Rep. Keith Ellison got some cheers and some jeers in editorial pages this week, as pundits put their spin on politics at the end of the year. The Nation called him the “most valuable representative,” while the Star Tribune’s Jon Tevlin told him to pack his bags and move to New York. Tevlin gave Reps. Michele Bachmann and James Oberstar their marching orders as well.

In the Nation’s Progressive Honor Role, Ellison scored big points for his work on peace issues:

Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, a former civil rights lawyer and state legislator, is still identified as “the first Muslim elected to Congress.” But the Congressman is making a name for himself as a progressive leader with global reach. Frequently called into action by the State Department (not just by Hillary Clinton but also by Condoleezza Rice), Ellison has a higher international profile than all but a few House members; he uses it to remind the global community—and Americans—that “religious tolerance has a much longer pedigree in America than some of the intolerance we’ve seen lately.” His unprecedented visit to Gaza was followed this year by a call on President Obama to do more to ease the blockade of the Palestinian territory. Evenhanded and diplomatic in his approach, Ellison argued that “fulfilling the needs of civilians in Israel and Gaza are mutually reinforcing goals.”

But he drew jeers from the Star Tribune’s Tevlin for not voting to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York. Tevlin’s column offered “free metaphorical bus tickets out of Minnesota to people I found objectionable, immoral or just plain un-Minnesotan in 2010″:

Rep. Keith Ellison. He didn’t vote to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel, found guilty of 11 counts of unethical behavior. Representative, what don’t you understand about tax trouble? Oh, right, there’s that. Despite knowing about Rangel’s problems, the good people of New York voted him back in a landslide. Hop on the bus to the Big Apple, Ellison, where you will no doubt thrive.

Tevlin also dinged Bachmann: “You have to give the Republicans credit for their sense of humor in naming her to the Intelligence Committee” and Oberstar: “It is only fitting that a transportation czar get a ticket on Greyhound, which started in his district.”

Rep.-elect Chip Cravaack told the Duluth News Tribune that he will not serve more than four terms in Congress and says he’s concerned he might only get one. Cravaack is the first Republican to represent the 8th Congressional District since World War II and made term limits a part of his campaign. His predecessor, Rep. James Oberstar, held the seat for 36 years.

The Tribune asked Cravaack how long he intended to stay in Congress.

Cravaack responded, “I’ve always said I’d prefer not to serve more than three terms, and I won’t serve more than four.”

Cravaack’s website touts his commitment to term limits. “I am a strong proponent of term limits. Term limits, I believe, will alleviate the affects of lobbyists and special interest groups that seem to have taken over from the will of the people and the representatives we send to Congress.”

Cravaack also added that it’s going to be difficult to be re-elected in a historic DFL stronghold.

“I realize this is a very highly Democratic area,” he said. “I also realize there’s a lot of people that really don’t like me being here in this seat. But hopefully they’ll judge me by my actions rather than what’s behind my name, an ‘R.’ Because I will be working very hard for the people of the 8th.”

Last week, Cravaack was tapped to serve on the House transportation committee, the same committee where Oberstar served as chair for four years.

Rep. James Oberstar, chair of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, had big plans for transportation in the nation, and in Minnesota in particular: a proposed high-speed rail line from St. Paul to Chicago and a high speed rail line from Minneapolis to Duluth, to name but two. But how well will these projects fare after the 18-term congressman’s defeat last week  and a shifting of leadership in Congress? Not well, according to advocates.

“I would say that the change in chairmanship from Congressman Oberstar is a huge loss, not just because he was from Minnesota, but because he had so many years of experience and so much expertise in the area of transportation policy,” said Margaret Donahoe, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and local government groups concerned about surface transportation in the state. “And his colleagues took their cue from him. He was a real leader in developing transportation policy.”

Oberstar had tried to pass a $500 billion transportation bill but was stymied by the Obama administration, which wanted to pass health care and financial reform before tackling transportation. By delaying Oberstar’s bill — which contained $98.8 billion for transit and $50 billion for passenger rail — it will now face a profoundly altered Congress. Back in June 2009, the administration said consideration could come as soon as this January, which has now become a nearly impossible task with a GOP-controlled House.

