Bluestem Prairie: news about Tim Walz (MN-1)

First District DFL Chair Lori Sellner on the endorsement of Walz for re-election

A kind friend passed along this press release from First Congressional DFL Chair Lori Sellner. A  level-headed  strategist and workhorse, Sellner is one of the reasons why Democrats are doing so well in rural Minnesota.

Here's the release:

Today, the 1^st Congressional District DFL party endorsed Congressman Tim Walz for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Walz was first elected in 2006 and is up for re-election in 2008.

"Tim Walz is a breath of fresh air in Minnesota politics," said 1^st CD DFL Chair Lori Sellner. "He is one of our neighbors; a local teacher and veteran who is working to change Washington. He is fighting for southern Minnesotans everyday. He is fighting for affordable healthcare and a strong economy. He is fighting to honor America's contract with the men and women who have risked life and limb in defense of their country. The 1^st CD DFL is excited to re-elect Tim Walz in 2008!"

"I am grateful for the endorsement of the 1^st Congressional District DFL," said Congressman Walz. "More and more people are joining my grassroots campaign because of the change we are making in Washington. As a teacher and a veteran, I know the struggles of middle class families firsthand and I am fighting to reduce the cost of healthcare and strengthen our economy. Together, we will build the largest grassroots campaign in the history of southern Minnesota and take our message directly to the people of the 1^st Congressional District."

Walz was unanimously endorsed by delegates to the 1^st CD DFL convention.

DFL state chair Brian Melendez' statement of Walz endorsement

The state DFL just sent us this statement:

Upon First District DFLers’ unanimous endorsement Saturday of Tim Walz for a second term in the United States House of Representatives, the Minnesota DFL Party released the following statement from Chair Brian Melendez:

“A veteran, a teacher and a family man, Tim Walz is a terrific representative for the people of southern Minnesota . With years of service to community, state and country, he knows what it’s like to live the values of responsibility, accountability and love of country while meeting the challenges of everyday life.

“Walz also knows how to fight for southern Minnesota , which his extraordinary work on behalf of the First District in just the last 15 months demonstrates. He has become a national leader on behalf of our veterans, is working hard to build stronger economy that supports middle-class prosperity, and is a relentless watchdog for fiscal responsibility.

“Tim Walz’s independent Minnesota values, hard work and exemplary service are why southern Minnesotans can do no better than to put him back to work serving them for another two years. The DFL Party will do its part to make sure that Walz returns to the job of fighting for Minnesota first.”

We'd hoped to go to Albert Lea for the convention, but the local roads were bad, so we stayed in.  As these things have a way of working out, nearly all the snow in our yard has melted.  Makes us think of a line from a favorite early Wilco song, "Screen Door."  Here's an early video of the alt-country band singing the tune at a show in Belleville, Illinois:

NPR: Walz and student on predicting Rwanda massacre

Congressman Walz and a former student talk to Weekend Edition about their experience:

In 1993, Rep. Tim Walz of Minnesota, then a high school geography teacher in Nebraska, had his class do an exercise in which they ended up predicting the Rwandan genocide the following year. Tim Walz and one of his former students, Travis Hoffman, talk with John Ydstie about the prediction.

Audio is available.

BREAKING NEWS! WALZ ENDORSED BY FIRST DISTRICT DFL

We're not at the First District DFL convention this day, but have heard that Congressman Walz was endorsed in Albert Lea in his bid for re-election. Rumor has it that he has no primary challenger, wide name recognition, and $1 million cash on hand.

Developing....

Reminder: health care economic summits on Monday

The Rochester Post Bulletin notes the events:

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz will host two Healthcare Economic Summits on Monday to discuss the challenges of and possible solutions to the complex health care problems in our country.

The summits will be from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the AmericInn, 245 Florence Ave., Owatonna, and 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Riverport Inn and Suites, 900 Bruski Dr., Winona.

Others expected to attend include Noel Peterson, former president and CEO of Olmsted Medical Center; Rachelle Schultz, president and CEO of Winona Health; Ed Sheehy, director of UCare Minnesota; Ghita Worcester, senior vice president of UCare Minnesota and Mark Schoenbaum, director of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care.

The discussion will focus on the health care system and the government's role in seeking out solutions to the problems the health care system presents.

Tennessean: panel best bet to end wasteful spending

In Bipartisan panel is best bet yet to end wasteful spending, the Tennessean 's editorial board argues in favor of legislation Congressman Walz is co-sponsoring:

. . .[E]arlier this month,  [Jim] Cooper joined fellow Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis., Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., Melissa Bean, D-Ill., Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Timothy Walz, D-Minn., to sponsor legislation calling for an independent commission to recommend changes to the process.

If approved, the Bipartisan Earmark Reform Commission Act of 2008 would create a 12-member panel appointed by majority and minority leaders in Congress. The members would include lawmakers and other individuals, and consist of Democrats and Republicans.

The panel would study and hold hearings on what constitutes pork spending, who benefits and the impact on the federal budget. At the end of six months, the panel would make recommendations to the president and Congress. And Congress would have 60 days to act on those recommendations.

