Collin Peterson

The president didn’t authorize it, so by definition the protest Sunday of a speech by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might have been torture. More than 100 people picketed Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park Sunday (Norm Coleman was inside, Coleen Rowley outside). Signs like “Try Condi Rice for War Crimes” referenced [...]

The U.S. House of Representative has passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, by a vote of 220-215. In dramatic late-night action Saturday, the bill passed with two votes more than the minimum needed — and one of those votes was from a Republican: Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana.

Third-quarter campaign finance reports seem to show a trend: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose cable-TV and townhall tour has had her rattling off now-infamous claims about “anti-American views” and wrist-slitting to oppose health care reform, is raking in the dough today, thanks to a new fundraising appeal that calls supporters [...]

U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen has raised nearly $1 million so far this year. The freshman Republican took in $318,000 in the third quarter of 2009 and had $725,000 in the bank, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, only ten have missed more votes this session than Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, according to the Washington Post’s tally. Bachmann has missed 105 votes, or 13.6 percent of all votes. Fellow Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen had the state’s best record, missing only six votes in the [...]

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, attached to a large military policy bill, passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 281 to 146 — with support from Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen and opposition from Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson. Next Monday is the 11th anniversary of the murder of 21-year-old college [...]

The U.S. House voted to suspend all federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on Thursday afternoon by a vote of 345 to 75. Now the measure heads to the Senate, which passed a bill banning federal housing monies from going to the embattled nonprofit.

The Iowa-based American Future Fund –  a conservative, free market group that ran ads here last year on behalf of Norm Coleman’s senate candidacy and against that of eventual winner Al Franken — is again running ads in Minnesota. This time the aim is to solidify Rep. Collin Peterson’s opposition to his party’s health care [...]

“Panel tells DNR moose hunting should be allowed.” Other news media also cover a new report from Minnesota’s Moose Advisory Committee to the state Department of Natural Resources, but only the Star Tribune’s headline hinted at the potential gallows humor in a Palinesque death panel for Minnesota’s biggest mammals. The committee proposes a moose harvest (sorry, [...]

Minnesota’s members of the House of Representatives are back in their home districts gauging how constituents feel about federal issues. That feedback will also include town hall meetings for a number of Congress members including Reps. Tim Walz, Collin Peterson and Michele Bachmann. Will Minnesota’s town halls get as rowdy as ones around the nation? Time will tell. Here’s what Minnesota Congressional delegation was up to this week.