But, while that bill sat, Oberstar had been working to build the infrastructure for two high-speed rail projects in Minnesota.

The Minneapolis-to-Duluth rail line, called the Northern Lights Express, looks to be on hold. Oberstar had been instrumental in getting that line started having secured $1.1 million in 2008 to study the project.

He also used his position as committee chair to convince the Federal Rail Commission of the economic growth the project would bring to a region that has been struggling with a decrease in mining and high unemployment.

Chip Cravaack, a Republican who beat Oberstar, says he won’t support the Northern Lights Express.

“I love railroads. Railroads are great,” Cravaack told the Duluth News Tribune. “But unless they can pay for themselves, I just don’t see it being practical. … The majority of these types of trains have to be subsidized, and we just cannot afford to subsidize it right now.”

The Northen Lights Express is only one of several projects that Oberstar backed which are likely to be stalled or eliminated, and for those projects for which funds are available, those funds could end up in other states without a transportation leader.

Donahoe says that losing Oberstar’s eye for Minnesota projects puts the state at a disadvantage.

“It’s helpful to have any chairman of a committee from your state,” she said. “That person understands the issues and challenges people in your state face, and transportation needs vary greatly from the densely populated east coast to less populated states to areas with huge congestion problems to parts of the country with more need for freight movement.”

She also said that political support for high-speed rail projects in the Midwest “may not be as
strong in the wake of the election results.”

That’s already begun to play out in terms of the St. Paul-to-Chicago high-speed line which had been picking up momentum.

In Wisconsin, newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker said he wants to kill a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee that is already under construction, calling it wasteful and threatening to divert the funds to highways instead. The Obama administration threatened to revoke the $810 million in stimulus funds currently slated for the project because they are to be used only for rail projects.

If the Madison-to-Milwaukee project is killed, it would dash hopes for the line that connects to St. Paul and Chicago.

Oberstar had been a strong backer of the Midwest high speed rail plan and pushed for the line to go through Rochester as well.

Now, advocates of transit in Minnesota have fewer members of Congress who are supportive of these plans.

Said Donahoe, “Having the ability to meet with the Chairman and discuss the transportation needs in Minnesota is important.”

Religious right groups in Minnesota and around the country said that Tuesday’s landslide victories for Republicans were due to their efforts — and they might be right. Anti-abortion groups claim they ousted incumbents who were previously “pro-life” but voted for health care reform, which the groups inaccurately stated will fund abortions. And massive anti-gay marriage campaigns throughout Minnesota preceded losses by same-sex marriage supporters at the Legislature.

“Today, the Susan B. Anthony List announced that it successfully defeated 15 of its 20 targeted self-described ‘pro-life’ Democrats who voted for the pro-abortion health care bill as part of its “Votes Have Consequences” project,” the anti-abortion group said in a statement Wednesday. Rep. James Oberstar was one of those the group said it targeted.

“Last night, the SBA List accomplished its overall goal and delivered on our promise that votes have consequences,” the group’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said. “In these races, the abortion issue was a determining factor. We flexed the muscles of the pro-life movement.”

Concerned Women for America also saw Oberstar’s defeat as a victory for the religious right. Citing Oberstar, Concerned Women for America Director of Legislation and Public Policy Shari Rendall said, “Last night’s vote was crystal clear: Americans do not want their money to pay for abortions.”

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, after endorsing Oberstar for years, threw its support behind Republican Chip Cravaack, also citing Oberstar’s vote for health care reform.

“Yesterday was a good day for the pro-life movement — nationwide and here in Minnesota,” an update on the MCCL website read. “The one change came in the 8th District, where pro-life (and MCCL Federal PAC-endorsed) Chip Cravaack ousted Rep. Jim Oberstar in a remarkable upset. Our state will now have five (out of eight) pro-life members of Congress.”

SBA List, Concerned Women for America and MCCL all attacked Oberstar for not being “pro-life” due to his vote for health care reform. They said that vote was a vote for federally-funded abortions, but many fact-checkers say that claim in false.

