Walz supporter Jay Youmans writes to the Post Bulletin to note that Davis must clarify remarks on health care:
Few citizens would deny that health care and insurance coverage are crucial issues in this election cycle. In a story that appeared in the Sept. 15 edition of the Post Bulletin, Brian Davis said he would work to reduce health care costs by eliminating state regulations that mandate coverage for "certain illnesses and conditions."
On the surface, Davis's desire to eliminate insurance coverage for selected illnesses and conditions causes alarm among citizens. Which conditions and illnesses would he discriminate against? What are the data he has used to convince himself that state mandates are requiring superfluous coverage?
To date, an attempt to seek clarification of his remarks has been met with silence from Mr. Davis. Considering the potential damage that would be caused to citizens of this country by Davis's proposal, he owes it to voters to clarify and defend his remarks.
Tim Walz recognizes that the current health care/insurance system is in need of repair, but we can have complete confidence that he is working across party lines to lower costs without putting our health in the hands of partisan politics.
We're wondering if Davis would have the federal government exclusively regulate health insurance--or is he just asking for federal laws that eliminate state oversight?
In the netroots, Dale at CornerHouse Comments serves up a LinkFest of recommended progressive blogs for his readers, since his new gig as a GOTV organizer for labor in Southwestern Minnesota won't allow much time for blogging.
At Dump Bachmann, Avidor asks Guess Which MN Member of Congress Got an"F" on the Arts? Why it's Davis BFF Congresswoman Bachmann. Where does Davis stand on arts funding? Congressman Walz got an A.
On September 16, political scientist Larry Sabato updated information about the MN-01 race at the Crystal Ball site, concluding:
it remains a tall task for Davis to translate his primary performance into general election success against the well-financed and mistake-free incumbent, Tim Walz.
We finished our look at the geography of pre-primary report givers to Congressman Walz and GOP nominee Brian Davis that we promised in a post this weekend, Open Secrets: Grassroots support in Minnesota's First. Open Secret's data set mapping the geography of contributions only went as far as the July reports.
We discovered that the pattern is holding. Knocking out the multiple givers for each candidate's large contributors (we hope we got them all), we found that about 58 percent of the 313 individuals giving $200 or more during the pre-primary period live in the First; only a handful (12 by our count) live outside of Minnesota. Of the 84 individuals giving $200 or more to Davis, only one-third live in the district.
As we finish this post, an independent friend has sent a new release from the Davis campaign claiming that "only 50 percent" of those surveyed by Republican pollsters at the Tarrance Group support Congressman Walz. A fascinating internal poll with an even more interesting internal interpretation.
Nearly two years ago (September 27, 2006), a poll was released to MnPublius that showed Walz ahead of incumbent Gil Gutknecht, 46 percent to 40 and 14 percent undecided.
In the Tarrance Poll released today, the Davis campaign believes that the First is a "toss up seat based upon the generic preferences of the voters who live there" since 44 percent of those polled want a Democrat to represent them in office while 39 percent favor a Republican.
In the real figures released by the campaign, Walz polls at 50 percent to Davis's 32, with 14 undecided.
Jeepers. We're pretty sure that if that 50% were the numbers for Republicans and 32% for the DFLers in the actual toss-ups in the Third (Survey USA 44%-41%, early Sept.) and the U.S. Senate race (Rasmussen 48%-47%, today), our rightie blogging brethren would be crowing about the need to stick a fork in the race, since that guy polling at 32 is looking rather crispy.
We know what kind of fork to stick into the current batch of horse apples pushed out of the barn by Team Davis.
Readers can make sure Tim Walz keeps working for Southern Minnesotans by contributing here before September 30, and most importantly, volunteering for Congressman Walz's campaign.
Bottom image: A missy pitchfork, thought by many to be the industry standard for mucking out horse apples.
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