Any ideas or suggestion for next weekend?

Since Steven from Steven's Sports Report and I are taking on Loud Dome challenge next weekend, there should be things for me to keep occupied for 2 days when Steven is cooped up in pressbox with deafening reporters who are trying to listen with 10,000 screaming fans while having shouting match in pressbox trying to communicate.

Someone suggested that I should do:

• Take pictures of weird things at the dome that nobody ever think to look at.
• Read Senator Amy Klobuchar's book on Metrodome "Uncovering the Dome".
• walk around and count how many steps I took and use pedometer.
• Knitting.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions? They have to be clean and fun. Leave a comment or e-mail me at senatoreggert@yahoo.com with ideas or suggestions.

Loud Dome challenge: who will stay in the dome longer?

Steven at Steven's Sports Report and I decided to do a challenge:

We will stay inside Metrodome during November 27th and 28th to see who can stand really loud 10,000 screaming fans at MSHSL B0ys State Football Tournament.

We will only eat dome food nothing else even if it's domedog for breakfast and to see who will stay longer. One of us leave early will lose the challenge.

Not sure what the loser will get. I guess if I lost, I will have to buy Steven a dinner. If you have a suggestion or ideas, please comment and we are open to ideas and suggestions. It have to be clean though.

I also get the idea from my friend, Dusty Trice where he spent whole 12 days at State Fair.

How many Domedogs do you think I should eat?

On 28th we might step out of dome during Minneapolis Community and Tech College Basketball game so not sure.

It should be fun. I thought this would be something to do outside of politics and there isn't much going on in politics.

How loud can a football game inside Metrodome can be?

I just spoke to Steven from Steven's Sports Report regarding loudness at the Metrodome. He said its full of 10,000 screaming fans and the reporter next to him have to be yelled by other reporters to communicate.

He said its somewhat louder than Obama or any major political rallies.

I would hope that Steven would contribute his opinion and explain how he deal with loud games.

I should go to a game tomorrow or next weekend to see it for myself and come back with my reaction on how loud game can be. I am sure I will feel virbation on floor since I am deaf.

Anyone also can comment on how loud sporting events could be.

On sunday Steven will be writing his opinion on loudness at the game.

Steven's Sports website is www.stevenssports.com He is covering MN State Football State touranment this and next weekend.

Rybak mulls options for governor's race

Source: KARE 11

By John Croman

Minneapolis, MN -- There was never much suspense over the outcome of the mayoral election in this city Tuesday. The media focused on the new methodology -- ranked choice voting -- but when the polls opened there was no doubt voters would hand Mayor R.T. Rybak a third term.

He claimed 73 percent of the 45,000 votes cast, while 10 other candidates combined for the remaining share of the ballots. Even before the polls closed political journalists had already started to pepper Rybak with questions about his next move.

Will he run for governor? And how soon will he make it official? What does he make of his chances? Has he been running all along?

They were all questions he politely brushed aside out of respect for the campaign workers and supporters who had gathered at the Graves Hotel downtown to celebrate his re-election victory.

"One of the things we laid out a year ago is that I would be prepared to run for mayor and I would be prepared to run for Governor," Rybak told reporters, "And I've done all the preparations I should. And I'm in good shape on that."

Rybak said he would let the dust settle on the campaign that ended Tuesday night and get back to work on city issues in the short term.

"I'll be talking to people, and announcing my intentions in a couple of weeks."

For those who suggested Rybak risked his political capital by running for mayor while keeping his eyes on higher office, at least two political experts say it's not a factor in the Rybak equation.

"Many Minneapolis voters knew he was thinking about this," Larry Jacobs of the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs at the U of M told KARE, "He's been pretty open about his interest in running for governor, and my hunch is he probably won't be damaged too much."

Hamline University's Dave Schultz said Rybak's commanding margin of victory in the mayoral race should put to rest any notion that his core supporters harbored any ill will about his dual focus.

"The question will be if campaigning for governor keeps him from solving any big issues inside the city of Minneapolis, and becomes the type of distraction that affects his job performance."

For Rybak, or anyone who wants to enter the wide open race for Governor in 2010, there's a risk of waiting too long to make a move. The election time clock has been accelerated by the DFL party's decision to hold its endorsing convention in April instead of June.

A dozen Democrats are already actively campaigning or considering a run, for the seat that Governor Tim Pawlenty will vacate in January of 2011. Schultz said that's one of the reasons Rybak kept the door open during his run for mayor.

"By getting those feelers out earlier, perhaps what he does is send a signal to supporters and donors not to commit to somebody else, because he may enter the race."

