Posts by Chris Steller

Gov. Pawlenty’s new Freedom First political action committee held its first local fundraiser tonight at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. About 250 people — the same size crowd Pawlenty drew at the PAC’s considerably more affordable pretzel reception in Washington, D.C. last month – paid $1,000 each to attend a reception on the hotel’s third [...]

They went there to ensure that nobody was wrongfully turned away from a Minneapolis polling place infamous for electoral mishaps. They ended up across the street, with police threatening arrest if they set foot inside again.

Minneapolis’ first try at instant-runoff voting went well, judging by a low number of spoiled ballots. But the number of ballots cast was also low, spoiling the system’s otherwise successful debut.

Actor Jon Voight dances to Minnesota Republicans’ tune over the next two days, appearing tonight with Gov. Tim Pawlenty at the first local fundraising event for his new Freedom First PAC in Minneapolis and on Thursday with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Washington, D.C., answering her call to storm the U.S. Capitol to stop health [...]

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine bristled at Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s litmus test for deciding whether she can call herself a Republican. “I’ve been a lifelong Republican. I haven’t changed. I don’t know what the problem is. I really don’t,” Snowe told the Politico. “Other Republicans could probably borrow more from me … in [...]

In making the case for his federal same-day voter registration bill, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison points to how much voter fraud was alleged in the “highly scrutinized” Norm Coleman-Al Franken U.S. Senate contest due to Minnesotans’ ability to register to vote on Election Day: none.

DFL Party sample ballot mailings that were supposed to arrive Friday or Saturday still had not reached some Minneapolis mailboxes as of Monday. Minneapolis DFL chair Dan McConnell says the party has been working with the postal service to locate undelivered sample ballots and get them to their destinations by today, Election Day.

MSNBC commentators jumped on a remark by Gov. Pawlenty this morning about minimum requirements for being a Republican candidate: ”There’s a range of behavior and issue positions you can take. You just can’t be so far out of the mainstream that it becomes a joke.”

Fair warning to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe: Gov. Tim Pawlenty is watching you. “We want Olympia Snowe in the big tent,” he told MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, “but she can’t say she’s a Republican and vote against the Republican position much of the time.” Also in cable-news drama today, Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson [...]

State Rep. Paul Thissen may be seeking the DFL Party’s gubernatorial endorsement, but he sounded down on the whole party thing in a karaoke duet with his wife, Karen Wilson, over the insistent synth tones of Prince’s “1999.”