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Open thread in one sentence:
We really need to get these guys out of power!

Nominations for Fall 06 Officers Open

Our nominees so far are:

Jake Levy-Pollans for co-chair
Molly Griffard for co-chair
Amy Hill for treasurer

You can nominate someone else by commenting on this post; all nominations must be seconded and accepted, though we can take care of stuff like that at meetings as well. No election date is set yet, so no rush.

Also, if you nominate/second a nomination, please either sign in or leave a name.

Kelly Doran Drops Out Of Governor's Race

Kelly Doran, rags-to-riches shopping center developer, has dropped out of the governor's race after a very poor showing at caucuses. Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, his running mate, is shopping around for a new ticket, and it could be Becky Lourey's.

From the Pioneer Press:

Lourey attended the news conference at which Doran announced he was leaving the race. In the news conference, Kiscaden said she would not run for re-election to the Legislature. But she indicates she might still consider offers for a second spot on one of the other Democrats' governor-lieutenant governor teams.

"I have had calls from everyone, and I have returned all those calls and we're going to talk next week," Kiscaden said.

Lourey, who called Kiscaden her "best friend," refused to say whether she would consider asking Kiscaden to join her as a running mate.

I heart NY

If the Democrats don’t win control of the House or Senate in the 2006 midterms, state Dems are getting ready to pounce. Win or lose the next 2 years will not be good for the Bush Administration if elected state officials have anything to say about it. Sean Patrick Maloney is running for Attorney General in New York. He has drawn up an official legal complaint that he would submit to the US District court for NY’s Eastern district. The complaint would require the Bush administration to show cause, in federal court, for any wiretapping for NY citizens. If this trend continues from state to state, Democrats will be sending a strong message: Game on.

Funny Video

Here is a funny video from the admitted students website that shows one students experience with same day registration at Mac Plymouth Church. Pretty funny stuff!

Campus Camp Wellstone!

Sign up for Campus Camp Wellstone!

4:30 – 9:15 pm Friday, March 31 and 10 am - 6:15 pm Saturday, April 1
Sign-in begins 4:00 pm on Friday in Olin-Rice 100

Campus Camp is completely free.
Dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday are provided, as are CCW T-shirts, books and other fun stuff.

Make sure to keep Saturday evening free for the Campus Camp Wellstone Opportunity Fair/Schmooze Event at O’Gara’s!

Email Stephanie to sign-up.

Phonebank to Defeat the Gay Marriage Ban

In a couple weeks Ryan Greenwood from Progressive Minnesota will be coming to speak to us about the different issues PM is working on, but in the mean time, they're running phonebanks to fight the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. If you're interested:

Tuesday March 21st 6-9pm at MAPA/Progressive MN 2484 University Ave W (Wright Bldg)

Thursday March 23rd 6-9pm SEIU MN State Council 2233 University Ave. W (Wright Bldg)

Monday March 27th 6-9pm SEIU MN State Council 2233 University Ave. W (Wright Bldg)

Tuesday March 28th 6-9pm SEIU MN State Council 2233 University Ave. W (Wright Bldg)

Something in the Water in Kansas

Remember good ol' sex education? How many of us never actually had "the talk" with tour parents, and had to depend on the school for correct information? Well, children in Kansas may no longer have that option.

By a 6-4 school board vote, parental permission is now required for students to participate in sex-ed. School board members who voted for the change claimed that it was about giving more power to parents. Of course, those opposed argued that the children whose parents were too lazy to sign the form or never saw the form are the ones who are most in need of sex education. One school board member, Kathy Martin, is pushing for further reform. She wants to require schools to adopt abstinence-only courses. She proposes that schools offer 9 weeks of "abstinence until marriage" instruction at least once between 6th and 9th grade, or risk losing their accreditation. The board will look at her proposal at a later meeting.

What makes this all interesting is that the Kansas Senate recently passed a bill mandating that public schools continue to require sex education that does not use an abstinence-only approach. A similar bill is currently in a house committee.
It looks like Kansas is headed towards a classic showdown between the school board and state legislature... Or possibly legal challenges--local school boards are afforded wide powers.

Just a sidenote: this was the same school board that made changes to policy to treat evolution as "a theory, not a fact" last november.

Good policy, bad policy? Predictions?

