franken couldn't be. But it has been trending rightward in recent elections. This year, conservatives held out hope the one state to vote against Ronald Reagan would be an outlier again, as one of the battleground states that could go Republican.
Ah, the audacity of hope. Barack Obama won the state by about ten points, with 54 percent of the vote. And that wasn't the only -- or more surprising -- example of Minnesotans' leftward shift.
A constitutional amendment was on Minnesota's ballot this year. The "Clean Water, Wildlife, Cultural Heritage and Natural Areas Amendment" would provide additional funding to preserve Minnesota's wildlife and lakes in additional to its arts and cultural heritage. Sounds nice. After all, who wants to drink dirty water or hunt in a forest with "unprotected" wildlife?
The amendment would increase the sales tax to provide $300 million in revenue for the state. The Taxpayers League of Minnesota claimed the Amendment would provide $11 billion to the state in revenue over the next 25 years. Despite the fact that several major newspapers-- including the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press -- came out against the sales tax increase as did organizations like the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Farm Bureau, almost 56 percent of Minnesotans didn't mind paying an extra $60 per year (per household) so they voted themselves a tax increase.
And they also voted for politicians who would keep the tax hikes coming. Just two cycles ago, Republicans had a majority in the state House. On Election Day last week, the DFL -- as Democrats are known in Minnesota -- came within three votes short in the House of the 90 required to override Governor Tim Pawlenty's oft-used veto pen.
There was slippage even in the conservative parts of the state. In the Sixth District, incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann was supposed to be a shoo-in. So was House Minority Leader Erik Paulsen, running in the heavily Republican Third Congressional District. Ultimately, they both won, but the races were closer than expected. Paulsen won by eight points, Bachmann by two and the skin of her teeth.
Now all eyes are on the unresolved race between Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic joker Al Franken. On election night, it appeared Franken had lost fair and square by 725 votes. Since the race was so tight, talk of a recount began immediately. Strangely, by the next day, the gap between Coleman and Franken had decreased. Miraculously, if you'll pardon the expression, over the course of the week, Franken started picking up votes even before the recount By Monday afternoon, Coleman was ahead by a mere 206 votes.
Though the race is officially undecided or tied pending a recount, the irony of the drastic change in votes is there hasn't even been one yet. Rather, state election officials have been "finding" votes peppered across the Northern part of Minnesota for days. One township originally reported 24 votes for Al Franken. According to the Star Tribune, the number was revised to 124 -- advantage Franken -- because "exhausted county officials had accidentally entered 24 for Franken instead of 124 when the county's final votes were tallied at 5:25 Wednesday morning."
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is a zealous partisan Democrat. Conservative organizations and elected officials in Minnesota don't trust his ability to execute a clean recount because of his relationship with ACORN, as reported by TAS here.
Scholar John Lott goes so far as to say Minnesota is "Ripe for Election Fraud": "To many, it just seems like too much of a coincidence that Minnesota's one tight race just happens to be the race with the most 'corrected' votes by far. But the real travesty will be to start letting election officials divine voter's intent."
Judging from the other election results, however, more liberal politicians and higher taxes do seem to be the Minnesota voters' intent. A few extra votes for Franken here and there, Democrats must reason, is just icing on the cake.
Comments
Leave a Comment
Related Articles
ADVERTISEMENT
Are you in a mob?
The Democrats say Obamacare opponents are a mob. Are they right?
Participating in this survey will subscribe you to the American Spectator email newsletter. You may unsubscribe at any time.
ADVERTISEMENT
Captain America| 11.12.08 @ 7:01AM
As a "red" in "blue Minnesota" I can tell you that this piece is a gross oversimplification. The slim margins for Reps. Bachmann and Paulsen is emblematic of voter angst over the incumbent President and his administration.
Moreover, the DNC poured a great deal of money into the opposition's campaigns. Ms. Bachmann was embattled by the difficult Chris Matthews interview on MSNBC during which she admittedly muffed her comments about anti Americanism and Barack Obama. She obviously was not aware of Matthews' ulterior motives and fell prey to his attack. The next day, the DNC decided to pump $2M into her opponent's campaign and brought in the heavy guns.
As for the preserve, wildlife act, Minnesotans have and will always fall for anything associated with wildlife and the environment ("Land of 10,000 lakes" anyone?). And, people in Minnesota have long run counter to the local newspapers' editorials. I don't see this act as emblematic of a tilt to blue.
Missing from this piece is our two-term Republican Governor, Tim Pawlenty, who remains a very popular figure.
I encourage anyone who cares about potentially stolen elections to go to the StarTribune website and read the article by Katherine Kersten. Most troubling is the concerted effort by Moveon.org to stock the Secretary of State office with their cronies.
