A Bluestem Prairie

MN-01 Lazy Saturday Afternoon Netroots: Winona, Winona, Winona

WALZ IN WINONA
Craig's Site posts a diary entry about a Tim Walz house party in Winona.  Like so many Walz events, this one was well-attended:

Congressional Candidate Tim Walz Visits Winona

Tim Walz, the DFL candidate for U.S. Congress from the First Congressional District of Minnesota (which includes Fillmore, Houston, and part of Winona County) was in Winona Wednesday evening as special guest at a gathering of over 100 people at the home of Dr. Bill and Joan McNeil.

Walz is a high school geography teacher from Mankato, and is a 24-year veteran of the Minnesota Army National Guard. Walz, who says he will be “an independent voice for Southern Minnesota,” has been campaigning vigorously, strongly criticizing incumbent Gil Gutknecht for the lack of leadership Gutknecht has shown on critical issues such as affordable health care, Iraq, education, the environment, and energy policy.

Walz, speaking with several fellow veterans behind him, said, “My opponent recently referred to me as ‘irrelevant.’ After thinking about it, I saw that that it actually is true. The race is not about me or my opponent. It is about the people of southern Minnesota, and about giving them proper representation in Washington, which they have been lacking for several years.”

GUTKNECHT STAFFER SPANKED FOR WIKI WHACKING
The Gutknecht campaign may have thought it had an answer for the Winona Daily News' editorial blasting attempts to erase his term-limits pledge, but readers posting at the paper's online forum are not buying it. Samples:

The truth shall set you free.

wrote on September 09, 2006 2:06 AM:"It's all there in the edit history of the Gil Gutknecht article (the history tab at the top). First, using the Gutknecht01 user name on July 24th, the article was edited primarily to remove the term limits reference (with the edit summary: Edited on the authority of Congressman Gil Gutknecht's Office). Then on August 14th using the IP 143.231.249.141 (housegate10.house.gov) they engaged in a short edit war replacing the entire Wikipedia article with the official Gil Gutknecht biography from http://www.house.gov/gutknecht/About/about.htm. The Gutknecht staffer did not take the time to understand how the Wikipedia works and he tried to use the Wikipedia for propoganda purposes. If they had learned about the Wikipedia and had just edited to help improve the quality of the article to make it more accurate and better referenced, there would have been no problems at all. gk" 

Oh Gil
wrote on September 08, 2006 10:57 AM:"Sending up a staffer to take the blame...you are better than that. "  

Hey
wrote on September 08, 2006 9:20 AM:"First of all - who is this guy and where is he from. Second of all - why would term limits have a negative consequence for the first district. Third of all - if renewable energy and pharmaceuticals are the only things Gil had any part in during his 12 years maybe its a good time for the voters to give him a 12 year limit."  

Taking one for the team..
wrote on September 08, 2006 8:14 AM:"Hmmmm...a strategy borrowed from the White House. That makes sense, Congressman Gutknecht usually follows in lockstep with them. Let someone on the staff take one for the team while the leader shrugs it off. Maybe Mr. Anderson can get a Medal of Freedom like George Tenant."

DISMANTLING A SMEAR
We could live without the purple prose shot through the entry, though we appreciate the sentiment of the MN Blue post on TimWalz (cross posted to a DailyKos diary) "Tim Walz (MN-01) under attack, Republicans ramps up the Lie Machine."  The post reviews the history of the case, closing with:

Walz is a natural leader and would be a great addition to Congress. Gutknecht's and the RNCC's tactics are typical. Nothing has been going right for Gutknecht and he and the Republicans are going to try and and milk this pseudo-issue for every thing they can. Don't let them get away with it.

The sentiments about the source of the attacks are echoed in Tim O-Brien's Blog House, albeit about another race:

Back in July, I praised the work of Michael Brodkorb. His blog was instrumental in forcing the mainstream media to cover some valid issues regarding Fifth District U.S. House candidate Keith Ellison. Despite my opinion that he was a GOP party organ, in this case he had provided a public service: Voters had the right to know about the DFL-endorsed candidate's transgressions.

I take it all back. Brodkorb has gone all Drudge Report on me.

To decry the level of political discourse in general -- and both sides are guilty-- is to waste valuable oxygen. But what Brodkorb and his ilk are doing goes far beyond slinging mud. It's character assassination.

We anticipate that there will be more in this vein in the days to come.

Mark Gisleson predicts this at Norwegianity, while taking the RNCC to task for this statement: Walz "owes Minnesota voters a full confession for his impropriety 11 years ago.”  The Wege's take:

Demanding a "full confession" is beyond noxious and truly world class Babbitry but the real bottom line continues to be this: Tim Walz got pulled over for speeding on an interstate in a part of Nebraska where you could die of hunger waiting for the next motorist to come along. In western Nebraska snails cross highways and live to tell about it.

But that's how fear-base campaigning works. Ratchet up the hysteria without the context.
[read the rest; politically incorrect language warning].

Bob Collins at Polinaut offers a slightly different version--more cordial toward Brodkorb and more urging of critical judgement on the part of readers and voters. But there's also this :

The strategy was clear and one that I would think we would have gotten use to by now. Throw up a bunch of stuff and hope some of it sticks and if in the process the credibility of the person writing what he does know is undermined, well, so much the better.

It's an effective strategy and it can work. Once. Twice. Maybe three times. But the problem with it is a constant barrage of "throwing stuff against the wall and hoping some of it is right" inevitably undermines the credibility of the person throwing it and pretty soon nothing sticks, even that which probably should. It is, essentially, the natural order of things and it's the political eco-system that eventually cleanses itself through natural means.

It's a fine line that some people walk and it usually becomes a problem late in the campaign, not so much for the Keith Ellisons of the world (hey, if you think this is bad, pal, wait to you go to Washington!) but the bloggers who end up destroying themselves in the process of trying to destroy others.

MN-01 & the DM & E: How we got to be called The Gopher State

The Minnesota Monitor takes a look at a local issue in the MN-01 race:  the DM & E.  Let's look at the post, then consider a historical incident not taken up by any modern critic of the DM & E.

Mn Monitor contributor Leigh Pomeroy states that this issue could be the deciding factor in the election; we respectfully disagree, in that much of the expressed frustration coming from opinion leaders and average folks stems from frustration with national policy (Iraq, the deficit) and Gutknecht's lackluster performance over the twelve years to which he promised to limit his Congressional career.  Gutknecht's passivity on DM & E is but another example of the later.

Nonetheless, the analysis is worth the read.  A part:

Nearly all cities along the route have signed community partnership agreements with the railroad, some begrudgingly, but the City of Rochester, bolstered by Olmsted County, the Mayo Clinic and the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, don't want the coal trains coming through town.

The chief objection is that the rail line passes within blocks of the Mayo Clinic campus. The Mayo contends that a hazardous waste spill from a derailment or other accident would cripple the downtown area and the Clinic. During any weekday approximately 30-40,000 people are in the city center adjacent to the tracks, making an evacuation particularly difficult. Further, at any given time as many as 600 Mayo patients are in intensive care or surgery, or are otherwise incapacitated, and cannot be moved. Mayo spokespeople call this "Rochester's potential Katrina."