Jacobs pointed out that Rybak, at least on the face of it, will be starting behind.

"After all, his main competitors have been at this for months," Jacobs said, "They've got statewide organizations, quite a bit of money in the bank, and they're well prepared for the Democratic party's endorsement process which begins shortly."

Some of Rybak's critics point out he criticized Governor Tim Pawlenty for campaigning for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign and traveling frequently to raise his own presidential profile. How is that different, they ask, from what Rybak will be doing on the state level.

But Schultz points out Rybak's complaints about Pawlenty are that his national aspirations have impaired his ability to solve the state's structural budget problems.

"Mayor Rybak isn't complaining about the governor running for President," Schultz explained, "He going after him for what he sees as dereliction of duty."

If Rybak were to run, and win, it would break a long dry spell for Twin Cities Democrats in the governor's office. The last one elected was Wendell Anderson, who won in 1970 and again in 1974.

Jacobs concedes metropolitan mayors traditionally haven't found it easy to attract support in the state's more rural areas, and there are already two Iron Range lawmakers in the field of candidates. But, on the other hand, the state's demographic shifts toward urban areas given the Twin Cities metro added weight in a statwide race.

"There's much greater concentration of voters in this region," Jacobs remarked, "If Mayor Rybak can lock down the core of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and the ring suburbs it will give him a tremendous advantage."

Somewhere, the next Jesse Ventura might be waiting

Independence Party says the time is right — but can't find a candidate

By Bill Salisbury, Pioneer Press

Updated: 11/04/2009

While a large pack of Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates has roamed across Minnesota for months clamoring for attention, the state's third and smallest "major party," the Independence Party, has yet to field a single credible contender.

State party chairman Jack Uldrich insists he isn't worried about not having a candidate yet. It's still early, and he has been talking to a "handful of eminently qualified individuals" who would be strong candidates, he said in an interview last week.

Uldrich is confident that one or more of what he considers "three leading candidates" will get into the race.

He declined to name them but said all three work in private business and have experience either "in government at the highest levels or in public policy circles."

They also "have resources of their own" — money, that is — to wage a competitive race, he said. That's important because the Independence Party never has had much money.

"I am 100 percent confident that we will have a very qualified candidate," Uldrich said.

In addition, Dean Barkley, the party's U.S. Senate candidate in 2008 and former Gov. Jesse Ventura's closest political adviser, said he is considering a run for governor.

"I am contemplating whether I want to strap on the knee pads one more time and start begging people to give me money," Barkley said. "I really don't like doing that. I've got to convince myself that I've got one more fight left in me, and I haven'tdone that yet."
To be competitive, he said, the Independence Party candidate must raise at least $2 million, enough to air TV ads in the month before the election. He said the party's past two candidates spent about $1 million and ran short of advertising money late in the race.

(Rahn Workcuff, a political unknown from Minneapolis, has filed with the state campaign finance board to run as an Independence Party candidate for governor. He has run for the Legislature at least twice and lost badly.)

Uldrich said he tried to recruit Jim Ramstad, but the popular former GOP congressman said he's "not interested in running at this time."

Whomever the Independence Party nominee is, Uldrich and Barkley agree he or she will have a good shot at winning next year.

Why? "Because people have become completely disgusted with the other two parties," Barkley said. "It's been growing and growing and I think it's at an all-time high now."

Uldrich said the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has become extremely liberal and the Republicans extremely conservative.

"The middle is wide open," he said.

Polls suggest Minnesota voters are becoming more independent. Minneapolis pollster Bill Morris said a statewide survey his firm, Decision Resources, took in late July showed 39 percent of voters identified themselves as Democrats, 33 percent as Republicans and 26 percent as independents. That represented a 4 percent increase for independents since January and a 4 percent decrease for Democrats.

But fewer than 1 percent identified with the Independence Party. Still, Uldrich said, independents are more likely to vote for a candidate on the party's ticket.

One reason the Independence Party, like other parties, may have a hard time recruiting candidates is that the next governor will face a projected $4.4 billion to $7.2 billion budget shortfall and ongoing structural deficits.

"Everyone I talk to (about running) I ask, 'Do you really want this job?' Because it's going to be a crappy job," Uldrich said.

He said the three leading potential candidates "to their credit say, 'I get that. But somebody needs to do it. We need some real leadership.' "

The Independence Party hasn't provided much leadership since its first and only governor, Jesse Ventura, left office in 2002. He was elected with 37 percent of the vote in the three-way 1998 election.

