In a speech at the Minneapolis Convention Center Tuesday, Pres. Barack Obama told 5,000 American Legion members of his commitment to providing services for the country’s soldiers, who bear “scars of war seen and unseen.”

“In a decade of war, they have borne an extraordinary burden, with more than two million of our service members deploying to the war zones,” Obama said. “Hundreds of thousands have deployed again and again, year after year—never before has our nation asked so much of our all-volunteer force.”

A policy of shorter deployments and draw-down of troops in Afghanistan has removed some soldiers from harm’s way, Obama said, although there’s a “moral obligation” to provide support for those who’ve already served, including extending the reach of health care, especially for rural veterans and women.

He referenced the tough job market for returning soldiers. Minnesota has one of the nation’s worst unemployment rates for veterans who’ve served since Sept. 11, according to a recent congressional report. Obama vowed to create 100,000 jobs for veterans, through the creation of the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits for companies that hire veterans.

“For the sake of our veterans, for the sake of our economy, we need these veterans working and contributing and creating the new jobs and industries that will keep America competitive in the 21st century,” Obama said.

Obama said mental health care was also a priority for his administration — long waits for mental health treatments have drawn criticism.

“The days when depression, PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] were stigmatized must end. That’s why I made the decision to start sending condolence letters to the families of service members who take their lives while deployed in a combat zone,” Obama said. “These American patriots did not die because they were weak — they were warriors, they deserve our respect — every man and woman in uniform, every veteran, needs to know that your nation will be there to help you stay strong.”

U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison also spoke Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is scheduled to speak to the convention Thursday.

Rep. Michele Bachmann took a lot of heat last week from veterans groups that criticized her plan to trim the deficit by cutting back on veterans benefits among other government programs. In a statement on Friday, Bachmann said she has removed those cuts from consideration.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars vowed to fight Bachmann on the issue. “No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress,” said Richard Eubank of the VFW last week. “There are certain things you do not do when our nation is at war, and at the top of that list is not caring for our wounded and disabled servicemen and women when they return home.”

The uproar seemed to have caused Bachmann to change her tune.

“One point on my discussion list was a $4.5 billion proposal that would affect payments made to our veterans,” Bachmann said in a statement. “That has received a lot of attention and I have decided that it should be removed from consideration. The problem of government spending must be solved, but not on the backs of our nation’s war heroes. I have always been a proud supporter of the United States military and I continue to stand with our veterans. In the months ahead I look forward to working with our Veterans Service Organizations to ensure that we fulfill our commitments to those who sacrificed so much in their brave service for our country.”

This week, Rep. Michelle Bachmann proposed $400 billion in “real and necessary” budget cuts in federal spending to avoid raising the budget ceiling from $14.3 trillion. The cuts include capping increases in Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care spending and reducing Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) payments for veterans, all to save a total of $4.5 billion.

However, health care costs are rising anyway, meaning less care, and SSDI payments are only $12,800 a year, according to the Air Force Times:

Her list of cuts doesn’t explain the impact of freezing veterans’ health care funding, but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a report issued in October that health care costs have been quickly increasing. VA’s health care budget was $44 billion in 2009, $48 billion in 2010 and is at $52 billion this year. The report forecasts a health care budget of $69 billion or higher by 2020 if trends continue, the report estimates.

Another measure in her cuts is to repeal “Obamacare,” which she claims has “unknown” savings. Actually, the CBO measured that its repeal would not save, but add $230 billion to the deficit over 10 years.

You can see the full list of cuts on her website here (PDF).

Update: Rep. Tim Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress, has responded to Bachmann’s proposal with the following statement:

“We have to have an aggressive, long-term plan to tackle our nation’s debt, but attempting to balance the budget on the backs of veterans who have risked life and limb in service of our country is unacceptable. I believe we can and should work together to find reasonable and common-sense cuts that will reduce our debt, but as a generation of warriors returns from two wars, our most solemn responsibility is to make sure they have the care and benefits they have earned.”

“Tim Walz is doing the right thing right now for us,” he says in the ad.

Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years and is currently a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. He faces GOP challenger Randy Demmer in November.

