Gop

Rep. Tim Walz has responded to “misleading ads” that started airing yesterday thanks to bankrolling by the state and national GOP, but the gist of his emailed complaint seems to be with rightwing activists set on shouting down legislators like him at town hall meetings on health care reform.

After yesterday’s Star Tribune piece on Rep. Keith Ellison’s pilgrimage to Mecca late last year, the 5th District Democrat is firing back, asking the paper for a correction in a letter to the editor today. The Strib article by Kevin Diaz reported that the congressman’s trip was paid for by the Muslim American Society of [...]

The GOP has been struggling to connect with young people — think the Young Cons’ recent rap number or Michele Bachmann’s “You be da man” moment with Michael Steele — and Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s new pop-culture reference may likewise fall short of the mark. He compares the GOP to Sasha Baron Cohen as “Bruno” crashing [...]

Woodbury attorney Chris Johnston says he is “mulling a run” against Rep. Michele Bachmann in the next Republican primary. Johnston says the district needs to be represented by a Republican “who thinks before they speak.”

In the final minutes of the legislative session last night, the Minnesota Legislature took up a tax bill. By a House vote of 82 to 47, the bill prevailed — as did fast-paced parliamentary pugilistics and full-throated partisanship.

Across the country, Republican politicians glommed onto yesterday’s Tax Day Tea Party movement — much to the consternation of grassroots organizers. But in Minnesota, only one elected official put her name on the events: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

From calling on members of her district to be “armed and dangerous” over cap-and-trade spending to stirring up fears of liberal “re-education camps” that would indoctrinate young people, Rep. Michele Bachmann’s recent statements have drawn the ire of Democrats and energized Republican activists. But at least one Republican analyst thinks she might be taking the [...]

After declaring a state of emergency there on Friday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty headed to Moorhead today for an early-afternoon briefing with local officials about the looming flood in western Minnesota. Pawlenty and local officials will meet with media representatives after the briefing. It’s a chance for T-Paw to re-start the national PR offensive that The [...]

When it comes to rejection and Norm Coleman’s campaign, Noah Kunin knows a thing or two. As senior political correspondent for The UpTake, he’s seen his questions ignored at Coleman press conferences; his colleagues have been refused access to campaign “media availabilities”; and the state GOP chair called The UpTake a “partisan, liberal blog” as a way of attacking Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who referenced The UpTake’s video feeds in an email.

But what Kunin wasn’t prepared for was the rejection of his absentee ballot.

Minnesota Monthly’s Tim Gihring gives GOP chair Ron Carey an “Uncommon Loon” award for his go-get-’em speech to Republicans at the Mayo Civic Center in May. Decrying Democrats’ “left-wing values,” he predicted — incorrectly — that “the joke’s gonna be on” pundits who suggested an electoral “slaughter” would befall Republicans in November. But here’s the [...]