Since then, the party's 2002 gubernatorial candidate, Tim Penny, received 16 percent of the vote and the IP's Peter Hutchinson got 6 percent in 2006 — barely clearing the 5 percent threshold for maintaining "major party" status under Minnesota law.

But Barkley received 15 percent of the votes in the 2008 U.S. Senate race.

Why has the party slipped? Larry Jacobs, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, cites three reasons.

"It still is basically a cult-of-the-individual party," he said. The Independence Party can succeed when it gets a celebrity, such as Ventura, to run, but it has no elected office holders, no organization with thousands of members and little loyalty among voters.

"The party surfs on voter frustration," Jacobs said. They get attention in the weeks leading up to an election, but "outside of the election period, they're irrelevant." They aren't players in the state's public policy debates or a presence in policymaking at the Legislature.

Finally, the party doesn't have a clear role, he said. "They don't win elections. They raise issues during an election, and they act as a kingmaker by drawing voters away from one party so the other one wins. But that's about it."

Nonetheless, state DFL and GOP leaders don't dismiss the Independence Party.

"I take seriously any party that's elected a governor in the past 20 years," state GOP chairman Tony Sutton said.

How seriously depends on the quality of their candidate, he said. "If they don't have a celebrity candidate, they don't have the infrastructure, apparatus or loyalty of a base to help their candidate build a platform for a campaign."

State DFL chairman Brian Melendez said he takes the Independence Party seriously not because he thinks they can win but because they could be spoilers.

He said he believes the Independence Party cost DFL gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch the 2006 election. Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty beat Hatch by just 1 percentage point, and Melendez is convinced the Independence Party's Hutchinson siphoned off enough disgruntled Democrats to tip the election.

He said he also thinks U.S. Sen. Al Franken would have won in 2008 without a recount if Barkley hadn't run.

"Nobody's really voting for their (Independence Party) candidates; they're voting against the candidates of the two major parties," he said. "It's kind of turned into the None-of- the-Above Party."

Uldrich asserted that the Independence Party, unlike the DFL and GOP, stands for fiscal responsibility and moderation on social issues.

Party leaders learned two lessons from their defeats in 2002 and 2006, he said. Their candidate must launch a campaign earlier.

Uldrich wants the IP candidates to enter the race during the legislative session next spring "so we get engaged in the debate and start drawing distinctions with both the DFLers and the Republicans."

The second lesson, he said, is that they must communicate with voters the way Ventura did. While Penny and Hutchinson were highly qualified candidates, "their messages never resonated with the public," he said. "We have to keep intellectually honest but figure out how to package our message better."

Minneapolis begins counting of instant runoff ballots

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 4, 2009

Minneapolis — Minneapolis elections officials started hand counting ballots Wednesday, a day after voters used instant runoff voting for the first time.

The count will determine the winner in a handful of races where no candidate received a majority of the first choice votes. Those races include two city council seats and five Park and Recreation board seats.

Elections staffers have to count all the ballots by hand, as there are no machines certified under federal or state law that can count instant runoff voting ballots.

But city officials expect the count will be finished sooner than the original Dec. 21 benchmark, due to low voter turnout.

About 46,000 Minneapolis residents voted Tuesday, representing about 21 percent of registered voters. Officials had planned for a turnout of about 70,000 voters.

Interim elections director Pat O'Connor said that although some results may be available within a few weeks, officials do not plan to rush the process.

"We would like this first count to go slowly so that people understand what ranked choice voting is all about," O'Connor said. "I think in our daily lives, we're used to computers doing the most incredibly complicated things, and we lose track of what really is happening inside that little box."

Elections officials count the instant runoff voting ballots in rounds. If no candidate has a majority of the first choice votes, then the candidate in last place is eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, your vote moves to your second choice. But if you don't have a second choice, then your vote stops counting in that race.

City council candidates in Ward Four and Ward Five fell just short of receiving a majority of votes. In Ward Four, Barbara Johnson received 46.9 percent of the vote. In Ward Five, Don Samuels leads with 47 percent.

About 250 elections staffers will count the ballots by ward, working in 125-person shifts, six days a week. O'Connor said the cost will be off-set by the savings from not having a primary.

Instant runoff voting supporters' next stop: Duluth

by Curtis Gilbert, Minnesota Public Radio

November 4, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. — Supporters of instant runoff voting hope to bring the alternative voting system to Duluth next.

Minneapolis held its first instant runoff election yesterday, which saw low turnout but no major problems. St. Paul voters approved using IRV for city elections starting in 2011.