Here’s the ad:

Photo: Andy Birkey/MnIndy

Sen. Al Franken says his first bill in the Senate will be one to provide service dogs to veterans. A longtime USO entertainer for troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, Franken said training service dogs to work with physically and emotionally wounded veterans is a cost-saving measure.

“Frankly, I believe it is enough simply to improve the lives of those of whom we asked so much,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Star Tribune on Saturday. “But this program isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do. This is win, win, win, win.”

He continued, “Service dogs raise their masters’ sense of well-being. There is evidence to suggest that increasing their numbers would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care.”

As voters in conservative-leaning and moderate districts are learning, topics such as war and the economy affect them far more than the private decisions their neighbors make. Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District is such a district, and the race between Republican Erik Paulsen and DFLer Madia is being watched closely. Can a Democratic candidate for Congress win in a moderate suburban district on a platform that includes equality for gays and lesbians?

Democrats are watching the race in the suburbs west on Minneapolis as Iraq veteran Madia has been unequivocal in his support for gay and lesbian equality throughout his campaign. But it’s not a position he came to lightly.

A personal transformation

As student body president at the University of Minnesota in 1997, Madia was a conservative and a Republican. According to Minnesota Daily archives, the student government, with Madia at the helm, significantly reduced the amount of student fees money going to the Queer Student Cultural Center (QSCC), the only gay-straight alliance on campus.

Madia’s turn-about happened while he was a U.S. Marine. As a member of the judge advocate general’s corps in the Marines, Madia was assigned to defend the case of a servicemember who was being discharged because he is gay. Madia was one of the first attorneys in history to successfully defend a fellow Marine against the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

“Real patriotism sometimes means taking on the system if you know what you’re doing is the right thing,” he said of taking the case.

In 2005, Madia took on a client who had downloaded gay pornography on a government computer and was caught. The same day, another Marine had gotten caught doing the same thing, only the pornography was heterosexual in nature.

“The gay Marine was given a demotion in rank; loss of pay; restricted in his movements on base; and, most severe of all, an administrative separation from the Marine Corps with an Other-Than-Honorable (OTH) discharge, just one step below a court martial,” Madia said. “The straight Marine received a verbal reprimand by the commanding officer.”

Madia successfully argued to a panel of Marines that the disparity in punishment was unjust. They agreed.

His client was able to continue his career with the Marines, but Madia was concerned about the man’s well-being now that he had been outed as gay. Madia checked up on him. “When PFC Smith got on the phone, he was calm and his voice level toned. He said, ‘Sir, nobody cares about that stuff,’” Madia recalled.

“If the Marines, some of the most conservative members of our society, can look beyond sexual preference, maybe the rest of America can do so too,” says Madia. “If someone is willing to wear the uniform, fight, and possibly die for this country, it shouldn’t matter who they are and who they love.”

While Madia was serving in Iraq, the issue hit closer to home as one of his siblings came out to him as gay. Family members relate that Madia sought out information to understand more about the issue, and came back to Minnesota fully embracing his gay sibling.

Megan Thomas was the administrative assistant at the QSCC in 1997 when Madia ran the conservative student government at the University of Minnesota. She says that the Madia’s growth in understanding the controversial issues surrounding gay and lesbian issues has brought him to the side of equality.

“Since then Madia has grown and has seen the error that was. So, let me state this as clearly as possible,” she wrote recently. “As someone who was part of that whole brouhaha, as a former chair of the Stonewall DFL Caucus and as an out lesbian, I have no doubt whatsoever in Ashwin Madia’s support of and dedication to GLBT issues and people.”

Going on the offensive

In debates, Madia, often joined by Independence Party candidate David Dillon, have been taking Paulsen to task for his push for constitutional amendments banning civil unions and same-sex marriage, which for three years during his tenure as House majority leader were the topic of intense debate and media hype.

“I look at the happiness my parents have through their marriage, and I wouldn’t want to deny that to anybody. But what’s important is that — and this is a difference between the candidates — I wouldn’t take government time away from dealing with Iraq or the economy for these kinds of constitutional amendments,” Madia said at a Sept. 16 debate.