Karl| 11.12.08 @ 7:56AM
Nice try on the sales tax increase in Minnesota. Unfortunately, you seem to have taken the word of the charlatans over at the Minnesota Taxpayers League. How do you get to $60 a month with a .375% sales tax increase? That's 3/8 of 1%. That's what the sales tax increase was. I didn't vote for it, but I detest your use of phony statistics.
Hothead| 11.12.08 @ 9:01AM
Captian America,
Just because you live in Minnesota doesn't mean that you are an expert on Minnesota politics.
You cannot convince me that Bachmann and Paulson's weak victories are because of Bush and his administration. It is because Republicans have not been acting like Republicans for the past decade. How else can you explain, not only the loss of a majority in the Minnesota House, but the DFL coming within 3 votes of a veto proof majority. That cannot all be laid at the feet of Bush.
As for money, your right, there was a lot spent, but it was by the DCCC, not the DNC. The money that was spent in Minnesota by the DNC was primarily for Obama, not the congressional races. Sure there is bleed over because of McCain-Feingold, but the purpose of DNC money was to win the state for Obama. If you can post a link to where the $2 million was spent by the DNC, I would like to review it. Looked at FEC.gov and opensecrets.org and didn’t find this expenditure.
Pawlenty doesn’t need to be added to this piece, unless you want to talk about moderate republicans who have pandered to the Democrats to get elected. And remember in 2006 the reason Pawlenty won a second term was because Mike Hatch’s campaign exploded with the E-85 incident and Hatch calling that reporter a “Republican whore”. Further, if Green Party candidate or the Independence Party candidate were not in the race, Hatch would have likely won. So your argument holds no ground.
Karl,
Can we assume that the definition of a charlatan is anyone who doesn't agree with you?
Mike| 11.12.08 @ 9:26AM
Good, the "hearty" Minnesota citizens get exactly what they deserve. Their NFL team, the "Vikings" (a misnomer if there ever was one) play indoors and are seldom victorious. The fact is Franken never should have been close at all. Shows what kind of losers inhabitate that State.
Doctor Right| 11.12.08 @ 12:56PM
This is yet another test for the GOP and the RNC Chairman. The Party needs to fight Franken and the Dems on this issue tooth and nail. The voter fraud that is taking place is so obvious and so blatant it's sickening.
Frankly, it'd be nice to see a few heavily Republican precincts in Minnesota "suddenly" find a few hundred votes for Coleman lying around in a plastic bag somewhere. When the Dems scream and cry about it, call their bluff and ask for a FULL Recount of the entire state by an independent committee, starting with the votes as they were on the morning after the election. Throw-out anything that's been found since then based on the "unreliability".
That's be fun to watch...
Otherwise, the people of Minnesota deserve what they get. That a complete idiot like Al Franken gets one single vote is a disgrace for the state.
So what's it going to be, GOP? Fight, or fold??
We're watching...
Marc Jeric| 11.12.08 @ 2:18PM
The teacher union has finally, after 40 years of unrelenting effort, obtained its goal - they have "educated" a nation of illiterate morons. Just like other industries with "strong" unions - say automobile, steel, textile, electronics, etc. - education has died here; unfortunately it cannot be outsourced like these other industries. That is how we elect an empty suit with marxist past like Abu Hussein from Kenya, a bloviating lying gasbag like Biden, and this creep of a comedian. I see no future for this country with the teacher union in charge.
Thrifty Scot| 11.12.08 @ 3:18PM
You're wrong, Hothead.
Bachmann's victory margin was a consequence of her close association with Pres. Bush and her failure to control her brain-to-mouth logorrhea on Hardball. As for not acting like a Republican, Bachmann is as solid a conservative as you'll find.
Paulsen replaced Jim Ramstad, who routinely won with 65% of the vote. Ramstad was a RINO of the first order; Paulsen was unquestionably more conservative (though not truly a conservative) and that cost him a significant number of independent, Ramstad votes.
Nicole's statement that the amendment would cost $60 per month is incorrect. The Taxpayer's League put the cost at $60 per year per family.
Tom| 11.12.08 @ 3:25PM
You could not be more wrong about the Erik Paulsen race in the 3rd District. The 3rd district is not heavily Republican. It is an R +1 at best, and probably more like an R +0.5, and Obama easily won the district.
The congressional race was never an easy win for Erik Paulsen, most rankings had it as one of the top ten most competitive in the Nation. Most pre-election national pundits had the race as a pure toss-up some even had it leaning Democrat.
Erik Paulsen was outspent by over 3 million dollars, yet he easily won the district by 8 points because he ran an incredible campaign, focused mainly on opposing tax increases.
The 3rd district was an open seat because the Moderate/Liberal Republican Jim Ramstad was retiring. Erik Paulsen said in the campaigned that he was more conservative then Jim Ramstad, he said he was more of a Tim Pawlenty Republican. The Conservatives had a definite upgrade in there congressional delegation this year.