During this struggle Rep. Gutknecht has been straddling the fence between catering to the large agricultural interests supporting the railroad and trying to appease the Mayo and the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, both long-time supporters. Now with Walz running a strong grassroots campaign and nearly certain to win key cities in the district like Mankato, Austin, Albert Lea and Winona, Gutknecht has to maintain his traditional hometown base in order to hold onto his seat.

Just recently, Gutknecht has aligned himself with Sen. Coleman to (finally) try to pressure the Department of Transportation to come up with a mitigation plan for Rochester, but DM&E opponents say this is doing too little too late.

Meanwhile, DM&E CEO Kevin Schieffer claims that 55 of 56 communities along the rail line have signed community partnership agreements with the railroad in support of the expansion, the one remaining holdout being Rochester. That's not technically true, however, as Brookings' agreement has been suspended until a referendum is voted on this fall, and Mankato's, while signed by the city has not been countersigned by the railroad, apparently due to a disagreement over a city veto clause in the contract. (Blue Earth County, in which Mankato is located, has yet to draft an agreement with the railroad.)

Another wrinkle to the issue is that the city of Winona, from which the DM&E plans to offload its trains onto barges to cross the Mississippi River, also does not have an agreement with the railroad. That's because the DM&E's tracks stop five miles north in Minnesota City, while the Canadian Pacific (CP) owns the line from Minnesota City through Winona. Further, according to a Track the Truth spokesman, the CP doesn't have the port facilities to offload the amount of coal that the DM&E is planning to ship.

All this has resulted in a strange brew of century-old railroad laws, community rights, competing economic interests and old-fashioned porkbarrel politics. The saga has gone on for eight years already and won't end soon. But there's no doubt in many minds that it's impacting the 2006 congressional election in Minnesota's southern-most district, and that the result of that election — and the new makeup of Congress in January — will determine the proposed project's final outcome.

We call our readers' attention to a matter Pomeroy overlooked: the role of those old-fashioned porkbarrel politics and railroads in the story of how Minnesota earned its unofficial nickname: The Gopher State.  At the state legislature's web site, we find a list of "Minnesota State Symbols--Unofficial, Proposed, or Facetious."  We find this passage under "Gopher State":

In February 1858, the new Minnesota Legislature introduced the “Five Million Loan” bill. The purpose of the bill was to provide money to build railroads in the state. A highly controversial proposal, the bill ultimately passed. During the public debate, a cartoon was circulated depicting the railroad tycoons as nine gophers with human heads pulling a Gopher Train. Minnesota’s nickname “ the gopher state” came from this 1857 cartoon. A full description of the Five Million Loan may be found in William Watts Folwell, A History of Minnesota, Volume II (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1961), pages 37-58. . . .

What were the consequences of the "Five Million Loan"? The Minnesota Historical Society notes the history in the biography of a contemporary governor:

The Five Million Loan bill loaned to four railroad companies the credit of the state, not to exceed five million dollars. Bonds were to be issued as railroad construction was completed. The railroad companies would pay off the bonds by selling land granted to them by the federal government. The bill, signed by Governor Medary, later proved disastrous. By July, 1859, the value of the bonds fell so low that they were no longer useable as collateral to continue building the railroads.

The state's credit rating was impaired for 20 years according to some contemporary accounts.  Historical analogies are cautionary tales, rather than predictive evidence.  Nonetheless, the anxiety of fiscal conservatives at Minnesota Central and Doppler Effect are grounded on legitimate concerns.

Last week, the DM & E announced one contract to ship coal. The opposition responded in today's Rochester Post Bulletin:

Some of the KFx coal will go through Rochester, a hotbed of opposition to the DM&E's plans.

Mayo Clinic spokesman Lee Aase said DM&E's deal with KFx does not raise fears that Rochester will have a coal-hauling railroad incrementally shoved down its throat.

"From our perspective, the contract really doesn't change anything. It represents a small fraction of what DM&E would need to repay a $2.3 billion loan from American taxpayers.

"It's a very small fraction of what they need in terms of coal contracts. It doesn't really do anything to illustrate the viability of their project," Aase said.

Editorial columnist Holman W. Jenkins Jr dismisses these concerns in a cutting op-ed piece published in Wednesday's WSJ editorial page (a pdf is available at the ever-entertaining Government Center blog).

OLLIE OX UPDATE: The Mankato Free Press considering whether opposition to the project is expanding to other cities.

MN-01 Friday Night: Hoekstra on train derailments and much, much more!

HOEKSTRA: A TRAIN WRECK IN ROCHESTER?
Polinaut reports that Peter Hoekstra is coming to the Twin Cities for a fundraiser for Gil Gutknecht this  weekend, not just dodging a visit to Michigan by President Bush.

Hoekstra was in Rochester today talking to first responders about homeland security which:

isn't just responding to terrorist attacks, but to other serious situations including train derailments and chemical spills.
 
So, he's talking with first responders in Rochester about hazards that could happen in your own backyard.
 
And, he's getting feedback on what the area thinks about federal funding and working with the national level on integration.
 
"Integrate working as a team that they are prepared to work as a team if there ever any incident here in Minnesota," Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra says, "And, then they need to work with us to be open of what's working and what's not."
 
Of course the group did talk about terrorist attacks, and the chairman says the nation is much better prepared to stop an attack from ever happening than it was five years ago.

Meanwhile, Hoekstra told a slightly different story to the Grand Haven Tribune, a newspaper in his home district:

West Michigan's congressman, a key U.S. intelligence insider, says America should be prepared for the inevitable terrorist attack that could rival the horror of Sept. 11, 2001.

With that event looming on the horizon in Grand Haven, Michigan, train derailments and chemical spills in Rochester are just another national security risk.

No word on whether the discussion turned to "found" WMDs in Iraq or lost promises about term limits.

IS THAT A TIGHT RACE IN GIL'S POCKET, OR IS THE MAYO CLINIC JUST GLAD TO SEE YOU?
In breaking news today, Senator Norm Coleman announced that he:

has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for a plan to address concerns of those who fear an expansion by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad would harm the Rochester community and the Mayo Clinic.

Coleman, R-Minn., told reporters Thursday in Washington that he is waiting to hear from the department about his request.

"I have specifically asked the Department of Transportation to come up with a mitigation plan," Coleman said. "We need a mitigation plan, so I've asked them to study it and present something to us. They understand this is what's needed."

He said he believes the department will put "something on the table."

Steve Kulm, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said the department will review the letter before commenting.

Opponents of DM&E's expansion plan say the project could endanger patients and staff at the Mayo Clinic and harm its reputation. They also say the city would be adversely affected. Kevin Schieffer, chief executive of the railroad, has said upgrading the tracks will increase safety, and that critics are unwilling to come to an agreement.

The project has the potential to send up to 34 trains through downtown Rochester daily.

Coleman and Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., put the study request in writing Thursday in a letter to Acting Transportation Secretary Maria Cino.

Good to see Representative Gutknecht in a leadership role--after so many passive months.

KEYC CHURNS GOP CHARGE
Channel 12 in Mankato reports that "GOP Group Levels Charge at Walz Campaign."   MNPublius offers some perspective, while Evil Bobby schools himself for his future swiftboating.