Becky Lourey Seperates Herself from Crowd

From the Kare 11 site

The Minnesota Senate passed a bill Thursday that would limit the types of protests allowed at soldier's funerals. This is in response to the recent Anoka protest at a funeral of a soldier who served in Iraq. The protesters, a Kansas-based group, are traveling around the country to funerals of soldiers who served in Iraq claiming that the United States is being punished because it is tolerant to homosexuals. The group believes that the United States should outlaw sodomy and give the death penalty to offenders.

The bill passed 58 to 1, with the sole dissent coming from Gubernatiorial candidate, Becky Lourey. Lourey is the only Minnesota legislator with a son killed in Iraq. In a Kare 11 interview, she said that although some free speech is 'ugly,' it needs to be protected, and she believes that this freedom of speech is something her son died for. The Minnesota house has unanimously passed a similar bill, and Pawlenty is expected to sign it into law.


Noble move by Becky Lourey or political stunt? Should we limit free speech in this case?

Anti-War March on Saturday, March 18th

• 12:00 PM---Join the "Youth Block" called by YAWR
  Protest the Military Recruitment station at Lake and Lyndale, Mpls
  Followed by a youth march to join the main rally at...

• 1:00 PM---MAIN RALLY and MARCH
  Gather at Library Plaza near Hennepin and Lagoon, Mpls
  followed by a march to the Basilica by Loring Park for an end
  rally.
  ...after the end rally, don't miss the...

• 3:30 PM---YOUTH MEETING to plan the student WALKOUT on April 28th. Loring Park Community Arts Center - 1382 Willow St. on east side of park between 14th St. & Grant

Norm goes...left?

Two concurrent headlines in today's Star Tribune: "Coleman calls for new White House team" and "Coleman to vote against budget bill that includes drilling in ANWR." Straying from the party line, Norm manages to evaluate the White House political team as not "at the level that it needs to be."

Interesting, eh? What do you think Norm's up to?

Need something to do?

We received this email last week:

Hello Macalester Dems. This might be a strange request, but hear me out.

I'm the campaign director for Jessica Peterson's campaign to unseat
State Senator Tom Neuville in SD25 (Northfield). Jessica is a
progressive Democrat, Rice County Commissioner, Carleton grad (1998),
and we think she has a really great chance to win, as long as we run
a top-notch campaign. I think that can happen, if we have enough help.

I'm writing to you all because I live just down the street from Mac,
on Portland between Howell and Dewey, and since for the next couple
months I'll be doing a lot of work from home, it seems like it would
make as much sense for Mac students to help out as Carleton and St.
Olaf students (who are also helping). So, if you know of Mac students
who might be interested in helping replace a powerful Republican and
champion of the DOMA with a progressive pro-choice woman, I'd love it
if they'd get in touch with me. I think this will be a great,
exciting campaign, run as smartly and innovatively as possible, and I
hope it will be a great experience for anyone interested in getting
real experience with responsibility in a state-level campaign.

Please get the word out. Thanks!


Scot Covey
Campaign Director
Jessica Peterson for State Senate
www.jessica-peterson.com

Straw Poll Results! or Let the Spin Begin

Straw Poll (partial results) are in, and DFL campaigns are spinning so fast, it could make anyone dizzy.

First, the statistics. According to the latest PiPress article (86% of results in), here's what we're looking at:

Governor (straw poll): Hatch 39%, Lourey 23%, Kelley 22%, Doran 6%.

Senator (straw poll): Klobuchar 77%, Bell 17%.

Secratary of State: Ritchie 38%, Sande 16%, Franson 5%.

State Auditor: Otto 46%, Edwards 12%.

Attorney General: Entenza 82%.

So what's it all mean?
1) Auditor candidate Reggie Edwards suspends his campaign until June.
2) Klobuchar claims "big win." No press release/public comment from Bell yet.
3) Hatch claims to have "decisively won," Lourey declares "this race is wide open" and Kelley says Hatch has "got some challenges."

The final word, though, has to go to Mike Hatch, as quoted in the Pioneer Press article:

Hatch shrugged off his opponents' assessments, saying, "Everybody spins."

Thoughts? Who won/lost the expectations game?

