Leaders on both sides of the aisle balked on a bipartisan proposal to end the Minnesota budget stalemate through a combination of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts Thursday.

The commission, led by former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale and former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson, was praised by Democratic leaders, although Gov. Mark Dayton ultimately rejected their proposal of a tax increase for everyone, rather than just the very wealthy, which Dayton has proposed.

Democratic leaders used the commission’s findings to nudge Republicans towards compromise.

“The bipartisan commission agrees that we need a balanced budget approach that combines responsible spending cuts and smart reforms with new, permanent revenue that allows us to protect our key priorities,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) said in a statement. “This is also the position of Gov. Dayton, Democrats, many moderate Republicans, the vast majority of Minnesotans, and even the state’s economist.”

But House Speaker Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) told the Star Tribune that the proposal was a “retread of failed tax-and-spend policies.”

The commission was never popular with Republicans. Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton released a statement earlier in the week that criticized the effort.

“At the end of the day, the budget resolution is not about Gov. Dayton’s obsession with expanding government or about former Gov. Carlson’s obsession with his ego,” Sutton said. “It is about creating growth and prosperity for all Minnesotans.”

“Hello, Minnesota! Hello, Gophers! Oh, it is good to be back in Minnesota!” So began President Barack Obama Saturday, rousing a crowd of 11,000 at the University of Minnesota. In town at the tail end of a four-state campaign swing intended to bridge an “enthusiasm gap” among Democrats, the president hailed DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton as “the only candidate who can actually deliver change, who’s actually delivered change before.”

In the presence of Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, Reps. Keith Ellison, James Oberstar and Betty McCollum, former Vice President Walter Mondale and state auditor Rebecca Otto, Obama laid into Republicans who he says sat idly by as the middle class was “getting pounded” in recent years.

“[Republicans'] basic theory was they looked around and said, ‘Boy, we really made a big mess, we really screwed up.  It’s going to take a long time to get those 8 million jobs back. People are going to be angry and frustrated. It’s better if we refuse to cooperate, we say no to everything, we try to gum up the works in Congress, and we may be able to deflect the blame come the next election,’” he said to boos from the crowd. “‘We’ll just pretend like we had nothing to do it, and we’ll point our fingers at the Democrats.’”

“In other words, the other side was betting on amnesia,” he said, drawing laughter. “They’re betting that you’ll forget who caused this mess in the first place.”

A moment later, he said, “If you think somehow there’s a new and improved Republican Party out there, let me be clear:  The chair of the Republican campaign committee was asked, well, what are you going to do if you take over Congress.  He said, we’ll pursue the ‘exact same agenda’ as we did before Obama took office.”

Obama’s efforts appear to be having some success, according to a Newsweek poll taken last Thursday and Friday. His own approval rating jumped to 54 percent, up from 48 percent a month ago. And slightly more poll respondents — 48 percent — said they’d be more likely to vote for Democrats, compared to 42 percent saying they’d be more likely to vote for Republicans on election day.

Still, as the New York Times reported Sunday, there are 28 Democratic House seats that are leaning Republican or considered losses for Democrats, while 40 Democratic seats are tossups. Republicans will need to win a net of 39 seats to win the majority in the House. In the Senate, the prognosis isn’t quite as grim, with Democrats still holding onto a slight lead.

Photojournalist Kathy Easthagen, who covered Obama’s September 2009 healthcare rally for the Minnesota Independent, was on hand at the rally to capture Obama’s visit in pictures. Click here to view the full-sized slideshow or here to read the full text of Obama’s speech.

Walter Mondale. Photo: WDCpix

On the last day of the current fundraising cycle, Walter Mondale is pitching in for Tarryl Clark’s congressional campaign. In an email to Clark supporters this morning, the former vice president mentions Rep. Michele Bachmann’s defense of petroleum giant BP (twice) and the Republican congresswoman’s celebrity (once). “Congresswoman Bachmann consistently takes the side of special interests on critical issues from holding BP accountable for the oil spill to making sure corporations can’t buy our elections to common sense regulation of Wall Street,” he writes. “Minnesota needs someone in Congress who is on our side, not the special interests.”

Mondale, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1964 to 1976, joins another Senate figure in backing Clark. Al Franken wrote a letter in September urging his supporters to help Clark.