NETROOTS
Minnesota Central continues his probing of Gil Gutknecht's health care proposals. Today's subject: Health savings accounts.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) have been portrayed as the panacea for all that ails the health system.
HSA is a great program … if you’re healthy and wealthy. On the other hand, even the Government’s website states : If you have significant medical expenses that do not approach catastrophic limits, you are probably better off in a traditional plan.

So who does take advantage of a Health Savings Account?

Let’s say you have a net worth of $20.9 million dollars, would you want a Health Savings Account ? Well, one of the advantages is that it offers tax-preferred aspects. According to The Washington Post, President Bush disclosed in his annual financial report a health savings account worth as much as $15,000 … and I thought he got health coverage as part of his job !

HSA by design are a high deductible insurance program which allows the individual to also invest up to the deductible amount into an investment vehicle. Let’s say, you’re a family and select a policy with a deductible of $5,450, then you could also put away $5,450 (assuming that you have the available cash) into an investment fund that would grow tax-free. The monies could be invested much like an IRA - including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and certificates of deposit. The value of the HSA at death is income to the estate or other entity.

Essentially, this is a catastrophic health insurance plan – since you pay all expenses until the deductible is satisfied. Catastrophe plans may make sense for home owners insurance since we do not normally experience disasters every year (unless you live in the hurricane belt) … maybe once in our lifetime; but most of us have health expenses every year.

The unanswered question cited by Gutknecht and the Kaiser Family Foundation is, does this make insurance affordable ? Yes, the insurance premium is less than a traditional policy with a lower deductible, but you are responsible for the medical expenses. These types of policies were available before HSA … the big new feature is that you can establish your own savings account for future medical expenses. But if you didn’t have the monies before, how does this help?

HSA do not address the underlying problems of rising healthcare costs in the U.S.

Read the rest here. See earlier installments here and here.  Bottomline, according to Minnesota Central:

In summary, . . . establishing Health Savings Accounts as the solution is non-responsive to the problem ... just another tax break for those that may not need it.

Thinking Outside the Closet reports that the National Journal thinks the MN-01 race has cooled from #39 to #41.

The Blog House takes back its praise of Republican operative blogging. Different race, same blogosmear  M.O.  The Strib on speeding story. Minnesota Monitor has an overview.

Millions of Friday Cats Blogging

A Bluestem Prairie rarely strays from political pastures. Today, however, we're joining in a grand tradition among progressive bloggers and choosing to cat blog.

Make that Millions of Cats blogging.

Artist and children's author Wanda Gag was a native of Minnesota's First Congressional District. The Minnesota Historical Society's Minnesota Author Biographies Project includes this entry for Gag:

Author, illustrator, and artist. Wanda Gag was the oldest of seven children; her father and her maternal grandparents had immigrated [sic] from Bohemia. When she was fifteen, her father, Anton (a local artist and photographer), died, leaving the family penniless.

Wanda took writing and illustrating jobs to support her family. She sold many illustrations to the Minneapolis Journal's Journal Junior a Sunday supplement section of the newspaper for juveniles.

She won awards and an art scholarship. She attended the St. Paul School of Art (1913-14) and Minneapolis School of Art (1914-17) and received a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York City (1917-18). She contributed illustrations to the socialist magazines The Liberator and New Masses.

A successful show at the Weyhe Gallery in New York in 1926 and publication in 1928 of her well-known and prototypical children's book Millions of Cats enabled her to give up work as a commercial artist and move to rural New Jersey, where she continued to produce drawings, lithographs, and children's books until her death in 1946. Her artwork is in a number of major museum collections.

That's the official short version. For the long version, nothing is better on her life as a budding artist than the MHS published diary, "Growing Pains."  It's a marvelous insight into the life of a gifted and tenacious young artist, struggling to keep her siblings and self in school in a small town where not everyone saw the value in educating orphans.

And yet, and yet. The Gag children had their champions, and part of the delight in reading the diaries  is Gag's own unpretentious delineation of those defenders. In one entry, she writes of her excitement at traveling to the Cities to see a friend's uncle.

It isn't until the wide-eyed Wanda arrives in St. Paul that readers learn her friend's uncle is Minnesota's governor.

There's more at Women Children's Book Illustrators, where we learn of Gag's proto-feminism:

"She also started to enjoy the company of young men but would become increasingly annoyed if they did not consider her their equal. In a letter to a young man, she reveals her feminist leanings:

'I have more courage and self-assurance than many a man, and yet I am treated as a mere wisp of femininity . . . I shall not rest until men are willing, and glad, to regard me as important as they (and with my hair hanging down my back in curls if I choose!)'"

"Millions of Cats" has been in print since 1928.  Read More: Women Children's Book Illustrators

For Tild~, rew and MnObserver (who blogs every place she wants).

Democracy for Minnesota: Help secure DFA endorsement for Tim Walz

Those readers who wish to help Tim Walz in MN-01 secure another important netroots endorsement should follow the advice of DFM:

MN Bloggers and DFA Link members are also working hard to help earn another important National DFA List endorsement in MN for Congressional Candidate Tim Walz (MN-01). You can do your part by going to Tim Walz's DFA Link campaign page and adding your name and comments to his supporters list.

Tired of dirty politics as usual? Organize, act, win.

Ollie Ox Update: You can also visit the Rochester Post-Bulletin Furst Draft blog and give your opinion of politics as usual.

Friday morning read: News and Netroots

HOUSTON COUNTY NEWS LTE: HOLD GUTKNECHT ACCOUNTABLE
While Gutknecht's staffer may want the readers of the Winona Daily News to believe that the Representative's staff only edited Gutknecht's Wikipedia entry on one day, saw it changed, then edited it again and forgot about it ten seconds later, that was not the case. 

The two attempts were on separate days and involved multiple edits on the part of Gutknecht's staff. (See the history pages for July 24, 2006  and August 14, 2006).

Letter writer Don Sattler reminds readers of the facts in today's Houston County News:

Hold Gutknecht accountable

An editorial in the Winona Daily News got it right when it criticized Congressman Gil Gutknecht for his two attempts to change his biography on the Internet, and for his refusal to apologize to the voters. Apparently, he had tried (twice!) to get rid of any reference to the promises he made when first elected. As the editorial said, “Gutknecht signed on for term limits and now doesn’t like having to answer to why he’s going back on his word.”

This is about accountability. Gutknecht loudly promised us three things in his Contract with America: to serve no more than six terms, to restore clean government to Congress, and to balance the budget.

How well has Gutknecht done? Well, he’s already served six terms, but now insists on running for a seventh. His party has brought us massive lobbyist scandals in Congress. And Gil has helped take us from billions in surplus six years ago, to such massive U.S. debt now that our kids and grandkids will be paying if off for decades.

Yet, incredibly, Gutknecht claims to be a “deficit hawk.” He obviously hopes that the voters of this district haven’t been watching his votes to spend hundreds of billions on tax giveaways to the ultra-rich and to the war in Iraq, for which he has been a major cheerleader for George W. Bush.

Our elected representatives must be held accountable. And Gil, because you refuse to be accountable, we the voters of southern Minnesota will turn you out of office this November.

