Cravaack to move family to New Hampshire, risks alienating voters
Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:44 am
- 13 Comments
U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack plans to move his family from Minnesota to New Hampshire to be closer to his kids while in Washington, which could hurt Cravaack in 2012 by bolstering criticism that his ties to the region are light.
The freshman congressman told the Duluth News Tribune Saturday that his official residence will remain in the 8th Congressional District, although he plans to sell his house in Lindstrom and buy another in North Branch.
Cravaack’s wife, Traci, works in a medical supply business in Boston part of each week. The move will allow both parents to spend more time with their kids, Cravaack told the Mesabi Daily News. He said he plans to spend Saturdays in Minnesota and Sundays in New Hampshire.
Aaron Brown, editor of Minnesota Brown, already weighed in on some of the possible implications for Cravaack:
While Jim Oberstar was gone a lot, maybe even more than Cravaack, the image he projected was that of traditional Range politics and no one questioned his knowledge of the region. A freshman, no matter the situation, does not have that goodwill built up yet. While politics might be practiced differently than in the past, I still estimate voters in this district to be mindful of a candidate’s roots and hometown.
Throughout the 2010 race, Cravaack was characterized by some as a “packsacker” the Iron Range term for carpetbagger. Cravaack’s home in Lindstrom is at the extreme southern end of the 8th District.
Brown told the Minnesota Independent that the move might not hurt Cravaack’s 2012 chances if former state Sen. Tarryl Clark, who moved to the district to run for the seat, gets the DFL nod. But Cravaack’s move could boost the campaigns of longtime residents former U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan and Duluth Council Member Jeff Anderson.
Although the move comes with risks, Cravaack still is leaving his DFL challengers in the dust in fundraising, according to the quarterly July reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
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Comment posted July 18, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
“Cravaack still is leaving his DFL challengers in the dust in fundraising, according to the quarterly July reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.”
Yes, but all that fundraising occurred before he made his announcement to move. I can’t believe this move is NOT going to affect him in some way or are the 8th District people as insane as the 6th District folks who keep electing Bachmann? Maybe we have some mass brain disease working it’s way through MN.
Comment posted July 18, 2011 @ 1:07 pm
Someone speak some sense to Clark and give her an honorable out.
Comment posted July 18, 2011 @ 1:35 pm
News flash, Chip: NH is nowhere near DC. He must be looking at the Teabagger map of the world.
Comment posted July 18, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
Bachmann doesn’t spend any time in the 6th. Why should Cravaack spend any time in the 8th? Great representation there, voters.
Comment posted July 18, 2011 @ 8:10 pm
Interesting that you would criticize him for “moving his family to New Hampshire.” If you folks were really feminists, you would be praising him because he’s moving them to follow his wife who has a much better job than he has.
Of course, for DFLers, the greatest possible job is one on the public payroll where you can’t get fired for not working hard, so you don’t agree with that.
And of course, you’re only feminists when it comes to liberal DFL women. To DFLers, Republican women are beneath contempt and not worth of respect.
DFL, thy name is hypocrisy.
Comment posted July 19, 2011 @ 4:28 am
Ray
What in the muck are you talking about? Feminism? Where did that come from? He doesn’t live in the district. He’s moving his family out of the district (and out of the state). He shouldn’t be representing the district. That’s it.
Just another example of the absurdity of conservatives. They don’t like reality so they invent one of their own. Unbelievable.
Comment posted July 19, 2011 @ 5:43 am
Wonderful comment Kevin.
What voters were thinking about when they elected this person is beyond me. He has no interest in this part of the country, does not care what happens here, doesn’t care about the education system in Minnesota–which we have been pretty proud of in the past–, is not concerned about jobs in Minnesota–no one in his family is employed here—
How did he get elected?
We need a change!!!
Comment posted July 19, 2011 @ 9:48 am
Cravaak is the eptiome of the entitlement free loader. Before congress he had no job because of sleep apnea disability. I know many, many people who have sleep apnea and still find time to work. Here is this free loader collecting disability while criticizing our entitlement culture.
Comment posted July 19, 2011 @ 12:04 pm
Shorter Ray:
“I have no idea what I’m talking about.”
Comment posted July 19, 2011 @ 9:28 pm
Sharon, Alec and Kevin…could you be any more ignorant? First off Alec…do you realize that he was an airline pilot responsible for flying hundreds of people 30,000 feet in the air? Do you realize the liablility that Norwest airlines would have if they allowed a pilot to fly a commerical airliner with this condition? It wasn’t his decision, matter of fact there was no decision – he simply could not fly. And yes, this is a legitimate reason to collect disability from a private company – not from the government!
Sharon, your comments are laughable. He has no interest and doesn’t care what happens here? Really? He’s lived in Minnesota for over 20 years, raised a family here, sent his kids to public school here and decided to run for Congress to help make it better. He realized what a joke Oberstar was and wanted to help change things for the better.
Kevin, you can’t be serious. Cravaack has been back to the district more in 6 months than Oberstar had in 10 years. The article clearly states that while his family is moving he is still maintaning a home in North Branch. Sure he will spend some time in NH with his family but he will still be doing what is best for the 8th.
Clearly the sour grapes aren’t tasting too good for the DFL’ers!
Comment posted July 24, 2011 @ 6:03 am
When trying to send a message through an advocacy group of my choice I now get the following message…
Representative Chip Cravaack – Representative Cravaack will not accept email messages unless they are sent using this web form.
Irony that his webform only accepts six lines; hardly enough for an opinion on anything.. I think that’s pretty much ‘out of touch’!
Can you say Carpetbagger Chip?
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” ~Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland.
Comment posted August 29, 2011 @ 3:30 pm
Just read this article, and am a little disgusted. No, pilots can’t fly when they are diagnosed with sleep apnea, but they are now allowed to be treated for it and carry a breathing machine on trips. What I’m wondering is why Chip hasn’t pursued any treatment for his problem. Kind of a nice “retirement” pkg, I guess. Not sure why Delta isn’t following up on him. He is a hypocrite because he enjoys the benefits of a union negotiated contract that provides him a decent standard of living, both from Delta and the government. It seems that he will take whatever he can get.
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