From today’s Washington Post: "Senate campaign spokesmen for Democrat Tom Allen in Maine, Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Al Franken in Minnesota and Rick Noriega in Texas all said they have reached out to the Obama campaign and are pleading for a visit from either the candidate or his wife. Their efforts are not entirely…
Read More

North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad pulled a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket today while discussing the status of his mortgage controversy. Conrad told Forum Communications that last week — as he was answering questions about a questionable mortgage refinancing deal he received from lender Countrywide Financial — he received an e-mail from Countrywide…
Read More

Two Minnesota congressmen played major roles in the only veto overrides President Bush has experienced — Democratic Reps. Jim Oberstar and Collin Peterson. The first override came last year on a water resources and projects bill authored by Oberstar, the long-time congressman from northeastern Minnesota’s 8th District. Then came Peterson’s farm bill, which because of…
Read More

U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson was the last of Minnesota’s Democratic superdelegates to back a presidential candidate. (He eventually backed Barack Obama.) The 7th District congressman’s delayed endorsement led some Minnesota Democrats to speculate that Peterson didn’t want to jump the gun and risk backing the wrong candidate, thereby taking him out of the running for…
Read More

Perhaps a Los Angeles Times blog put it best: "The buzz surrounding Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has risen to bee-hive levels." It is hard to read any political writing — in print or on line — these days without seeing speculation that Pawlenty will be Sen. John McCain’s running mate. And as for political talk…
Read More