Don Sattler.
Winona

MANKATO FREE PRESS LTES
William Anderson calls it as he sees it in "We need new legislators who won't abuse power":

--Let’s review: Huge surplus turned into endless deficit; rush to war based on knowingly false “intelligence”; treasonous outing of undercover CIA agent; premature announcement of “mission accomplished”; no plan for post-war occupation by poorly-armored military; civil war in Iraq and nothing productive in Afghanistan except opium; the illegal Guantanamo gulag; soaring health care costs; collapsing retirement plans amid corporate scandals; incompetent short term response by FEMA to Katrina followed by long-term broken promises; DeLay/Frist/Cunningham/Reed/Abramoff/Ney; Homeland Security protecting pharmaceutical profits from those deadly Canadian prescription drugs; Medicare reforms that are huge giveaways to the drug industry; soaring gas prices accompanied by obscene oil company profits; tax cuts for the rich and tax burdens passed down to state and local governments; DM&E idiocy — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg (if there still are any after they finish denying global warming).

So, is it fair to blame local Bush poodles, Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy? They don’t seem as corrupt as the rest of the administration (we’ll overlook one’s excessive travel and broken term-limits promise and the other’s confusion about what a CPA is), but they are too willing to take money from questionable lobbyists and from Bush/Cheney fundraisers to argue their independence.
[snip]

We need new legislators with the strength to stand up to abuses of power and to a government given away to the highest donors.

Fellow Mankato resident Jim Decker gets a little more specific in his letter:

How can we vote for a party that keeps the minimum wage at $5.15 an hour for 10 years? During the past 10 years approximately, Congress gave itself seven raises.

How can we vote for a party that deceives the people by attaching the estate tax to the bill supporting a minimum wage increase? The estate tax adjustment would affect less than 1 percent of households in the country and, according to a recent newspaper article, cost the U.S. Treasury $670 billion over 10 years.

Preventing people from making a decent minimum wage is immoral. When we vote in November, let’s have some compassion and vote against the party that wants estate taxes cut for the rich and wants to keep the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour.

NEW ULM JOURNAL

The New Ulm Journal picks up on the blogosmear: Walz traffic offense  reported on political blog. For a little context about the m.o. here for those readers not familiar with the Twin Cities blogosphere: The Wege offers insight into political operative blogging. AHS looks at political operative blogging in another congressional race.

NETROOTS
So far, 391 people have contributed $9,786.20 to Tim Walz as an ActBlue Netroots Candidate; $10,902.36 has been raised overall at ActBlue.  Click on the link above to contribute.

Democracy for Minnesota publishes a note from the Walz Campaign. Find out what contribution money will buy in MN-01's media market.  There's a reminder about the September 11 forum for Walz and Gutknecht in Rochester:

Tim Walz and Gil Gutknecht will debate again on Sept 11, 2006 in Rochester. The event is sponsored by the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. To purchase tickets, visit here.

BSP have more on this forum later today or over the weekend as time permits.  Let's see: September 11. . .hmmm.

Kid Oakland has published an update k/o list of local bloggers. The Kid notes the Left Coaster's Progressive State Blogs list.

Out of the mouth of babes comes truth: a Mankato high school student talks about the Walz race on a MySpace blog.   A Faithful Democrat looks at Wikiality.

BLUES TEMPORARY
Not political news, but there's a free music festival in St. Peter this weekend: The Rock Bend Folk Festival will celebrate its 16th year. Don't let the name deceive; there's more than folk music in this family-oriented event. The Mankato Free Press reports that "folk" means that people put together the lineup.

We promised Tild~ we'd do some Friday Cat Blogging, MN-01 style today. Come back later--some famous cats came out of the bluestem.

MN-01: MEA CULPRIT

WINONA MEA CULPRIT?
Bryan Anderson, a Gutknecht staffer, 'fesses up to editing Gil's Wikipedia entry in a Winona Daily News guest view. His narrative of events:

Here’s the truth: A fellow staff member noted to me how the congressman’s Wikipedia biography failed to include anything from his body of work during his 12 years in the U.S. Congress.

As someone who has worked extensively with high schoolers, I know that young people often look to Wikipedia as a source for information. So, I thought it more appropriate to include the congressman’s official biography on the site.

No thought whatsoever was given to term limits when I got “caught” (the whole idea of Wikipedia is for those with knowledge of a topic to add content). A few minutes after I changed the biography, it was changed back. In all honesty, this amused me, so I tried to change it again. Sure enough, it was changed back. At that point, I gave up, realizing I didn’t have the time to wage what has been so eloquently dubbed a “Wiki war.”

Unfortunately, he only mentions one editing episode of the two in the story. Here's the section from Wikipedia's entry on Congressional edits (current version)

On August 16, 2006, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reported that the office of Representative Gil Gutknecht tried twice -- on July 24 and August 14, 2006 -- to remove a 128-word section in the Wikipedia article on him, replacing it with a more flattering 315-word entry taken from his official congressional biography. Most of the removed text was about the 12-year term-limit Gutknecht imposed on himself in 1995 (Gutknecht is running for re-election in 2006, breaking his promise). A spokesman for Gutknecht did not dispute that his office tried to change his Wikipedia entry, but questioned the reliability of the encyclopedia. ^[3].  

Gutknecht's office used the account Gutknecht01 for the first edits on July 24;[4] that account was then notified (via its talk page) of wikipedia policies against self-editing. For the second set of edits on August 16, his office used a anonymous Congressional IP address.[5]

THE COMPANY GUTKNECHT KEEPS, OR, RUNAWAY CONGRESSMAN?

In "GOP might skip Bush's visit to state: President's low ratings in Michigan could keep many Republicans from Bouchard's fundraiser," the Detroit Free Press reports that President Bush heads to Michigan today for a fundraiser:

President Bush sprints through southeast Michigan for a three-hour visit today to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Republican Senate candidate Michael Bouchard -- and to raise a tough question for other GOP politicians.

Do you stand beside the standard bearer of your party, a president still popular with his conservative base? Or do you maintain a distance from a politician to whom most of America -- and Michigan -- gives a failing grade?

With the president's approval ratings hovering around 40 percent, GOP candidates around the country have stayed away when Bush visited their districts -- U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake of Virginia didn't even attend a Bush fundraising event for her campaign, and Senate candidate Thomas Kean of New Jersey showed up at his fundraiser after Bush had left.

Gee, that's not quite what Fox News said the other day. 

Consider the runaway destination reported for Pete Hoekstra:

Other Michigan Republicans say they have previous events they can't reschedule to attend the president's visit, which was announced last week. .  . .  Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland will be in Minnesota campaigning with Rep. Gil Gutknecht.

Some interesting activity on the part of Representative Hoekstra.  Here's one gem from the Washington Post article "Lawmakers Cite Weapons Found in Iraq" back in June:

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee, and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told reporters yesterday that weapons of mass destruction had in fact been found in Iraq, despite acknowledgments by the White House and the insistence of the intelligence community that no such weapons had been discovered.

"We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons," Santorum said.

The lawmakers pointed to an unclassified summary from a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center regarding 500 chemical munitions shells that had been buried near the Iranian border, and then long forgotten, by Iraqi troops during their eight-year war with Iran, which ended in 1988.