According to Factcheck.org:

The law says that those receiving subsidies to buy insurance through state-based exchanges must submit a separate payment to cover abortion services (if they choose a plan that covers abortions), and insurance providers must keep federal money separate from private payments to ensure the federal money does not go toward abortion coverage. President Obama also signed an executive order reaffirming the federal rules on only funding abortion in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother’s life.

And the Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact also rated claims that Obamacare pays for abortion as “false.”

In Minnesota, the Minnesota Family Council took credit for the GOP gains in the State Legislature.

“MFC would like to thank the tens of thousands of social conservatives who headed [sic] our calls, emails and mailings to vote their pro-life, pro-marriage values,” said Chuck Darrell, Director of Communications. The group, which opposes LGBT rights, said it made 500,000 calls and distributed 250,000 voters’ guides to 1,200 churches.

“This dramatic change in both houses stops efforts to legalize gay marriage dead in it’s [sic] tracks. Recently, backers of gay marriage have been boasting that Minnesota is on the ‘verge’ of legalizing gay marriage. Apparently not, as the people have responded by electing pro-life, pro-marriage majorities in both the house and the senate,” said Darrell on the group’s site.

MFC also teamed up with the National Organization for Marriage on a series of radio and television ads supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. The two groups spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the ads, though exact numbers are unknown since NOM refuses to disclose its expenditures.

And to supplement the efforts of NOM and MFC, the Catholic Church sent out hundreds of thousands of DVDs to Minnesota Catholics urging them to vote against legislators who support gay marriage.

“I go in peace of mind and heart but with sadness,” Rep. James Oberstar told reporters at a press conference in Duluth Wednesday as he tried to hold back tears. “I loved the opportunity to serve the people of this district.” Oberstar, the longest serving member of Congress in Minnesota’s history, was defeated by Republican Chip Cravaack by a margin of fewer than 2 percent.

“It’s been an extraordinary honor and privilege to serve the disparate interests and the regions of this congressional district and to the wonderful people, those that support you and those with dignity and respect, take an opposing view,” he said, “after each of those 18 elections I’ve said, ‘Thank you.’ I say ‘thank you’ again today.”

Polling showed a tight race between Oberstar and Cravaack especially the weekend before the election, when a KSTP/SurveyUSA poll showed Oberstar up by a single point.

Just a day before the election, the Cook Political Report rated the race a tossup.

Oberstar’s typical margin of victory in past elections has been above 30 percent.

Cravaack picked up endorsements by local and national anti-abortion groups, a move dubbed partisan by Oberstar’s campaign, which defended his anti-abortion position.

Oberstar was targeted by anti-abortion and Republican groups with independent expenditures reaching $82,000. Some of the ads these groups ran contained information that was questionable, including the claim that health care reform — which Oberstar voted for — will fund abortion.

But Oberstar told reporters it was likely turnout that tipped the election in Cravaack’s favor.

“There’s no one factor. We’ll have to look more closely at the voter turnout,” he said. “In St. Louis County, turnout was down by 20,000 votes. I think with those votes, the outcome likely would have been different.”

He noted that everybody on his campaign “worked themselves to the fringe.”

Ultimately, he blamed himself for the loss. “In this arena you look into the mirror and say, ‘It was me,’ but there is nothing I would take back, and I can’t change and wouldn’t change any of the votes I cast this year.”

Oberstar recounted the successful projects he’d brought to the district and said he was proud that many will stand even after his successor is gone.

“I had to stand up for the right things, and I knew that in the health care vote lay the seeds of widespread dissension,” he said noting that he’s run on the platform of “Health Care for All” since 1974. “This was our opportunity.”

On his future, Oberstar said he will “reflect for a while and then look for something in the public sector.”

A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll released Friday evening has Rep. James Oberstar ahead by just 1 percent over Republican challenger Chip Cravaack: Oberstar took 47 percent to Cravaack’s 46 percent, with 7 percent undecided. Oberstar’s communications director John Schadl criticized the poll: “Survey USA’s methods generally swing anywhere from two to six additional points to Republican candidates in a given race,” he said. A two- to six-point range is far from the 35 points Oberstar won by two years ago.