He followed up at a Minnetonka debate on Sept. 22. “There are so many things that we ought to be focusing on, that I don’t think we ought to be using public dollars or our constitution to try to impose our religious beliefs on other people,” Madia said of Paulsen’s amendment push.

“I’ve come to like both of the guys sitting at the table with me,” Dillon added. “The plain fact of the matter is that Erik has come out of the right wing of the Republican Party.”

Paulsen defended himself saying, “That is not what I’ve done in the state Legislature,” noting that he hadn’t made any floor speeches in support of the amendments. He might not have made any floor speeches, but he voted for the measures each time, and as House Majority Leader, he made them a priority amongst his caucus.

Indeed Paulsen has focused on the issue of banning same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment (it has already been made illegal by statute), so much so that religious right figurehead James Dobson of Focus on the Family praised Paulsen for his efforts in a letter to district voters.

Turning the controversy over social issues back onto Republicans is not an approach that DFLers often take when it comes to LGBT equality in the suburbs. But the 3rd Congressional District is more diverse than the suburbs north, east and south of the Twin Cities.

Almost 6 percent of voters identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA, easily within the margin of this very close race. That’s 26,000 voters, and that doesn’t count the friends and family of those voters who are much more likely to support an equality candidate. In addition, the 3rd District lies to the west of the 5th Congressional District, which has one of the highest percentage of gay, lesbian and bisexual voters in the state, ranking ninth out of 435 districts nationwide.

It might be the reason Rep. Jim Ramstad, the moderate Republican retiring from the district this year, supported a key piece of LGBT legislation — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. On that issue, Madia is much more closely aligned with Ramstad than is Paulsen.

A candidate to watch

DFL Rep. Tim Walz demonstrated in 2006 that a Democratic candidate can win in a moderate rural district while supporting LGBT equality. Democrats are hoping that a Madia win on Tuesday will demonstrate that honesty and fairness regarding LGBT equality can be a positive in a moderate suburban district.

“I think what Ashwin has realized is that there are larger issues which unite us than the divisive social tactics some Republicans have used in the past to try to win elections,” said Jon Hoadley, executive director of Stonewall Democrats, an LGBT group affiliated with the Democratic Party. “I think Ashwin Madia represents a new generation in Congress who says, ‘Let’s focus on the fundamentals that we were elected to work on. Let’s give everyone a fair shot, and let’s get back to tackling the issues important to our constituents.’”

Hoadley says that it’s important for candidates to be direct with voters. “Ashwin has also been honest with voters [on LGBT equality]. He’s stated his position and then turned back to focus on the larger issues which impact his district. And we’ve seen voters say ‘OK, I see where you’re coming from.”

Even if voters don’t agree on LGBT issues, Hoadley says there is trust built when candidates are honest with voters. “It’s that honest answer that has allowed him to tackle those things which impact all of us. I think voters have been lied to enough by politicians in the past that they truly appreciate an honest, straightforward answer by a candidate like Ashwin.”

Walz, a National Guard veteran, took the same approach, and while Republicans attacked him for his support, the voters rewarded him with a seat in Congress. “For some reason, it is the same approach that has also been embraced by numerous Iraq War veterans running for office, like former Army Captain Patrick Murphy who was elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in 2006,” noted Hoadley. “Perhaps it’s the belief that their service to the people whom they fought for on the battlefield extends beyond the war zone and onto the home front. Servicemembers are remarkable that way, and Ashwin Madia is a remarkable candidate.”

The other two are free media: a three-minute YouTube video posted by the Paulsen campaign that features testimonials from veterans who support the state representative’s congressional bid, and a four-minute interview that Fox 9 conducted with Paulsen as part of its morning news show… which was followed minutes later by the new Madia ad. (Independence Party candidate David Dillon will appear on Fox 9 on 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and Madia will appear on 7:30 a.m. Friday).

Outside help for Paulsen in the form of new ads and ad buys from the National Republican Congressional Committee has vanished, at least for now, with NRCC-reserved time at local stations remaining only for the campaign’s final week.