The U.S. military announced in 2004 in Iraq that several crates of the old shells had been uncovered and that they contained a blister agent that was no longer active. Neither the military nor the White House nor the CIA considered the shells to be evidence of what was alleged by the Bush administration to be a current Iraqi program to make chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Last night, intelligence officials reaffirmed that the shells were old and were not the suspected weapons of mass destruction sought in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

And there's Hoekstra's own pledge on term limits:

. . .He promised to serve only six terms (12 years) in the House. He scored a monumental upset, winning by almost six points. This primary win was tantamount to election in the 2nd, which is the most Republican district in Michigan (Republicans have held the district for all but four years since its creation in 1873). He has been reelected six times with virtually no Democratic opposition, never dropping below 65 percent of the vote.

In 2004, Hoekstra announced that he would run for another term after all, citing his membership on the House Select Committee on Intelligence. He faced no significant opposition in the Republican primary, all but clinching a 7th term. Shortly after the primary, he was named chairman of the committee, succeeding Porter Goss, who was named to head the CIA.

We look forward to hearing what the pair has to say to voters in Minnesota's First Congressional District.

 

OLLIE OX UPDATE: Polinaut has more on the Hoekstra visit.

Thursday morning MN-01 netroots

EVENTS
The Walz campaign calendar lists a host of traditional DFL fall events: bean feeds, forums, spaghetti feeds.  There's a doorknock this Saturday in Rochester beginning at 10 a.m. for those who might want to get out and campaign.

An additional event has been brought to our attention by the Dodge County DFL:

Wanted to let you know that there will be a Hog Roast fundraiser for Tim Walz on September 29th, 2006. The event is being hosted by Diane O'Brien Berge on her ranch in rural Dodge County (Vernon Township).  There will be all sort of entertainment, music, a laser shoot and of course great food. Suggested donation is $20 (more if you can....less if you can't).  The event begins at 5:30 p.m.

ACTBLUE UPDATE
As of  6 a.m. this morning, Tim Walz has received $9,672.20 in contributions by merit of being an ActBlue Netroots Candidate. Isn't it time you went to ActBlue and put him over $10,000?

MINNESOTA CENTRAL: GUTKNECHT HEALTH CARE PART II
Once more, Minnesota Central shows his chops by taking a close look at Gil Gutknecht's health care proposals. Wednesday's post looked at Medical Liability Reform and Medicare Part B.

Highlights--Malpractice Reform:

But what is the impact of the malpractice issue on the cost of total health care system ?

According to a Congressional Budget Office report “Malpractice costs amounted to an estimated $24 billion in 2002, but that figure represents less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Thus, even a reduction of 25 percent to 30 percent in malpractice costs would lower health care costs by only about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, and the likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small.”

Medicare Plan B:

Whoa ! Yes, Congressman Gutknecht voted against this, but now is encouraging people to use it. 

Here’s an analogy … the doctor warns you of obesity and then invites you to his patient appreciation event where he serves cake and cookies.

[snip]

. . .the law does not allow any price negotiations by the Federal government. Gutknecht['s] eline points out the price discrepancies between US and Foreign prices on a select group of drugs as a reason to allow importation. But couldn’t the same be accomplished by aggressive negotiations. The Veterans Administration has successfully done this. But there is legislation pending in Congress that would accomplish this – H.R. 376 which has 167 co-sponsors including Gutknecht. It was introduced on January 26, 2005 but is being held up by the Republican leadership. There is a discharge petition in process to force action – sadly, [neither] Gutknecht nor any other Minnesota Republican Congressman has signed it … but Democrats McCollum, Oberstar, and Sabo have. So why would you c-sponsor the bill, but not move it along ? Another example, illustrating that the Republicans are good talkers, but are operating a DoNothing Congress that advocates legislation they know we want, but stonewall[s] it from passage.

Go read it all.

THE CURSE OF THE WORKING CLASS
We go off to work and by the time we're free, MnPublius, North Star Politics and The Wege have had all the fun. Those people in the Cities have too much time on their hands. We have an email into the Walz campaign for more information.

OLLIE OX UPDATE: The Rochester Post Bulletin reports on the 1995 incident. The details are totally exculpatory. Is the Republican Party going negative? Did the sun rise in the east?

News Round-up: Off and running

HERE AND THERE: CONGRESS CONVENES
Tuesday night, we noted that Fox News was claiming that the White House had given its blessing on changing positions about Iraq to those House Republicans facing serious Democratic challengers in Subtly, Some GOP Candidates are Changing Their War Message:

Nevertheless, Washington insiders say that while the national party is talking tough, the White House has discreetly given GOP incumbents facing potential defeat in November its blessing to distance themselves from President Bush and his Iraq policy if necessary.

“The WhiteHouse aides read the polls, too. They know they’re not going to win if people vote strictly on Iraq … and they will have to make the compromises needed,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “That’s smart politics.”

“It serves [some GOP candidates] well to distance themselves from a very unpopular president and unpopular war,” said Evans. “But let's keep in mind here, that they are distancing themselves from the president from an image perspective, but they are still more than happy to have Bush come in and raise money for them.”

While MN-01 voters have yet to see President Bush raising money for Gutknecht, the distancing "from an image perspective" seems part of the mix. Gutknecht's Baghdad conversion experience is mentioned as an example in the Fox article.

In a widely circulated piece, IPS analyst Jim Lobe examines the topic of "Republican Control of Congress in Peril."  Lobe observes:

Iraq and the public's loss of confidence in Bush's management of the war there are viewed by the political pros as the Republicans' biggest liability going into the election. According to the latest polls, nearly two-thirds of voters say they disapprove of his handling of Iraq.

In recognition of the damage inflicted on his party by the situation in Iraq, Bush and his top aides launched a major new campaign last week, in anticipation of the 5th anniversary of the "9/11" attacks by al Qaeda on New York and the Pentagon, to highlight the risks that a quick withdrawal from that country would pose to the larger "global war on terror".

But more bad news from Iraq, such as a gloomy Pentagon report released here Friday and fierce new fighting by U.S. and western soldiers against resurgent Taliban forces in Afghanistan -- as well as the fact that the death toll for U.S. troops and military contractors in both Iraq and Afghanistan over the past five years has just surpassed the 2,973 people killed in the 9/11 attacks themselves -- pose serious risks to the White House's strategy.

Indeed, a New York Times/CBS poll conducted two weeks ago found that, for the first time, a majority of voters see the war in Iraq as distinct, if not a distraction, from the broader anti-terror effort, a key Democratic theme in this year's campaign and one that contradicts the thrust of the administration's new offensive.

Like so many reporters before him, Lobe includes Gil Gutknecht's name in the list of runaway Republicans:

All of these considerations have put many Republican incumbents, particularly those considered "moderate" in a party that has moved ever more to the right under Bush, in a difficult position. In order to survive Democratic challenges, many of them have been trying to distance themselves from the president -- particularly on Iraq.

To date, the most significant defectors have been Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays, formerly an enthusiastic supporter of the war, who last week came out in favour of what is increasingly the Democrats' consensus position -- setting a timetable for withdrawal that would begin before the end of this year, and Minnesota Rep. Gil Gutknecht, who, as recently as July, accused Democrats during a fiery debate on the House floor of "go(ing) wobbly" on Iraq.