While such panels don't always achieve what they set out to do, this holds hope for the best attempt yet to deal with unaccountable waste at the federal level. Not only would this panel have bipartisan makeup, seven of the 12 would not be lawmakers themselves. . . .

The Tennessean is Nashville's daily newspaper, a part of the Gannett chain.

Evening update: war and remembrance

Congressman Walz was on Air America last night to talk about reports of the Bush administration concealing information about military suicides.

April 28 is Workers Memorial Day, and the Mankato Trade Unions held a service to honor the eight members they lost in the last year to accidents and work-related illness, KEYC-TV reports. Congressman Walz, a member of Education Minnesota, participated.  Video available.

Congressman Walz has signed the American Cancer Society's Congressional Cancer Promise. His father died of cancer when Walz was still in his teens. Senators Coleman and Klobuchar, along with all of Minnesota's House members, save Bachmann and Kline, have signed the promise.

North Star Politics is back and analyzing like it never left.  See a Walz mention in Pawlenty Cozies Up to Fat Cats.

Update: The Pipestone Star reports that the DFL first district convention [is] tomorrow. [end update]

And now, on this damp, cold, and sadly, snowy night, we are going to do just that with Oscar de la Hoya and the Big Boo Boo, our favorite fat cats.  Good night, and good luck.

MnMuseTube: Walz speech on energy and the economy

The Political Muse, a Liberal in the Land of Conservative, was kind enough to  give us a heads-up about these videos being in the works while we wrestled with some  vexing (but now successfully resolved) computer issues.  Go over and give him your thanks, too.

He had to divide the speech into parts.  Here they are, top to bottom, with parts there, four, and five below the fold. Make sure to watch them all.  We had earlier posted the text of the speech here, but it's much more powerful with the charts and Walz's delivery.

A tale of two conventions: shadowy traces on a gym wall

While the Republican Party tries to draw comparisons between Walz's strategic position in 2008 and former Gil Gutknecht's at this point in the 2006 race, the contrast between the two is far greater than any similarities.

For not only did Walz have roughly $340,000 more cash in hand at the end of  Q1 2008 than Gutknecht had at the end of Q1 2006, Walz vastly outraised of over his Republican competitors combined in this past quarter. By way of contrast, Walz outraised Gutknecht in Q12006,  a trend that would continue.

Moreover, Gutknecht was so confident that no one was losing any sleep over Walz that he skipped his own endorsing convention in 2006, according to a Post-Bulletin article we found via Lexis-Nexis:

May 8--SIOUX VALLEY, Minn. -- It might have been a bit unorthodox for a candidate not to be present at his own endorsing convention, but it didn't alter the outcome.

U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht was unanimously endorsed as the Republican Party's candidate for the First Congressional District.

A spokesman for Gutknecht said a scheduling conflict prevented the six-term congressman from attending the convention on Saturday. He was to serve as host to members of the Canadian Parliament in Charleston, S.C., at the same time that the endorsing event was held.

Instead of a flesh-and-blood incumbent, the more than 150 delegates who attended the convention at Sioux Valley Lutheran Secondary School, about 130 miles west of Rochester, had to content themselves with a video of Gutknecht projected on the wall of the darkened gymnasium. . . .[Post-Bulletin, "Gutknecht misses own endorsement," 5/8/2006]

Not so for Representative Walz. He'll be in Albert Lea tomorrow for his endorsement, knowing as he does that his grassroots campaign will need the help of DFL activists and others standing beside him. As the Rochester Post Bulletin reported earlier, the gathered Democrats will be voting for hotly-contested delegate spots at the national convention in Denver, so tomorrow's turn out should be strong.

Why, we even anticipate that some Republicans will show up for the excitement.

And since the Walz campaign is taking nothing for granted--not even the $1 million in cash reserves--a fundraising dinner will follow the convention.

Friday evening netroots and news digest

The Cornerhouse Comments notes that QPP In Austin Will Pay Compensation Claims of Sickened Workers.  Congressman Walz had taken an interest on behalf of the workers, and researchers at the Mayo Clinic were closing in on the link between the ailment and working conditions in the pock processing facility.  Sadly, denial of workers compensation is too often nearly routine by insurance companies.

In the Sixth, Andy at Residual Forces notes that ultra-conservative Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has joined ultra-conservative Congressman John Kline in supporting their party's endorsed candidate. Dump Bachmann implicitly reminds everybody that Dick Day is running as a challenger in the Republican primary in Well Michele Bachmann Would Never Endorse Dick Day.

Also in the Sixth, the Political Muse from Liberal in the Land of Conservative is working on videos of Tim Walz's passionate speech on energy and the economy for his MnMuseTube Channel. We will post them as they become available.

The Marshall Independent notes that Transportation committee discusses local road issues in Washington
with congressional staffers and Rep. Peterson.  The Redwood Falls Gazette earlier reported that  Congressmen Walz and Peterson, along with Senators Klobuchar and Coleman, were seeking federal funding for the Minnesota Prairie line, a short-line railroad operated by the Minnesota Valley Regional Railroad Authority.

The NUWire Investor looks at the Wind Energy Promotion Act.

The Albert Lea Tribune reports DFL Party to hold 1st District convention Saturday in Albert Lea.