Mankato Free Press: wind at Walz's back in post-primary stretch

The Mankato Free Press reports in Democrats have lead in post-primary push:

Democrats were faster out of the gates, at least in Mankato, as the post-primary push toward the Nov. 4 general election began.

At Minnesota State University, several dozen students and staff gathered around the podium on the campus mall when Democratic Senate nominee Al Franken started talking about his plan to provide a $5,000 tax credit for families with a kid in college. . . .

. . .The other post-primary Democratic event Wednesday involved state Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter, and Chris Schmitter, campaign manager for Congressman Tim Walz.

The event outside the freshman congressman’s Riverfront Drive campaign office focused on the comment last week by Brian Davis, the Republican nominee against Walz, that a bipartisan energy bill sponsored by Walz was “too complicated.”

“People across southern Minnesota think it’s the way to go,” Schmitter said, noting that Minnesota’s two most conservative members of Congress — Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. John Kline — are among the 131 co-sponsors of the bill.

Morrow, a college professor, praised the plan, which would allow expanded offshore oil drilling and use $1 trillion in projected oil company royalty payments to invest in renewable energy and conservation. He said he’d be disappointed if his students rejected something simply because of its complexity. . . .

KTTC covers the Rochester version of the event in this news clip article with video. (Update: a number of readers have complained about the ads that start KTTC news clips, so we'd going to stop embedding them. end update)

After Davis's attack ad was called out by the Winona Daily News and Mankato Free Press for being misleading, it's entertaining to hear him talk about how he'll move on to issues. Will that chatter be more substantial than his brilliant career as a nuclear engineer or his truly exceptional community service as Olmsted County Republican treasurer?

KEYC-TV covers the Mankato rally here at Walz Supporters Rally for Energy Plan. Chris Schmitter is tall.

Congressman Peyerson, chair of the House Ag committee, has broken with Speaker Pelosi to join Walz in supporting the bill. Will other Minnesota DFLers serving in the House decide to follow Peterson? Stay tuned.

Congressman Walz will be a speaker at a Green Jobs Town Hall meeting at  10 a.m. on Saturday morning at the 49ers (Operating Engineers) Hall at , though he'll have to head to Worthington ( about 2 hours away) in order to make his MC duel with Davis at King Turkey Day at 1 p.m. 

According to the national Blue Green Alliance's web site, Minnesota's local alliance consists of:

. . .more than 30 groups, including Sierra Club North Star Chapter, Steelworkers District 11, MN State AFL-CIO, Clean Water Action, Apollo Alliance, AFSCME Council 6, SEIU Minnesota State Council, Teamsters Joint Council 32, Minnesota Building Trades, Environment 2004, Fresh Energy, Izaac Walton League of America Midwest Office, Institute for a Sustainable Future, and the League of Rural Voters.

The town hall is definitely worth readers' time. W offer the friendly suggestion that the Blue Green Alliance should  put a picture from Minnesota's own wind industry on its fliers--those foothills in the background don't look like any part of the state we've been in.

Given that Minnesota is high on the list of wind industry states and Southern Minnesota's technical schools have training programs for renewable energy workers, it shouldn't be hard to find a nice local snapshot.

Photo (top): Walz campaign manager Chris Schmitter speaking in Rochester; photo from KTTC site. Congressman Walz spoke via satellite, since Congress has reconvened.

For those who enjoy positive ads, here's Walz's second once again (help the Walz campaign keep this and others on the air by contributing to the congressman's re-election committee; since a grassroots camapign doesn't run on bread alone, sign up to volunteer here):