Gutknecht was never considered a moderate.  Indeed, before his trip to Iraq, Gutknecht's most recent break with the White House was over immigration policy. Gilknecht has worked with immigration reform groups in the First and brought in Colorado's Tom Tancredo for  a public forum in 2005

And yet immigration policy, which had been touted as a major theme for the Rpeublican mid-term election strategy, is being abandoned for the mythic Republican terror advantage. The San Francisco Chronicle editorializes:

Immigration reform always figured to be a problematic campaign cry for Republican candidates this year. The party is hopelessly splintered on the issue. Republican leaders in the U.S. House hoped a series of hearings on immigration staged around the country this summer would motivate voters, but the combative affairs produced little political advantage for anyone.

President Bush and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a likely presidential contender in 2008, favored a route to legal residency and citizenship for undocumented workers, conservatives in the House of Representatives were unbending in their push to turn illegal aliens into felons and to enact harsh measures to seal the U.S. border with Mexico. Strategists who have worked to woo Latinos to the Republican Party warned that demonizing undocumented workers would backfire at the polls and damage the party's future.

With time running out on the chance to pass immigration legislation this year and midterm elections only two months away, GOP leaders jettisoned the heated border security rhetoric in favor of an old standby: the war on terror. The architects of fear have decided that 9/11 and terrorism are still the most effective way to solidify their base and win over independents.

Indeed.  Visit Gil Gutknecht's campaign web site; visitors must dig deep into archived statements to the media to find anything about immigration policy on his web site. There's a column about his trip to Iraq, however.

Meanwhile, Tim Walz has issued position papers on both topics.

MN-01: Health care and more

MINNESOTA CENTRAL: HEALTH CARE
Minnesota Central, who is one of the more original bloggers in Minnesota's First Congressional District, asks another question: "Gutknecht offers Health Care Solutions ?" taking another look at Gutknecht's appearance at the Small Business Forum in Owatonna:

Every week Gil Gutknecht sends out an email “eline” in which he highlights actions that he is working on in behalf of the First District.

I looked forward to reading it as outlines his philosophy and intentions.

In this week’s email, the focus was on a health care forum held in Owatonna with Rep. Don Manzullo of Illinois. I am afraid that although this was “advertised” as a public forum, I have a hunch that only invited guests were allowed to participate – much like his Immigration Forum in Worthington last December, or his Renewable Fuels sessions in Blue Earth last July, or the FRA / DM&E Forum on August 25. I have a passionate interest in health care and have requested on a number of occasions that his office notify me when he will hold public meetings, but have yet to be invited.

His eline states “My concern is that my friends on the left are offering a false choice. They are saying we can either continue the status quo which is costing too much and leaving too many uninsured, or move to a government-run, single payer system. There are other alternatives that should be explored.”
The solutions as outlined by Gutknecht are :
Prescription Drug Importation
Medical Liability Reform
Medicare Part D
Health Savings Accounts

I will commend Gutknecht for recognizing that there is a problem; after all, the first step to resolving a problem, is admitting it. For a member of the Republican Party that professes itself as “party of ideas”, Gutknecht is offering proposals that are stale, non-responsive, inadequate or recycled.

Personally, I find it easy character assassination that he bemoans of “my friends on the left” and yet when I look at his first solution to the problem and who is supporting it. H.R.328 (Prescription Drug Importation) was introduced by Gutknecht on January 25, 2005 and has been sitting in committee for over a year-and-a-half. Despite 121 cosponsors, it has not been moved forward by the Republican majority. Who are some of those cosponsors? Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel, John Conyers, John Murtha – all influential Democrats who some may even consider being “on the left”. Who is not a cosponsor? Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Republican Majority Leader John Boehner, and Republican Whip Roy Blunt.

[snip]

If Gutknecht really believes that Prescription Drug Importation is part of the solution, he better hope for a Democratic majority in the next session.

Minnesota Central promises a closer look at Gutknecht's health care proposals this week. We look forward to it.

THE FRONTRUNNER
We missed this August 31 item in The Frontrunner:

MN1: Walz's Campaign Garners National Attention After Rebutting Rumsfeld

The Mankato Free Press (8/31) says Tim Walz's campaign against MN1 Rep. Gil Gutknecht is "drawing national attention," especially after he delivered the Democratic response to Secretary Rumsfeld's speech. "After months of working to raise campaign cash - and outraising Gutknecht in the first part of the year - Walz is ready to spend some of it. His first broadcast ads will begin Friday on radio stations in Mankato and several other cities in southern Minnesota." Walz is quoted saying, "We think we've been winning the ground war. So now we go to the air war."

SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Walz signs are springing up in the western part of the district.

ACT BLUE
Help the Walz campaign get the word out by contributing through Act Blue.

We'll tackle news coverage about the PR front in the war against terrorism in a separate post.

Letter From Washington: Fighting Dems=Security Dems?

McClatchy's chief political correspondent Steven Thomma believes "Democrats must emphasize security issues" in this week's Letter from Washington.  He notes the Republican Party's return to national security as a focus for the mid-term election, but notes that that old dog might not hunt this fall:

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 57 percent of Americans are concerned that Democrats would weaken American defenses if they won control of Congress - hardly a vote of confidence.

Yet 69 percent were concerned that Republicans would push the country into too many overseas military operations if they keep control of Congress - a vote of no confidence.

Democrats hope that drop in trust for Republicans on national security will negate the campaign against them.

"It won't work this time," said Tim Walz, who retired from the Army National Guard and is running for Congress in Minnesota on the Democratic Farmer Labor ticket. "People are pragmatic. They can see with their own eyes that this is failing."

Still, Democrats know their credibility on security remains suspect. Thus, they're fielding what they call the "fighting Dems" to challenge Republican incumbents.

Tim Walz is a Fighting Dem.

Thomma might know a bit about Minnesota as well as Washington politics. Until 1994,  "he was the St. Paul Pioneer Press's Washington correspondent and won the National Press Club's award for best regional reporting," according to a brief biography.  Perhaps we shall have the opportunity to read Thomma's column in a local McClatchy newspaper.

Mr. Thomma is not alone in his exploration of  the Democratic willingness to take on national security as a campaign issue, nor mentioning Tim Walz as an example of a Fighting Dem.

On September 1, the Wall Street Journal's Jackie Calmes also took a close look at the incredible shrinking GOP advantage on this issue.  Calmes cited polling data that indicates the edge has eroded:

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in June, buttressed by other polls since, suggested Democrats have gained significant ground. It gave them a three-point advantage on the question of which party can best deal with Iraq, erasing Republicans’ 30-point edge of October 2002. Democrats had a nine-point edge on handling foreign policy, a swing from Republicans’ 18-point advantage in June 2002. Republicans did retain a 24-point advantage on “ensuring a strong national defense” — though that was down from a high of 41 points just before 9/11. . . .

The Carpetbagger Report today suggested that "For every action (from Bush), there should be an equal and opposite reaction (from Dems)" in its analysis of NYTimes article:

As part of the administration's third "major public relations offensive" on Iraq, the president delivered yet another speech and the White House released yet another report. This time, however, Dems decided to try and share the headlines.

The fall campaign season opened today with President Bush and Democrats each trying to seize the high ground on national security, as the White House released an updated version of its anti-terrorism strategy and the Democrats countered with list of the administration's shortcomings on the issue.

Tim Walz is one Fighting Dem standing up on this issue. Contributions to Tim Walz via ActBlue will help make sure the people who live in MN-01 learn more about the retired command sargeant major. Click here to contribute.

