Saturday morning news digest: notable quotables

Yesterday's Fillmore County Journal highlights the notable quotes from 2007. The editors included Two statements from Congressman Walz:

"No one has been more wrong about Iraq, more consistently than the President."

1st District Congressman Tim Walz commenting on President Bush's decision to send an additional 21,500 American troops to Iraq. (January 15)

"We need creative ways to find the resources to rebuild business communities, especially in Rushford. If we rebuild the infrastructure and the homes, without the businesses, the City will be difficult to restore."

Rep. Tim Walz talking about the action needed to rebuild Rushford after the flood. (September 10).

Today's Post Bulletin looks at the response of local politicians to the Iowa Caucuses in Analysis: Iowa voters dissatisfied with Bush, direction of U.S. politics:

Area politicians and political observers, taking stock of Thursday's Iowa Caucus, say Iowans voiced a desire for a new direction in American politics. . . .

. . .Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, who toppled a 12-year Republican incumbent in 2006, said Friday he was taken by the big turnout of independents and first-time participants in Iowa.

Obama campaigned for Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., before some 3,000 at the Mayo Civic Auditorium crowd in Rochester just before the 2006 election. Walz saw then the senator's appeal for a less confrontational, results-oriented political system. Huckabee's victory added to Walz's conclusion that voters of both parties are turning away from the strong partisanship of recent decades.

"There's a sense of looking for something fresh and a different way of doing it," Walz said.

Kunkel sounded a similar theme, but said change is translating to a turn toward the Democrats. "Republicans are quite discouraged, and Democrats are quite encouraged, and that's a continuation of 2006," he said.

Rep. John Kline, a Republican from Lakeville who represents the 2nd Congressional District, through his spokesman declined a request to discuss the Iowa caucus results. Neither he nor Walz have endorsed a candidate from their respective parties.

In the netroots, Mercury Rising, MnCR, the Fruitfly, and Lloydletta's look at the SD25 race.  We'll post our own analysis after we finish interviewing our friends who worked on the effort.