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Mike Ciresi - Latest Stories

Kelley claims McCollum’s support for governor

By Chris Steller | 10.20.09 | 1:52 pm

Kelley_Headshot_2_biggerU.S. Rep. Betty McCollum is backing former state Sen. Steve Kelley for governor, according to Kelley, who formally announced his candidacy Monday.

Ciresi says he would’ve beat Coleman; Nelson-Pallmeyer? ‘I don’t know’

By Chris Steller | 01.26.09 | 6:19 pm

Over the weekend Mike Ciresi took Norm Coleman’s bait and told the Star Tribune he would have whooped Coleman by double-digits. (Coleman said last week that “any Democrat other than Al Franken would have been elected.”) The other also-ran in the race to be the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s 2005 U.S. Senate candidate takes a different tack. To the question “Would you have won?” Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer tells the Minnesota Independent: “I don’t know.”

Nine of Forbes’ richest Americans are Minnesotans; who are they supporting?

By Jeff Severns Guntzel | 10.07.08 | 12:25 pm

Nine Minnesotans made Forbes’ richest Americans list this year. Most of them are peeling off small-fractions of their wealth to support political parties and candidates for national office–shoveling a total of $245,000 into the game since Election Day 2006. A little number crunching turns up a few surprises, like conservative broadcasting magnate Stanley Hubbard giving more to Senator Amy Klobuchar than he did to Norm Coleman.

The Crunch: Party bigwigs Opperman and Cummins among top 30 donors

By Paul Demko | 10.02.08 | 9:59 am

Minnesota’s top 100 political donors have pitched in a collective $4.1 million to federal candidates since the start of 2007. That’s around $40,000 per family. In this week’s installment of The Crunch, we look at donors ranked 21st through 30th — a field that includes Vance Opperman, dubbed in 1998 “the most powerful man you’ve never heard of,” who, with his wife, comes in at number 27; gay marriage foe Robert Cummins (#21); and, Minnesota’s 24th most generous giver, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and his wife, who’ve contributed nearly $50,000 to state and federal GOP candidates and causes this cycle.

DFL convention: Franken v. Nelson-Pallmeyer

By Paul Demko | 06.07.08 | 11:13 am

There were no surprise nominations from the convention floor this morning. Most notably, the name Mike Ciresi was not uttered by any delegates. That means the endorsement battle will come down to Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer…

You don’t know Jack: Can Nelson-Pallmeyer beat Franken for the DFL nomination?

By Paul Demko | 06.06.08 | 10:46 am

In October, Barb Olsen drove from her Duluth home to Augsburg College in order to watch Al Franken speak at a forum. She was extremely excited about the radio host and satirist’s then-fledgling senatorial campaign.

“I listened…

DFL operative claims Ciresi likely to remain on the sidelines

By Paul Demko | 05.30.08 | 6:21 pm

Speculation has been rampant since the Al Franken campaign’s latest imbroglio broke that Mike Ciresi will climb back into the race. While Ciresi has been quiet in the last 24 hours (he didn’t return a…

Real bottom line in Franken’s Playboy snafu: Mike Ciresi is making his move

By Steve Perry | 05.30.08 | 11:26 am

Everyone who has seen Rep. Betty McCollum’s comments from yesterday — reported this morning at the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, AP and Politico — already knows that May 29…

New Star Tribune Minnesota Poll on Senate race deals a wild card: Ciresi

By Steve Perry | 05.19.08 | 12:41 pm

In politics there are races that someone wins and races that someone manages not to lose for the simple reason that not everyone can lose. The Minnesota US Senate contest is shaping up to be one of the…

The Schultz Report: Some Minnesota Dems said to be eyeing primary run against Franken

By Steve Perry | 05.02.08 | 10:44 am

In this week’s Schultz Report, we discuss increasingly heated rumors that the turmoil surrounding tax-troubled, poll-challenged US Senate candidate Al Franken has some Minnesota Democrats weighing last-minute runs against Franken in this fall’s primary. Schultz names three names…