Mondale’s letter:

FROM THE DESK OF
VICE PRESIDENT WALTER F. MONDALE

Dear Friend,

I am so proud of Tarryl Clark’s campaign for Congress. Since I last contacted you, the campaign has made record-setting progress and built a winning coalition. Now, Clark’s campaign faces an important test and we can help her earn yet another stunning grade.

Today is the end of the fundraising quarter. Tarryl needs your financial support before midnight to demonstrate that she is running a winning campaign.

It will take an unprecedented campaign to defeat Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Despite her unconscionable defense of BP, Bachmann enjoys a level of celebrity that makes her a formidable opponent. It will take all of us, working together, to restore responsible, responsive leadership in Congress.

Congresswoman Bachmann consistently takes the side of special interests on critical issues from holding BP accountable for the oil spill to making sure corporations can’t buy our elections to common sense regulation of Wall Street. Minnesota needs someone in Congress who is on our side, not the special interests.

On issue after issue, Tarryl Clark has stood up for us. She protected seniors from predatory lenders, took on the insurance industry, and even cut her own compensation and office expenses during the state budget crunch.

Now it is our turn to stand with Tarryl and the people of the 6th Congressional District. Please make your contribution before midnight. Join me in helping Tarryl and her unprecedented campaign achieve victory this quarter and in November.
Thank you,

Walter F. Mondale

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

ST. PAUL: And then there were seven. The DFL now says it had designated four more donations to House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher’s gubernatorial campaign in addition to the three revealed last week, but the party chair calls it a “blunder, not a conspiracy.” [Star Tribune; Pioneer Press]

NEW BRIGHTON AND NORTH BRANCH: No wonder they’re leaders on energy. The combined ages of Kate Knuth and Jeremy Kalin, the two Minnesota legislators in Copenhagen for the big climate-change conference, is 60. [MinnPost; ECM Publishers]

CHISHOLM: Let the Iron Range research re-commence! Iron Range Resources will spend $450,000 to keep the heat on and research center open at the recently shuttered Minnesota Discovery Center, formerly known as Ironworld. [Duluth News Tribune]

ST. PAUL: Governor rejects racino. There goes Tim Pawlenty’s chance to make his own video for Racino Now! [Polinaut]

ST. CLOUD: A noble experiment. Removing parking meters downtown netted the city $60,000 less in small change. [St. Cloud Times]

WILLMAR: So cold the wind froze. Two new municipal wind turbines haven’t turned in a week and a half because they lack heaters. [West Central Tribune]

Pawlenty told the conservative website Newsmax that Obama has

a philosophy that government knows best, a nanny-state mentality on domestic issues that will ultimately be corrosive to the other pillars of our country — to markets, private enterprise, individual responsibility, freedom and liberty.

And T-Paw has what it takes to stop nannies from corroding pillars. On health care, Pawlenty pitches his plan to let companies sell coverage across state lines, adding

we need to make it more affordable for individuals and families, businesses, and governmental entities. But instead they are now focused substantially on expanding access.

If Obama is the object of scorn, Pawlenty’s home state doesn’t fare much better in his speeches. He has made Minnesota a punchline in past talks, but last week managed to draw boos at the launch of his new Freedom First PAC by introducing himself as “coming from a state that is the home of Humphrey and Mondale and Wellstone and now U.S. Senator Al Franken.”

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

ST. PAUL: Visiting VIP untouched by Axis bombers. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood got a tour of Union Depot’s long-closed concourse, where skylights are still blacked out to fool WWII-era enemies. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

SIXTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Republican’s muscle-flex enters second day. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann raised nearly as much money in the last 48 hours as DFL rival Maureen Reed raised last quarter. [Smart Politics]

ST. CLOUD: A DFL Who’s-Who RSVPs for Wellstone Dinner. The annual chow-down this weekend proves to be a don’t-miss for the party’s gubernatorial field — even those who skipped this week’s candidate forum on hunger.  [St. Cloud Times]

STATE CAPITOL: Panel hears local-government aid is at low ebb. So the LGA Study Group is doing what they’re supposed to: study it.  [Sebeka-Menahga Review Messenger; @donreeder]

ST. PAUL: Jobless-rate drop puzzling. State officials are reassuringly concerned about what is actually going on, as the state also lost nearly 8,000 jobs in September. [Minnesota Public Radio]