Cravaack and Oberstar held on to their own parties in the poll, but independents broke for Cravaack 56 percent compared to Oberstar’s 32 percent. The margin of error is 3.9 percent.

“Ultimately, voter turnout will determine the outcome of this election,” Schadl said in a statement. “Last night over 1,000 people turned out for the DFL rally on the Iron Range. We have more than 1,000 volunteers across the District working for Jim. We are going to win this and Jim Oberstar is going to continue to serve as Minnesota’s Eighth District Congressman.”

With a week before the election, major daily newspapers and high-profile officials are making their picks for Nov. 2. Democratic state Sen. Tarryl Clark and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz both grabbed endorsements from the state’s largest newspaper on Sunday, and Independence Party candidate for governor Tom Horner gained the support of the Pioneer Press. Walz also got the nod from Republican former Gov. Arne Carlson over the weekend, while GOP candidate Chip Cravaack picked up the endorsement of the Duluth paper.

The Star Tribune’s endorsement listed a good number of Clark’s accomplishments — but it took three paragraphs of complaints about Rep. Michele Bachmann’s performance in Congress before it got to them.

“Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has appeared at least eight times since January on Fox News’ Sean Hannity Show,” the paper said. “How many mayors or county commissioners in Bachmann’s Sixth District swath of central Minnesota have had an equal number of conversations with her this year?”

Walz got the nod from the Strib this weekend as well.

“Walz has been a stellar advocate for veterans, responsive to his region’s key employers and consistently earned high marks from local officials for his assistance on matters small and large, particularly the weather-related disasters that have hit this district,” wrote the paper’s editorial board. “He’s more than earned the right to represent this swath of southern Minnesota for another two years.”

Likewise, Walz got the support of former Gov. Carlson, who calls the Democratic incumbent “the clear choice” in the First Congressional District race.

“I’m continually impressed with Tim’s leadership and his ability to bring people together in southern Minnesota communities,” Carlson said. “It is clear that people identify with Tim’s experience as a teacher, veteran and football coach and I think that helps them lay aside partisan predispositions and join with Tim to solve problems.”

Carlson has already thrown his weight behind IP candidate Horner, who continued racking up endorsements. The Pioneer Press joined the Star Tribune, Forum Communications paper and ECM Publishers in backing his gubernatorial run.

Walz also got the endorsement of the Rochester Post-Bulletin and the Albert Lea Tribune last week.

Republican Chip Cravaack also scored an upset endorsement from the Duluth News Tribune, a paper that traditionally backs Rep. James Oberstar.

Oberstar cried foul on the paper, which skipped face-to-face meetings this year in exchange for a raucous debate. TheUpTake caught up with him this weekend:

The Duluth News Tribune, however, disputed Oberstar’s criticisms:

National anti-abortion groups are targeting Rep. James Oberstar with a series of mailings criticizing his support for health care reform. The groups point to Oberstar’s vote for the Affordable Health Care and Patient Protection Act of 2010 to claim he supports federal funding for abortion and therefore is no longer “pro-life.” But as fact-checkers have pointed out, health care reform does not include federal funding for abortion. In fact, one national group that’s targeting Oberstar, the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), has landed in court over the statements.

SBA List has spent $32,432 on mailers in opposition to Oberstar so far this cycle. The group says it’s part of a larger campaign targeting 42 candidates around the country. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has also attacked Oberstar, charging that he supported federal funding for abortion by voting for health care reform.

SBA List sent this statement out last spring:

“Congressman Oberstar can no longer call himself ‘pro-life.’ He has set himself with the likes of NARAL, NOW, and Planned Parenthood, and has betrayed his pro-life principles and his constituents. Seventy-four percent of voters in the eighth district oppose taxpayer funding of abortion as part of health care reform, according to a survey commissioned by the Susan B. Anthony List this week. Fifty-six percent of Rep. Oberstar’s constituents surveyed also said that they would be less likely to vote for him next Election Day if he supported healthcare with abortion funding.”

