Politics

Palin does Pawlenty one better: She’ll quit now

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s stamp is all over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s announcement today that she will leave office at the end of the month. Media reports (video) aren’t failing to note the parallel to Pawlenty’s decision last month not to seek re-election. Palin and Pawlenty were reportedly the two finalists for the Republican vice-presidential [...]

Franken: My Tuesday swearing-in will feature Biden, Mondale, Klobuchar

Vice President Joe Biden has been booked for Al Franken’s swearing-in as a U.S. Senator, and Franken says he will be accompanied at the ceremony by former Vice President Walter Mondale and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. It “looks like” it will happen next Tuesday, he said — a date that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office [...]

A chapter closes for the Coleman-Franken chattering classes

What was that all about? We shook two 24-hour news cycles’ worth of media mumbo-jumbo on the Coleman-Franken fracas, and this is what fell out.

Union lauds McCollum for health-care efforts

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum’s failure to support legislation that would establish a universal, single-payer health-care system has drawn criticism from some liberal activists. But on Thursday, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota showed up at McCollum’s St. Paul office to praise her efforts on the health-care front.

National poll numbers suggest Franken won’t follow in Obama’s footsteps

A new poll suggests Sen.-elect Al Franken would have trouble following President Barack Obama’s vault from a single Senate-election victory to the White House. Beyond that, it’s not clear why it matters that 44 percent of voters across the country have an unfavorable view of the Democrat or that 34 percent like him at least “somewhat.” [...]

Expert: Calling Senate race ‘stolen’ robs the word ‘stolen’ of its meaning

“Mr. Franken now goes to the Senate having effectively stolen an election,” pronounced the Wall Street Journal’s editorialists today. Election-law expert Edward Foley was quick to respond: “[T]his election was about as far from ‘stolen’ as any extraordinarily close and intensely disputed election could be — and to use that term in this context is [...]

Fellow Republicans talk down Bachmann from her U.S. Census protest

WASHINGTON — Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has spent several months trying to draw attention to the issue of whether the census will be fair — that is, whether it will exclude sampling and whether it will be conducted by the Department of Commerce. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s recent and repeated claims that she will not participate [...]

Franken, Coleman sing in tune on ‘Magic Number 60′

It wasn’t quite “Love Potion No. 9,” but Norm Coleman and Al Franken were singing in unison on the “Magic Number 60″ during their press events yesterday.

Franken supporters celebrate victory at the Capitol

Hundreds of Democrats gathered on the front lawn of the Capitol today for a noon-time rally to celebrate Al Franken’s long-awaited victory in the U.S. Senate contest. He’s expected to visit the Iron Range this weekend, before heading to Washington to take his post. “It was close — but we won,” Franken told the crowd.

Franken: ‘I get to be the senator’

At a rally at the State Capitol today, Sen.-elect Al Franken saluted his wife, Franni — without whom, he said, “I would have lost … by kind of a lot.” Franken said once he decided to run, he told friends, “Franni and I are running for the senate. And if we win, I get to be [...]