The Minnesota Independent

Posts by Steve Perry

Bloomberg: Fed won’t say to whom it’s lent $2 trillion in public funds

By Steve Perry | 11.11.08 | 9:55 am


Bloomberg News reports that the Federal Reserve Bank is “refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.” Reporters Mark Pittman,…

Obama waffling on his commitment to a no-torture policy?

By Steve Perry | 11.11.08 | 9:28 am

Siobhan Gordon of the Wall Street Journal takes a look at Barack Obama’s intelligence team, and it’s a must-read whose headline says it all: “Intelligence policy to stay largely intact.” Gordon writes:

As a candidate, Mr. Obama

Letterman: Top 10 things overheard during Bush/Obama meeting

By Steve Perry | 11.11.08 | 9:16 am

For sizing reasons, the video’s below the jump.

The Schultz Report: Why didn’t Obama have any coattails in Minnesota?

By Steve Perry | 11.05.08 | 3:57 pm

In our first post-election installment of the Schultz Report, David Schultz talks about the mixed bag that last night brought for Minnesota Democrats–handing a 10-point margin to Barack Obama on one hand, but failing to net any congressional pickups and falling short of the five-seat increase needed to give the party a 2/3 majority in the Minnesota House.

“For all of those [down-ticket Minnesota] races,” notes Schultz, “you have Democrats coming in on average about 10 points behind where Obama was.” What gives?

Biggest underachiever on congressional Democrats’ big night? Probably Minnesota

By Steve Perry | 11.05.08 | 12:29 pm

The main question for the national Democratic party this morning may be what to take for all those post-victory hangovers, but at some point the chieftains of the Democratic congressional apparatus will get around to examining those few places where the party failed to make the most of a decisive Barack Obama win. And when they do, Minnesota — where Obama turned in the strongest Democratic presidential performance since 1976 — is likely to be at the top of the list.

Nate Silver: Why you should ignore exit polls

By Steve Perry | 11.04.08 | 12:14 pm

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com published a great piece this morning about why you shouldn’t waste your time trying to google up exit poll leaks: They’re always wrong.
Some of the reasons (there are 10 in all):

1.

Early turnout in Minneapolis: “Wow”

By Steve Perry | 11.04.08 | 8:35 am


At the north Minneapolis precinct where I’ve voted since 1996, 200-300 people were already in line by the time polls opened at 7:00. That’s about five times as many I’ve…

Election day: How’s the battleground state weather looking?

By Steve Perry | 11.03.08 | 3:41 pm


Very good for the most part, according to a report compiled at the Washington Post.

Bottom Line: If the theory holds that the incumbent party does
better when turnout is suppressed, the best chances for