The National Right to Life Committee said the same thing in their endorsement of Oberstar’s Republican opponent Chip Cravaack.

“We’re proud to endorse Chip Cravaack for Congress,” said director Karen Cross. “Chip Cravaack is firmly committed to repealing the anti-life provisions of the pro-abortion, pro-rationing Obama health care law passed by Congress in March – a law that Jim Oberstar voted for and helped enact.”

And MCCL echoed those sentiments in their endorsement of Cravaack.

“Jim Oberstar has turned away from the pro-life principles he used to hold in common with the citizens of the 8th District,” MCCL director Scott Fischbach said. “He has walked away from the pro-life movement. For years Jim Oberstar has had a 100 percent pro-life voting record and now he has a zero percent pro-life voting record. Just as Jim Oberstar has abandoned the babies, it is time for the voters to retire Jim Oberstar.”

But as Jesse Zwick at our sister site the Washington Independent reports, experts agree that the bill does not fund abortions. Likewise, at least one authority isn’t buying the logic either.

In Ohio, the elections commission panel ruled that there was probable cause to believe that a billboard that read, “Shame on [Rep.] Steve Driehaus! Driehaus voted FOR taxpayer-funded abortion,” was false. The billboard owner pulled the ad. The full elections commission is set to rule on the ad on Oct. 28, but SBA List is suing the board in District Court to prevent them from ruling on the ad.

Oberstar has long been “pro-life,” earning endorsements throughout his career from MCCL, SBA List and the National Right to Life Committee. He was once co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus. The National Right to Life Committee has given him a 100 percent rating four times since 1996 and ratings above 80 percent in every Congress since then, with one exception: In 2008, he scored 71 percent.

A Tuesday debate in Duluth spotlighted the excitement that Republicans are feeling as they try to unseat Rep. James Oberstar, an 18-term veteran congressman who has won reelection with more than 59 percent of the vote for decades. The crowd was raucous, repeatedly interrupting the candidates, and Oberstar’s barbs at the audience have become soundbites for the national media. Oberstar, chair of the House Transportation Committee, has ramped up his campaigning in the district, while his opponent, Republican Chip Cravaack, is taking heat from some conservatives for being too liberal.

Oberstar was booed as soon as he walked onto the stage at the Duluth debate. Oberstar said to the crowd, “My goodness, no civility at all.”

Debate topics ranged from health care to climate change.

Cravaack made the claim that Canadians are crossing the border to get American health care: “They come down here because they’ve been denied care.” He said the health care reform that was signed into law will make the American system like Canada’s and decried “rationing.”

Oberstar shot back. “This idea of rationing health care… is just wrong. We are seeing rationing of health care now by health insurance company bureaucrats in the private sector, in the corporate interest and not in the patient interest.”

He said he was proud to support the bill.

An audience member’s question about cap-and-trade policies resulted in an interesting statement from Oberstar.

“Climate change is real,” he said, prompting outbursts from the audience. “I’m sorry if the flat earth society over here doesn’t believe it. Lake Superior is 4 degrees warmer than it was 15 years ago. Again, I’m sorry they just don’t like facts. It is changing our way of life. We have to deal with this.”

Over the course of the 80-minute debate, Oberstar and the moderator had to ask the audience to be quiet numerous times, especially when Oberstar was speaking.

Aaron Brown, a blogger and columnist on the Iron Range, wrote, “I knew there was going to be trouble as one of the moderators was running through the pre-debate rules. When he said, ‘And we ask that you keeping cheering and booing to an absolute minimum, and no catcalls,’ he was actually booed and catcalled. This was before the candidates were even on stage.”

He predicts that Friday night’s debate at Itasca Community College will be just as noisy.

An internal poll released by Cravaack — and called a push poll by Oberstar — showed Cravaack had seemingly eroded Oberstar’s historical 30-point lead over his challengers to several points behind Oberstar two weeks ago.

Cravaack has the support of the tea party and has been attacking Oberstar about conservative principles, but he’s not the only one in the race. As Cravaack stakes out conservative positions hoping to appeal the tea partiers in the 8th, he’s being attacked himself from the right for not being conservative enough.