OLLIE OX UPDATE: The Star Tribune has added the Thomma analysis to its online edition.

Fox News gets into the act, suggesting that Republicans in contested district have the White House's blessing:

After returning from his own trip to Iraq over the summer, Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., told reporters that “rather than progress, the security situation in Baghdad is worse today than it was three years ago. This situation was contrary to what I had expected and is disturbing.”      

[snip]

. . . Sean Evans, professor of politics at Union University in Tennessee, says this shift reflects an honest reaction to facts on the ground, coupled with political pressure in competitive election districts.            

"Stay the course" is not good enough, he said, when recent polls show the majority of Americans think the war was a mistake and want troops to start coming home within the next year.

Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, insisted that just because Shays and a few other Republicans are talking about Iraq differently doesn't mean the party has abandoned overall support for staying and "finishing the job."

Nick said every candidate crafts his or her own message based on “personal views and talking to their constituents.”

Nevertheless, Washington insiders say that while the national party is talking tough, the White House has discreetly given GOP incumbents facing potential defeat in November its blessing to distance themselves from President Bush and his Iraq policy if necessary.

“They’ve been trying different themes as a way of connecting with the people,” he said.     

Incumbents facing potential defeat? Nice ring to that.

MN-01: All about the handshake

NEWS
National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" travelled to the First to consider the effects of Gutknecht's change of heart on the race in Minnesota's First. Listen here. Money quotes: Larry Jacob's noting that the publicity over Gutknecht's post-Baghdad conversion served to nationalize the race and Republican strategist Tom Horner sounding gloomy.

Closer to home, today's Austin Daily Herald looks at the art of campaigning in "It's all about the handshake," interviewing federal and state candidates. Here's a round-up of what Tim Walz has been up to:

First-time candidate Tim Walz, trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht, has already put more than 100,000 miles on two campaign vehicles, and has been in 32 parades, 22 county fairs, and has shaken countless hands.

“We're doing about 4,000 miles every two to three weeks now,” Walz said. The campaign van has to have its oil changed every 10-14 days.

The Mankato Free Press scolds the Bush Administration for comparing the war against terrorism to World War II, concluding:

In truth, the only real sacrifices being made in this war are being made by the individuals who chose to enter the military and by their families. The bulk of us are free to flip the ignition on our SUVs, hit the malls and run up our credit cards. Business as usual.

If this is truly the equivalent of World War II, perhaps this administration, and the nation as a whole, should act like it.

NETROOTS
Vox Verax picks up on the NPR story, with a footnote about reporter David Welna's roots in Waseca.

With national coverage on this race coming in from such venues as Time and NPR, and the diligence of the small town papers in the district, we're sure there'll be more news and netsroots throughout the day.

Netroots: There's Something About MN-01

Over at the Minnesota Monitor, Jeff Fecke serves up his assessment of the MN-01 race:

In the first, Tim Walz is leading Gil Gutknecht.  No, I don't have polling data, just a gut feel and eyes.  Gil's rattled.  He just looks like a shell of a candidate right now.  He's taken approximately nine positions on Iraq, he's blaming energy woes on a secret cabal of Russians, environmentalists, and Xenu, and he's just running like a guy who is scared for his political life.  Meanwhile, Tim Walz is the best candidate the DFL has put forth for any office at any level since Paul Wellstone in 1990.  The first tilts right, and in a normal year, even being clearly the better man might not be enough for Walz to win.  Add in the anti-GOP sentiment in the air, and Walz should win.

Cross posted to minvolved.

The Wege spanks the New York Times for its political forecasting:

If this map is as inaccurate nationwide as their take on Minnesota is, the Republicans are totally screwed. The Times thinks Michele Bachmann is leading in the Sixth, and totally ignores Walz-Gutknecht and Kline-Rowley. They also think Klobuchar-Kennedy is the GOP's best shot at picking up a Senate seat this year.

That's some seriously impaired prognosticating.

DFLers takes a look at some of Representative Gutknecht's statements about science. Given that he sits on the congressional science committee, it's not just an idle gotcha post.

Minnesota Central wonders whether Mark Kennedy's ad blames a Republican congress for Washington's woes. Good question.

Now, off to the lake like a real Minnesotan.

Labor Day in MN-01: Fighting for the living

One of the concepts we learned about growing up in southern Minnesota was "the good union man." Personified by a favorite uncle who'd helped bring the IAM to the shop floor of a factory in Mankato, the good union man (we now know enough to say "or woman") looked out for others before himself.

Uncle Troy, who later worked in the building trades, also possessed as keen a sense of humor as of the common interest.  Some analysts will downplay the role of labor in MN-01, but I've met many good union men and women in the district who've carried Troy's spirit and laughter into a new century. One of them is Tim Walz.

Walz gets the part about working for the common good--just listen to his radio ad or his speech to the Minnesota AFL-CIO annual convention (courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio). His hearing--damaged from years in an artillery battalion in the National Guard-- was restored by health care benefits his union contract provides. He understands that health care should be available for all Americans.

We need both courage and laughter in this race.

Today's Mankato Free Press looks at the dilemma facing American workers, while  suggesting that Congress could return to Clinton-era deficit reduction:

— While every laborer’s goal might be to work less and earn more money, it appears the current state of affairs puts workers in a spot of working harder for about the same amount of money.

[snip]

What can the average worker do?

Besides working harder at your current job or get a higher paying job, there are other less obvious things to consider.

Tell members of Congress or candidates for office that lowering or eliminating the federal deficit would go a long way to helping workers. . . .

To bring the deficit down, Congress also needs spending discipline. The average worker will benefit from a Congress that adopts pay-as-you-go rules for congressional spending. Those rules, implemented during the Clinton administration but allowed to expire during the Bush administration, require that if Congress increases spending or provides a tax cut that reduces revenue, it must cut spending somewhere else to maintain a balanced budget. . . .

The government also can help workers get that higher-paying job by providing educational opportunities with a cost or price that is within reach of the average worker. Skyrocketing tuition at state colleges and universities, along with new federally-approved higher interest rates on student loans, don’t help average workers get ahead.

There’s plenty of work elected leaders should consider this Labor Day.

Residents of the First might consider electing a new leader to Congress when their current representative has been unable to keep promises about reducing the deficit and has voted to increase the cost of student loans.

We also think a Congress that would change the climate for organizing would be a good thing. The Free Press presents a false dilemma--work harder or get a different job--when a third alternate exists: organize. 

And the truth is, Americans are working harder, but not are not reaping the benefits of that hard work. The Star Tribune's Labor Day editorial lays out the facts:

In the last 10 years, the productivity of the average worker has surged by 30 percent. Yet wages and salaries have risen just 11 percent. Total compensation (including pensions and health insurance) has climbed even less, and the household income of the median family is up just 7 percent.

Since the recession of 2001, the overall economy has been growing steadily for five years. Yet the income of the median household is down, the number of people in poverty is up, and the number of uninsured Americans is at an all-time high -- trends that are unprecedented in previous postwar recoveries.

Where did all the money go? The distinguishing feature of the 2001-2005 expansion is the remarkable share of income that has gone to corporate profits and high-income households. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank with liberal leanings but impeccable math, reported Thursday that corporate profits this year captured the largest share of national income in half a century, and that the share of national income going to employee compensation (even including health insurance) is at its lowest level in nearly 40 years.