Fair Vote Minnesota executive director Jeanne Massey says her group wants to put an IRV referendum on the ballot in Duluth as soon as next year.

"There has been a strong organizing committee working very hard for the better part of a year or more and they thought maybe they might even put it on the ballot this year," Massey said. "But they wanted to see how the process would go in Minneapolis and St. Paul and then figure out what that would mean for Duluth."

Instant runoff lets voters rank the candidates for each office on the ballot in order of preference.

IRV opponents are taking their fight to court. They accuse Fair Vote of deceptive campaign practices in St. Paul and hope the Minnesota Supreme Court will reverse its finding earlier this year that IRV is constitutional.

Minneapolis DFL/Rybak Election Night party

After taking 94 Express bus and crazy night in Downtown Minneapolis witnessing a group fight (I did called 911 and the group got arrested after several witnesses called 911 also), I arrived at the Graves 601 Hotel at Block E across from Target Center. Unlike several hotels, their ballrooms are on fifth floor and the building was very dim. When I arrived at the party, Mayor found me and I explained to him what happened, he said I did right thing so at least I made Minneapolis a safer place.

Not many people was there. I missed Mayor R.T. Rybak's Election Night speech because I was on highway riding on 94 Express. I ran into some DFL people I know, Councilman Gary Schiff (Ward 9), some people I saw at St. Paul DFL Party earlier, and Mayor Rybak & First Lady Megan O' Hara. Rybak children wasn't there, they are away at college but voted absentee.

2010 Governor candidates was in attendance: Paul Thissen, Margret Anderson Kelliher and Susan Gartner.

I also asked Jeremy Hansen who is Mayor's main man how IRV went, he said it was very slow and the result was coming in late.

MPR Election Results

Minnesota Public Radio have 2009 Election results up on their website.

It list all counties, cities and school district results.


MPR Election Results 2009

St. Francis council member gets third censure

Admonishing LeRoy Schaffer for a loud confrontation, the council also instructed him not to have contact with city staff.

By MARIA ELENA BACA, Star Tribune

Last update: November 4, 2009


Embattled St. Francis City Council Member LeRoy Schaffer was censured for a third time by his colleagues at this week's council meeting, the result of a verbal confrontation with the city's public works director last summer.

The censure resolution that was passed unanimously by the four other council members also bars Schaffer from all personal contact with city staff. Even written communication with the city administrator must be delivered by a third party, Council Member Jeff Sandoval.

Such an extreme form of political shunning is rare, said Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, who added, however, that he is not an expert on St. Francis city politics.

"Conflict and tensions are ubiquitous; they're widespread, in government policymaking," Jacobs said. "But when it reaches this level, an official policymaking group taking this step to isolate one member, it's extraordinary. This is kind of a DEFCON 5. ... This is the kind of response you take when you have no other choice."

Monday's censure stemmed from a July 20 incident. According to the results of an investigation presented Monday by City Attorney Scott Lepak, Schaffer loudly confronted the city's Public Works Director Paul Teicher after a council meeting that addressed the resignation of a public works employee.

During the investigation, Schaffer also approached Teicher to inquire about the complaint, the report said.

Schaffer refused to cooperate with the investigation.

St. Francis Mayor Jerry Tveit said that while the censure was a direct result of the confrontation with Teicher, the no-contact clause stemmed from a pattern of erratic and demanding behavior at City Hall that had created a chilling effect on the staff.

"The staff at City Hall and other employees will feel more at ease and more comfortable dealing with the council and not having to worry about getting questioned about things on the job," Tveit said Tuesday. "I want them to worry about their job and not what council members will say to them when they're trying to do their job."

For his part, Schaffer said Monday that the vote was a "popularity contest," and that he had a right to disagree with Teicher's handling of the public works employee's resignation.

"I'm not supposed to be a human being," he said. "I'm not supposed to have emotions."
Schaffer, who was the top vote-getter in a 2006 citywide election and whose term runs through 2010, has been in the hot seat before over conduct issues.

In May he was censured after the city attorney found that he had publicly humiliated the 19-year-old daughter of City Council adversary Tim Brown. In June 2008 residents called on Schaffer to resign after he called 911 to ask police to check the immigration status of a crew of Spanish-speaking roofers. In December 2007 he was censured for making what the council called inappropriate sexual remarks to a young woman during a community event. Last December he survived a recall vote that sought to cut short his four-year term.

After Schaffer's first censure, the council drafted a pledge of personal conduct for city officials; Schaffer abstained from voting when the code was adopted in January 2008.

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409