64A Editorial

The Pioneer Press wrote an editorial yesterday about the race for MN State House seat 64a, which includes Macalester's campus. The piece contains a number of oddities. To wit:

Take Erin Murphy and Sara Dady, the two women in the race. Murphy is a former nurse who is now executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association. Dady is an attorney who's now a stay-at-home mom who scratches her public service itch as a volunteer guardian ad litem for Ramsey County.

What about Donna Swanson? She's certainly another woman in the race.
The end of the article provides a list of links to candidates who it deems as "progressive" including Donna Swanson, but, oddly, Ian Keith's name or website never appear.

Nevertheless, the article is worth a read. It contains some interesting quotes from some of the candidates. The theme of the article-an emphasis on policy distinctions between the self-proclaimed "progressive" candidates in the race (DFL and otherwise)-is particularly appropriate, given that caucuses are tomorrow. Learn more about the DFL candidates for 64a and their policy differences by visiting:

http://www.donarnosti.com
http://www.swansonforstpaul.com
http://neighborsformurphy.com
http://www.saradady.com
http://www.iankeith.org

I could not locate any contact information for Jim White. If anyone has any to add, I can edit this post.

Don't forget to caucus!

Caucus on Tuesday!

Hello, Democrats!

Caucuses are this Tuesday (March 7) at 7 pm. Have candidate preferences? Come help choose the DFL-endorsed candidates for 2006!

For Governor: Mike Hatch, Kelly Doran, Steve Kelley or Becky Lourey?

For U.S. Senator: Amy Klobuchar or Ford Bell?

For 64A State House Rep: Don Arnosti, Erin Murphy, Jim White, Donna Swanson, Ian Keith or Sara Dady?

For State Auditor: Reggie Edwards or Rebecca Otto?

For Attorney General: Matt Entenza or...well. We all love Matt Entenza anyway.

Come caucus! If you haven't decided between candidates, you're also welcome: you can still come caucus as an undecided. We'll send out a reminder soon so we can meet up and walk there together, otherwise, we'll see you at Ramsey Junior High at 7 o'clock. Hope we see you all there!

Introduction and Odds and Ends

Hey Folks,

My name's Caleb and I'm a Junior at Mac. This is my first post on this blog (or any blog, for that matter), so forgive me for any rookie mistakes.

Item #1: First live debate featuring U.S. Senate candidates Ford Bell, Amy Klobuchar, and Mark Kennedy took place yesterday. The AP writeup of that debate is available here. Bell and Klobuchar also appeared on MPR's Midday in a Q&A call-in format. The taped audio from that show is available here.

Item #2: New Rassumussen Poll available on MN Governor Race. The most salient points (parentheticals indicate last months numbers):

Head-to-head: Hatch 45% (44) - Pawlenty 40% (47).

Head-to-head: Kelley 42% (37)- Pawlenty 42% (46)

Favorability Ratings: Hatch 60%, Pawlenty 57%, Kelley 47%.

Things worth noting: Interesting to note Kelley's 5-point pickup, and Pawlenty's 6-7 point drop. Hatch seems to be holding steady. It's also worth noting that a head-to-head poll ignores the potential impact of Peter Hutchinson, who is running as an *correction* Independence Party candidate.

Have a great weekend!

Pro-War Ads

Revealing their mid-term election strategy, conservative wing-nut groups like Progress For America announced today that they will spend $1 million dollars painting a rosy picture of the war in Iraq to Minnesota TV viewers. This effort is designed to bolster support for war the according to an article in today’s Chicago Tribune.

My message to Progress For America is this: if you want to sway people’s opinions on the war, maybe you should also do a $1 million dollar ad buy to play for the troops on the streets of Baghdad. They, more than any of us, know exactly how the war is going and this week a new Zogby poll shows that our dedicated and courageous troops overwhelmingly think that America should withdraw from Iraq. So, before you start taking your deceptive campaign to the good people of Minnesota, perhaps you can run those ads by the people who are actually fighting this war.

Come one! Come all!

The caucuses are coming! The caucuses are coming! So get informed. The final candidate forum for the zillion (6) 64A (that being us) state house candidates is tonight. Hosted by us, the wonderful and beautiful Macdems, at 8:30 in the JBD lecture hall—basement of the C.C. Bring a friend, bring two friends; bring who ever you’d like. Lets pack the building for the last chance to hear from these great candidates.