Much has been made of the recent split between the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win unions. It's a split that I can understand--too much emphasis had been on politics and not enough on organizing. However, today's Pioneer Press reports that:

More than a year after their breakup, former partners in organized labor are trying to heal some differences by joining forces politically for the November midterm elections.

They're cooperating now for the sake of those who depend on them — about 15 million union members.

Both the AFL-CIO and the breakaway Change to Win alliance are negotiating an agreement that would allow them to coordinate their massive effort to educate and mobilize workers.

            [snip]

Both sides are spending most of their money and efforts on lobbying voters and getting them to the polls. They share many concerns, including workers' pay, job security, and health and retirement benefits.

They also want a Congress that's more supportive of the right to organize workers.

The AFL-CIO's program to communicate with voters and turn them out became so successful in the last few elections that it became a model for all political operations in recent years.

Republicans and their allies borrowed from the labor strategy — and used those tactics in 2004 to win a very close election for President Bush. That has put pressure on labor to do a better job than ever of educating and turning out voters — despite the rift in the labor movement.

So what does the larger story have to do with a congressional campaign in rural Minnesota? One obvious point: a good union man is challenging the incumbent.  As a teacher,  Walz is a member of Education Minnesota, the state teachers union created by a merger between the MEA and MFT. 

He is recommended by Education Minnesota. But Tim Walz is not just any teacher; he was selected as a 2003 Teacher of Excellence.

Netroots: A Geography Lesson and more

Over at DailyKos, Mark27 suggests "A Geographic Formula for Victory for Tim Walz."

We don't necessarily agree with all of his conclusions--Rochester looks more promising for Walz than Mark27 believes and newspapers in the Fillmore-Houston County area are already hammering Gutknecht; we hear that National Guard members in the New Ulm area are strong on their retired Command Sgt. Major. Nor has Walz seen fit to dodge any issue--including immigration policy (campaign white paper here).

We do share Mark27's hope that Walz will spend more time and effort in the First's DFL-leaning western counties.

He concludes:

In the next nine weeks, Tim Walz has a lot of ground to cover if he hopes to unseat a six-term incumbent.  One point that he needs to be relentless about pounding into voters' brains is that Gutknecht is breaking his self-imposed term limit by running this year. This would not have been a successful tactic had it been employed in 2002 or 2004, but the timing couldn't be better in 2006 with Gutknecht waffling on key issues and with a national consensus about the need to throw the bums out. 

The Winona Daily News pounded Gutknecht today over his staff's attempt to edit his Wikipedia entry to conceal that term-limit promise.  Perhaps the independent press will continue to spread the word, and Walz can continue to focus on voter contact, campaigning throughout the district while running issue-based ads.

Dan Solis' Blog includes video of Al Franken's appearance on Letterman.  Franken brought up campaigning for Walz in St. Peter:

"Al then began to talk about how he was at a campaign appearance for Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party House candidate Tim Walz in St. Peter, Minnesota. He said that during a parade some woman yelled to him, “Go home!” He then told her that he was grew up in Minnesota. Her response was, “Ohh.” She quickly changed her mind about Al.

Here's a flashback to the Independence Day parade: a photo slide show that illustrates how Franken was greeted in St. Peter, more photos, and this blog entry (awww)."

In Winona, hundreds attended a Franken fundraiser for Walz.  We anticipate a press release from Minnesota's grouchiest neighbor about the Franken appearance--but growing evidence suggests it's not the Tim Walz campaign that's out of touch with voters in the Fighting First.

Over at Vox Verax, Tom Maertens shares articles from the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times about how more GOP House districts are seen as vulnerable.

Lead paragraphs from the WaPo article, "More GOP Districts Counted as Vulnerable; Number Doubled Over the Summer":

Facing the most difficult political environment since they took control of Congress in 1994, Republicans begin the final two months of the midterm campaign in growing danger of losing the House while fighting to preserve at best a slim majority in the Senate, according to strategists and officials in both parties.

Over the summer, the political battlefield has expanded well beyond the roughly 20 GOP House seats originally thought to be vulnerable. Now some Republicans concede there may be almost twice as many districts from which Democrats could wrest the 15 additional seats they need to take control.

OLLIE OX UPDATE: Minnesota Central takes a look at corporate interests, Mark Kennedy, and John Thune (R-DM & E) in today's update.

Winona Daily News: Our view: Minding and mending your words

The editor of the Winona Daily News considers the curious case of Gil Gutknecht's Wikipedia entry, in a signed editorial:

Published - Sunday, September 03, 2006

Our view: Minding and mending your words

By Darrell Ehrlick | Winona Daily News Editor

Wikipedia calls them “edit wars.” We call them truth wars.

U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht’s office — presumably with a blessing since they did it twice — tried to change the erstwhile auctioneer’s biography on Wikipedia.org to edit out the inconvenient fact that Gil pledged a 12-year term limit in 1995.

It’s disturbing when any politician breaks a promise. What’s even more disturbing is how little respect Gutknecht’s office seems to have for the truth.

Relying on Wikipedia for accurate information is not a good practice. It’s been proven there’s little verification and sometimes no research on Wikipedia, an online communal encyclopedia.

But, that’s not necessarily at issue here. What is at issue is honesty.

Staff members thought nothing of trying to alter passages to present him in a more favorable light. Then, as a way of shirking blame, a spokesman for Gutknecht tried to lay the guilt at those who would look for information on Wikipedia.

Let’s get one thing clear: This wasn’t a mistake. Gutknecht’s staff meant to change facts — facts that were, at best, inconvenient during a close election.

The blame cannot and should not be leveled against those who try to seek out reliable information about Gutknecht. After all, shouldn’t we be applauding those trying to be better-informed voters?

The truth is, Gutknecht signed on for term limits and now doesn’t like having to answer to why he’s going back on his word.

Furthermore, his staff, by electronic manipulation, intended to be deceptive. Having people not know about his promise to hold to term limits is lying by half-truths. Not disclosing that fact paints an incomplete and therefore inaccurate picture of who our representative is.

Shame on Gil for not taking a tougher stance on this.

Jon Yarian, a Gutknecht spokesman, didn’t dispute his camp had tried to alter the facts and gave the reprehensible excuse that people should trust a more reliable source. That’s right: It’s the public’s fault for wanting answers.

Gutknecht’s staff gives no reason for why they were attempting to lie — that is what you call it when you don’t tell the truth.

To us, this seems worse than misguidance, it’s malicious.

In this case, the means are dirty, and the end is despicable.

If this is what members of Congress do after a decade or so of power, then maybe Gil was right. Maybe we do need term limits.

Darrell Ehrlick writes on behalf of the Winona Daily News editorial board, which also includes publisher Rusty Cunningham, Jerome Christenson, opinion editor, photo editor James A. Bowey and sales and marketing manager Tom Best. To comment, call 453-3522 or send e-mail to letters@winonadailynews.com.

Bluestem Prairie readers can help limit Gil Gutknecht's years in Congress by contributing to Tim Walz  via Act Blue.

OLLIE OX UPDATE:  Orange Penny Loafers and Norwegianity pick up on the editorial.