It is also true that the DFL picked up a net of 2 seats in the Minnesota house, but that does not tell the whole story. Last term, 6 liberal Republicans voted to override a Pawlenty veto on the state gas tax. The GOP came back and mounted primary challenges to all of them. Two retired, two lost their seats, and only two returned to the legislature. So if you look at the big picture, Gov. Pawlenty’s veto is now more secure than last year. We had a net gain of +2, if you consider legislators who are willing to stand behind their Governor.
I was really disappointed in the research you did for this piece, there were so many inaccuracies. You really need to do more research on Minnesota. If you did, I wouldn’t be surprised if you came back and wrote a piece about how we withstood the big Dem tide, huge sums of money, and made gains for conservatives.
Mike G| 11.12.08 @ 3:45PM
$16,000 x 0.00375 = $60
$16,000/year subjected to sales tax may or may not be reasonable. Remember it is an average.
Grant| 11.12.08 @ 10:04PM
Franken has to steal the election in order to win. (He's not just playing for a seat in the US Senate.)
The sales tax increase was backed by Mark Dayton (inter alii), former Senator, and idle heir to a retailing fortune. His hope is that the proceeds will be a dedicated fund for the Socialist cause.
Minnesota (I was born here) used to be Blue because of the darn Swedes. It's in their blood. Now, the main population centers have been taken over by aliens from another planet. The streets look about the same as they always did (albeit more adipose), but close encounters betray the alien quality of the aliens: it resembles Bush Derangement Syndrome. Those areas in the rural countryside devoid of a meth problem are still good, though. Don't hold hope for the state as a whole, however, as the climate is too extreme outside the shelter of the cities for all but Real People.
Daniel| 11.13.08 @ 4:23PM
Minnesota. Is that a state or a Canadian province? Looks to me like Minnesota, like the like minded morons in Michigan, are about to have their chickens come home to roost. Problem is, the rest of us are going to have to listen to them whine like spoiled children because all "their" jobs are leaving these states run by liberal regimes. "Their" jobs? What a load. Business does not exist to provide jobs, medical benefits or tax revenue. Grow up liberals. The adults in this once great republic are getting tired of your infantile behavior. Either that or shut up. You got what you asked for. Deal with it.
Hothead| 11.17.08 @ 12:23PM
Thrifty,
Her close relationship with Bush might have been a factor, but it misses the underlying causes. While Bachman is indeed conservative I feel that this election was a repudiation of the Republican Party's move to the center. Republicans, in general, have become big spenders in an effort to win votes away from the Democrats, but it has backfired. Voters wanted all Republicans out. from the White House right on down to the Minnesota House. Sure there are bright spots, but they are the exception to the rule.
Further, I think you are missing the point of the article, which is that Minnesota was becoming a red state and the 2008 elections slammed the door on the Republican party's dreams of making Minnesota red.
Tom,
You are obviously a Republican agent, with your R+1 lingo, but you are wrong about the 3rd district not being heavily Republican. It is heavily Repubilican, just not heavily conservative - there is a major difference between the two.
With the way you are defending the Paulson campaign, it makes me think the campaign manager is your daughter or something...
As for the 6 liberal "Republicans", it was not the GOP that mounted primary challenges, it was the grassroots activists that mounted the primaries. And you are foolish if you think that Pawlenty's veto is more secure this year than last.
Again, I think you miss the point of the article, that Minnesota moved from blue to almost red. The state had a majority in the house, had the governor, Sec. of state, Auditors offices, a US Senate seate and were within spitting distance of controlling the state senate. Now all they have is the governor's office and Senator Coleman who is hanging on by a thread to a comedian.
If you want to defend those results, feel free, but to state that an article should be written about "how we withstood the big Dem tide, huge sums of money, and made gains for conservatives" makes you look ignorant.
W. James Antle III| 11.18.08 @ 4:23AM
This piece has been edited to reflect the accurate statistic for the sales tax increase: $60 per household per year. The original article incorrectly stated that it was $60 per household per month. We regret the error.
Murphy| 3.2.09 @ 8:55AM
Wow! A conservative mouthpiece like Nicole Russell not getting the facts straight - what a shocker!
A Sara Palin/Michele Bachmann GOP ticket in 2012! Please push for it all you right-wing-nuts!
As an Alaskan said after the November election about Sara Palin: "She's all outa BS and she's the only one who don't realize it" - the same can be said for Michele Bachmann & Nicole Russell.
tiffany jewellery| 8.14.09 @ 3:34AM
Very good to see the tiffany jewellery tiffany jewellery tiffany jewellery links of london hollister clothing ed hardy christian audigier abercrombie
feeling quite.
christian louboutin prive| 9.8.09 @ 3:06AM
one day i went shopping outside ，and in an ed hardy store，I found some kinds of ed hardy i love most。