What better way to laugh at the RNC Convention this fall than to have all of the MN Democratic challengers poised to turn the state solid blue.  MN bloggers are doing their part to make this a reality with http://www.actblue.com/....

It's all screwed up!!!

McCain ties among the young
18-34  McCain 48%  Obama 48%

Obama wins among 65 and over 48% to 39%

McCain wins 35-49 by 11% and Obama wins 50-64 by 12%

POBLANO (Nate) please downgrade SUSA not because of poor Obama showing in this poll but because they (SUSA) should know that these cross tabs are just crazy.

Yesterday Al Franken's senate campaign announced that the candidate for Paul Wellstone's old senate seat owed around $70,000 in taxes and penalties to 17 different states.  The state GOP immediately accused him of trying to avoid paying taxes.  The truth, of course, may bare little resemblance to the GOP spin.

I just saw a clip of Sen. Clinton bashing caucuses again...my first instinct was SYFPH, and then to write this diary about why I love caucuses (particularly early in our party nomination phase).

I've frankly had it up to here (imagine me with my hand at my neck) with all this talk about why caucuses aren't as good as primaries.  Bullocks!  Caucuses allow people to vote their conscience and then if they find that their candidate does not have enough votes - then they get to go to their second pick.

That to me is "in-person run-off voting" and I love it because as the US becomes more and more progressive, we will offer a chance to change the Democratic party and politics in general.

But there's more we can do - instant run-off voting.

Hi there, MN Kossacks! It's time again for another MN Kossack meetup, hosted by Rosebuddear in NE Minneapolis. There are quite a number of MN Kossacks around here, and we would like to get the chance to meet each other. We hope that this will be a regular thing, with meetups every few months at someone's home.

I posted a diary on the last meetup, and you can see some photos here.

Continuing through the alphabet....

Minnesota has 8 representatives: 5 Democrats and 3 Republicans
Filing deadline is July 15, primary is Sept. 9

I figured I'd start tossing out my letters I send to my congress critters.

So here is my first official diary - although it really is not that earth shattering in any way.

Citizens! The health of our democracy is on our hands, and we must pick up our cameras and find the truth(s) out there ourselves. That’s what The Uptakeis all about - but we need your help. Why? We want to train and equip a legion of citizen journalists to cover events happening in our communities, all leading up to the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.

This video and text courtesy of Chuck Olsen and The UpTake.
Find out more about The UpTake after the jump.

I just email Senator Amy Klobuchar to express my dismay at her vote against me and other MoveOn members. I also called on Friday and told her staff the same thing. I thought I would share it here.

***************************************************************

Dear Sen Klobuchar,

I am a Democrat who has been heavily involved in politics in MN for the past 6-7 years.

In January of 2003 I led a group of 30 people who met with MN Representative Jim Ramstad. We were brought together by our involvement in an organization called MoveOn. This group was the only way that a growing number of us felt that we could get our voices and opinions heard by our representatives in Washington.

Our arguments impressed Rep Ramstad, who insisted to us that he was sure Bush would not invade Iraq unless it was a last resort. He also commented on how representative of ordinary MN citizens we were (because even then MoveOn members were being portrayed as wild-eyed radicals) and how impressive it was that 30 of us would be so committed that we would show up at his office at 10am on a weekday morning.

I supported MoveOn then and I support it now.

read more after the jump...

Who can they blame next for the sad state of our infrastructure? How about the undefensible: Pigeons!

If you are to believe the latest news about the MN bridge collapse here... and here.... Let's blame pigeons and their crap. All that pigeon poop is, according to the burocrats, "highly acidic" after it dries. When it mixes with H20 in the air or rain, it creates a chemical reaction leaving a residue equivalent to salt and its corrosive properties. Though the explanation kinda of makes sense it still doesn't excuse the years of neglect. (Please read whole diary before voting...)