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Ellison scolds Republicans calling for investigation of Muslim interns

By Andy Birkey | 10.28.09 | 8:45 am

ellison1On Monday, Rep. Keith Ellison read a statement condemning the actions of four Republican House members who are calling for an investigation of Muslim interns in Congress. The statement was written by Ellison and supported by the Tri-Caucus, a…

CQ ranks congressional voting records: How’d Minnesota do?

By Andy Birkey | 07.07.09 | 11:12 am

Congressional Quarterly has compiled their annual Vote Study for congressional votes leading up to the July 4 break. Each year, CQ compiles records based on party unity, support for the president and percentage of votes missed during the session.…

A vision of a redistricted Minnesota — without Bachmann

By Chris Steller | 04.25.09 | 11:24 am

two-ssp-mapsMichele Bachmann might not return to Congress, if one of the scenarios at Swing State Project for redistricting Minnesota after the 2010 U.S. Census comes to pass.

Paulsen gets tangled with House colleagues in radio ad, video clip

By Chris Steller | 03.16.09 | 12:11 pm

You could read about how Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen tried to help Liberians and Republicans last week. You could hear about Paulsen’s opposition to the federal stimulus package in a radio ad by Americans United

Tainted CEO won’t talk peanuts to Congress; George Washington Carver was proud to

By Chris Steller | 02.13.09 | 9:08 am

When Peanut Corp. of America CEO Stewart Parnell took the Fifth on Wednesday instead of telling the House Committee on Energy and Commerce why he let salmonella-tainted peanut butter kill eight people (so far) and sicken thousands, the setting was ironic. Because it was before another House committee (Ways and Means) in 1921 that the willing, winning, inventive testimony by the peanut’s greatest promoter, George Washington Carver, propelled the lowly product of the South to world prominence.

Capitol Catchall: Klobuchar is funny (and busy); Pelosi taps Peterson to fix credit mess

By Andy Birkey | 02.06.09 | 3:11 pm

Minnesota’s congressional delegation is keeping busy on Capitol Hill this week as most find ways to put their stamp on a historic economic recovery strategy working its way through Congress.

WaPo listing of Erik Paulsen in Top 5 U.S. House campaigns needs a fix or 2

By Chris Steller | 12.31.08 | 8:53 am

Minnesota’s U.S. Representative-elect for the Third District, Republican Erik Paulsen, ran one of the best five House campaigns in the country, according to the Washington Post blog The Fix. Paulsen “beat back the anti-Republican trend,” writes Chris Cillizza, “by focusing on his own accomplishments in the state legislature.” The Fix tracked the Third District contest closely throughout the campaign season as one of the nation’s most competitive congressional contests. But in several ways Cillizza’s summary this morning doesn’t exactly square with how home-state observers might recall the race.

‘On the same hand,’ Bachmann glad for Obama win

By Chris Steller | 11.06.08 | 4:29 pm

Politico shares highlights from its phone interview today with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in which she said she’s “extremely grateful that we have an African-American who has won this year.” Surprisingly, that’s in reference to President-elect Barack Obama, a…

Did KSTP tip Paulsen on results of Survey USA’s new re-do poll?

By Chris Steller | 11.03.08 | 10:38 am

A new Survey USA poll shows for the first time a spread between the two leading candidates in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District that’s greater than the margin of error. It’s a sudden swing that Survey USA suggests might be due to a TV ad that darkens Democrat Ashwin Madia’s skin. But if so, the effect would seem to arise more from recent news reports about the ad than from the ad itself, which came out a full week before the first of Survey USA’s latest pair of back-to-back polls. Another way Republican Erik Paulsen’s ahead: KSTP gave Paulsen’s campaign an early preview of the poll results, according to Joe Bodell. And David Dillon’s camp says the poll is a re-do because the Survey USA left the Independence Party candidate’s name off last time.