BLOOMINGTON: In 1969, Minnesota’s “Balloon Boy” actually went up. A Minnesota Vikings halftime stunt turned into the real deal for Rick Snyder, then 11, who recalls crashing his runaway balloon into the Minnesota River before it went aloft again, leading rescuers astray. [KSTP-TV]

Photo: Boorman818, Flickr

Former Vice President Walter Mondale sent out a fundraising appeal Tuesday on behalf of 6th Congressional District challenger Tarryl Clark. An additional money pitch was dispatched by Patty Wetterling, who unsuccessfully ran against Michele Bachmann for an open House seat in 2006.

The appeals come as the third-quarter fundraising deadline looms on Wednesday, the first since Clark announced that she’s running against Bachmann. The Democratic state senator will undoubtedly want to report an impressive fundraising total in order to put national groups, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on notice that she intends to run a viable campaign. Clark’s only challenger for the DFL endorsement, Maureen Reed, brought in more than $230,000 during the second quarter of 2009.

Bachmann’s hoping for a strong financial showing by Wednesday’s filing deadline, too. She sent out a fundraising appeal of her own on Tuesday, noting that she’s among eight Republicans targeted by the Democrats in 2010.

“I must show a solid bank account to keep the Democrats from pouring millions into my opponents’ campaigns,” she wrote. “They’ve spent millions here before, and right now they’re gearing up to do it again!”

Here’s Pawlenty at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 18 (three years before the 2012 election):

I’m here to tell you as the governor of, to put it charitably, a left-leaning state [laughter] …

Here’s Romney in South Carolina, as quoted in a Washington Post article titled “Massachusetts Governor Makes His State the Butt of His Jokes,” from Sept. 26, 2005 (three years before the 2008 election):

Being a conservative Republican in Massachusetts is a bit like being a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention. … There are more Republicans in this room tonight than I have in my state!

Pawlenty also sounds a lot like Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has brought up the topic of the presidency herself. In Colorado earlier this month, she made a similar gag: “Hey, I got elected in Franken country!” Like Pawlenty at the Value Voters Summit, she followed it up by namechecking Minnesota liberals Eugene McCarthy, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone.

Photo: WDCpix

Politico reports there was a long, thoughtful pause after Walter Mondale was asked Wednesday if he agreed with Jimmy Carter that some criticism of President Obama is race-based. “Yeah” was his answer, when it finally came.

Mondale elaborated:

I don’t like saying it. Having lived through those years, when civil rights was such a bitter issue, and when we argued those things for years … I know that some of that must still be around. …

I don’t want to pick a person, say, he’s a racist, but I do think the way they’re piling on Obama, the harshness, you kind of feel it. I think I see an edge in them that’s a little bit different and a little harsher than I’ve seen in other times.

Mondale made the comments at the Washington, D.C., premiere of a documentary about him called “Fritz” (trailer) by Minnesota filmmaker Melody Gilbert. The movie grew out of her filming Mondale talking to a class at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Gilbert tells The Hill. Mondale is “not braggy,” she says, and “never liked being on camera.” In Gilbert’s view, he is the patriarch of Minnesota’s version of the Kennedy family, but “low key.”

Anyway, that’s the claim of Franken spokesperson Jess McIntosh, who first told the Minnesota Independent that our query about Franken’s alleged IOOF membership would have to take a back seat to more pressing matters like national health care reform.

But when we told her about Walter Mondale’s frustration with Wiki-vandals who alleged the former Vice President kept roosters and sang opera, McIntosh promised to get back to us with an answer.

“That’s a no on IOOF,” came the message from McIntosh a couple hours later. “Sorry to disappoint.”

But our disappointment that Franken was not in fact a member of a 19th-century fraternal organization with a funny name was nothing compared to a let-down that happened last week.

A West Coast reader and former Minnesotan tipped off MnIndy that he’d received word from a friend at the Minnesota State Fair that the seed-art version of President Obama’s birth certificate was — as is so often claimed about the actual document — missing.

When State Fair authorities checked on the matter for MnIndy and found nothing untoward at the Crop Art exhibit, no blank spot where the birth certificate facsimile-in-seeds had been … now that was disappointing.