Here is the fresh crop of new video in the 3rd Congressional District race, with the exception of Paulsen’s interview on Fox 9 this morning, which we’ll add if it becomes available. In the meantime, there’s an transcribed excerpt below.

Madia for Congress: “Discipline”

DCCC: “Career Politician Erik Paulsen: We Can’t Afford”

Paulsen for Congress: “Veterans Support Erik Paulsen for Congress”

Paulsen on Fox 9 (transcribed excerpt):

PAULSEN [responding to question on the national debt]: …These guys [in Congress] are literally just on a bipartisan spending spree. And we just need an approach that’s going to be live-within-your-means, what-can-we-afford. I don’t want my four daughters to be saddling this national debt. And that’s a real concern.

FOX 9: Yeah, no parent wants that, that’s for sure. Now, you don’t want to expand government health care. You want market-driven solutions. Does it trouble you that each year the marketplace leaves more and more of us uninsured?

PAULSEN: Well, we’ve done some good things in Minnesota, even on a bipartisan basis. I’ve gotten some recognition and awards for that. But I think we have to do the same thing at the federal level. We need more competition to bring down costs. I think we also have to employ health information technology for e-prescribing electronical [sic] medical records. That’s how we can get into the next century to save medical costs. And I think we have to reimburse on a different model, so you’re not just reimbursing providers and physicians on the number of procedures they do, but on the quality of the procedures they do. So we’re focusing on preventative medicine. That’s how we’re ultimately going to save money and more people will be able to be insured.

In a purely political move VoteVets.org says undermines veterans, McCain instead proposed a substitute bill that offered a fraction of the money outlined in the GI Bill for tuition. McCain’s White House-backed bill was defeated in the Senate, struck down by McCain’s Republican colleagues and Vietnam vets in in the Senate.

“We didn’t give a fraction in Iraq,” a vet in the ad says. “We gave 100 percent.” Another vet adds: “Senator McCain, we respect your service. Please respect ours.”

Jim Weber considers it a reminder, not a political statement. The 57-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired postal service worker started tallying U.S. military casualties in Iraq on a three-by-four whiteboard above his garage door in 2003. “At first, I wondered if I should do it, if I’d end up with eggs on my house,” says Weber.

Five years later, Weber continues to update his counter, keeping track of the death toll by reading news articles and a Web site called icasualties.org. In the summer, people walking by his white picket-fenced yard on the corner of 41st and Washburn Avenue in north Minneapolis stop to talk about his display.

“The feedback has been very positive,” says Weber. “They stop and thank me for having the signs up.”

Watch the video above for more of our interview with Weber.

That’s exactly what Iraq veteran Steve Sarvi was doing when I caught up with him Monday night at the American Legion in Farmington.

Sarvi started his listening tour across the 2nd Congressional District this past weekend. The events, designed to introduce the candidate to potential supporters on a personal level, will keep Sarvi busy through the end of the week; he left the Farmington event right on time to head to another in Zumbrota.

Sarvi spent much of Monday’s event discussing his experiences in the military on the ground in Iraq, a theme sure to recur in a race against incumbent Republican John Kline, a retired Marine Lt. Colonel. Sarvi represents a continuation of the trend, beginning in 2006, of military veterans running for Congress as Democrats. In blogosphere circles, they became known as “Fighting Dems,” counting Minnesota first-termer Tim Walz among their members. Sarvi is not alone as a veteran running for the first time in Minnesota, with attorney Ashwin Madia’s recent entry into the 3rd District race.

Sarvi’s low-key manner seemed to strike a positive note with several of Monday’s attendees, who afterward called his approach “exactly what we need” as opposed to what they dislike in the incumbent. The small crowd smiled at Sarvi’s stories and chuckled at his jokes, and an astute listener could tell which pieces, lines and anecdotes will be showing up in a stump speech somewhere down the road.

With no other Democratic opponents on the horizon, Sarvi very well could be the 2nd District DFL’s standard-bearer in 2008.  However, despite his experience in city administration, he’s new to the congressional campaign game, and will need all the practice he can get telling his stories and espousing his values to the voters who will decide his political fate.