The same day as the debate, Richard “George” Burton of Brainerd, the Constitution Party candidate, penned a letter to the Duluth News Tribune accusing Cravaack of hiding his union-organizing past.

“What may be found is that what voters have been led to believe is not entirely accurate, and that large amounts of spin have been applied to hide the 8th Congressional District GOP candidate’s work history as a union strike event organizer,” he wrote.

“Republican Chip Cravaack has absolutely no experience in the business world, just as the Democratic incumbent, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, has none,” he wrote. “This field also leaves me as the only snowmobile trail groomer ‘expert’ and the only licensed pyrotechnician, Habitat for Humanity volunteer, Tea Party organizer, director of a state snowmobile association and church board member in the race. Not to mention I am the only lifelong resident of the 8th District and Minnesota, as I would argue that Oberstar lives in Maryland (and vacations in France) and Cravaack only moved to Minnesota and the district in the past decade.”

Also on the same day as the debate, Oberstar’s campaign released a new television ad featuring a local basketball coach who has endorsed him.

The debate and the attention it has drawn to the race has made national cable news including Fox and Friends, which was being promoted by the National Republican Congressional Committee on Wednesday:

The Republican Party of Minnesota predictably called the debate for Cravaack.

“Jim Oberstar has been in Washington, D.C. for way too long and his patronizing performance in today’s debate reinforces why it’s time for a change,” party chair Tony Sutton said in a statement on Tuesday. “While Oberstar tried to defend his support for record deficits and out of control government spending, Chip Cravaack outlined his optimistic agenda of job creation and reform. When he wasn’t attacking members of the audience, Oberstar demonstrated time and again that he just doesn’t get it. On November 2, it’s time to send Oberstar packing and replace him with a real leader like Chip Cravaack.”

Citing Rep. James Oberstar’s support for the federal health care reform law, the anti-abortion group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life pulled its support from the incumbent congressman and announced it’s backing Republican Chip Cravaack. MCCL says the health care reform bill funds abortions, but Oberstar points out that’s not the case.

“Jim Oberstar has turned away from the pro-life principles he used to hold in common with the citizens of the 8th District,” MCCL’s Scott Fischbach said in a statement. “He has walked away from the pro-life movement. For years Jim Oberstar has had a 100 percent pro-life voting record and now he has a zero percent pro-life voting record. Just as Jim Oberstar has abandoned the babies, it is time for the voters to retire Jim Oberstar.”

MCCL says that the health care reform bill signed into law this summer would pay for abortions and Oberstar’s vote for the bill was a vote to “institute health care rationing and taxpayer funding of abortion.”

The group said that Cravaack will work “to protect our country’s most vulnerable citizens – the unborn.”

But Oberstar says the group is playing partisan politics and insists he remains steadfastly anti-abortion.

“When the MCCL and the National Right-to-Life Committee made a decision years ago to accept funding from the National Republican Party and make campaign finance issues a top priority, they forfeited their claim to be a non-partisan, pro-life organization,” Oberstar said.

MCCL was one of three supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer in a lawsuit to overturn Minnesota’s campaign finance disclosure laws so that independent expenditure groups did not have to disclose their funding sources. That case was dismissed several weeks ago.

Oberstar took issue with MCCL’s claim that the health care reform measure funds abortions, pointing to a FactCheck.org report that finds no evidence to support MCCL’s claims.

“The pro-life protections are written into the health care law,” Oberstar said. “We insisted that the Department of Health and Human Services review it and give us written assurance that language would prevent federal funding of abortion. Then we had President Obama sign an executive order to make it absolutely certain. To ignore our work on this issue and then to distort the facts is proof positive that MCCL has lost its way.”

He added, “A study by Harvard Medical School finds that 45,000 people die prematurely each year because they do not have access to screenings and preventative care. You can’t just be concerned about life from conception to birth; you have to be concerned about all life. I have worked with MCCL for many years on these issues, and it saddens me to see them abandon their principles in this manner.”

Oberstar’s efforts to prevent abortion funding in the health care reform bill raised the ire of progressive groups this spring, including Minnesota National Organization of Women.