Ellisons past is still out there lovingly preserved on the internet. http://presslord.com/speech.htm There are still a lot of not yet examined questions about Keith Ellisons finances and how he dug out of an apparent financial hole just before the primary. I’m sure this will be looked into.

As for the idea that IRV produces extream librals thats simply a matter of the fact that Republicans fight against it to the point where it is impossible to have IRV without also having an ultra libral voting base. Maybe in 50 years San Fransisco will turn conservitive, if it does happen and they don’t get rid of IRV IRV will help to deliver conservitive office holders sooner then the current system.

My main argument for IRV is focused at Democrats who call a vote for anyone but there flawed candidate or a Republican a wasted vote, or when they claim ownership on votes for other candidates. If they believe it then they should deliver the system that proves it.

IRV could have put Nixon in the white house in 1960, not Kennedy. And who knows how the world would be different.

The IRV option is more about legitimizing fringe groups — which actually serve a more valuable purpose in forcing change in the two major parties — and qualifying lunatics for public election funds… public election funds should be abolished anyway… but that’s another story.

The Framers had it right. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.

I’ll stick with the good old fashioned paper ballots and coloring in the circles. The only way those can be manipulated is when the DFL takes home the ballots and burns them in their fireplaces (like they did in 2002 when they stole the Senate Seat in Austin and Albert Lea district).

I think our state and country needs to try something different with elections. Right now whoever gets elected tends to have views that don’t do a good job of representing a majority of their constituents. Most people don’t vote and it is rare for somebody to get more than 60% of the support from those that do. Yes we may get a few nut jobs running because they will get a little attention but that to me is less worrisome than out current system that creates two warring political cabals. Of course sine change is something that could hurt both parties they will suddenly find that it is a “bipartisan issue” and work to ensure they both have to deal with only each other.

It has ensured that liberals will continue to run Minneapolis forever. That is why they put it in place.

Obestar…who by the way hasn’t lived in Minnesota in decades….could be more at risk with new districts.

B) I say combine St Paul and Minneapolis districts. Except for a few wealthy areas, they will continue to lose population. Why should the the Coleman/Rybik twins get two congressmen?

Most Americans are rational libertarians and you don’t get a satifactory result to that end with either Democrats or Republicans or the combination or results we see with both. IRV will not rise a Green Party candidate to office unless the district is already ultra liberal in which case.

When the Democrats or Republicans have a safe district they move to the fringes so it really would make no difference if a Green won in the 5th or a Constitution party candidate won in the 6th. Ellison is a Green and then some, Bachmann is a constitution. It’s also debatable what IRV would have done in the 2000 presidential election or 2006 Minnesota governors race. We can look at the #’s that came as a result of no IRV and shift them as polls might suggest they would have, but IRV creates a motivation to vote, a motivation to run and a motivation not to belittle your like minded lower level oppisition.

And probaly most importantly Keith Ellison never gets elected with IRV, because despite the 5ths likelyhood of electing any Democrat it is not extreamly libral as a whole.

2) Minnesota is never due for a Democrat governor. Gov. Goofy (Perpich) was your last best option. He was a joke. And Minnesota needs adults in the governor’s office.

3) Bachmann and Kline are two of our finest representatives at the national level.

Although putting them together and possible screwing over Bachmann would just be amazing.

Whose to say MN will lose a district anyway?

I really doubt combining them will ever happen though, 2010 will be a gubernatorial year and the Dems could take the seat back (even the Republicans have to admit that we are due for a Dem governor by now) and House and Senate Republicans have a lot of work to do to gain majorities in both chambers.

I think I’d rather see either the 6th become more Republican so that there is no way a Democrat can win or make it a complete toss up district. It bugs me that St. Cloud is a fairly Democrat area but has to be represented by such a right wing maniac. It’s just tough to figure out what to do with St. Cloud and Washington county, areas that are not nearly as Republican as the rest of the CD.

I think the districts are currently being pretty well represented, Bachmann and Kline maybe should be a bit more moderate, the 7th should have a Republican but Peterson evens that out with his moderate views.

Id say leave the CD’s as close to what they are as possible.

Even a real Republican could have a chance one on one if the candidate was well polished and a few things went against Ellison. I would hope the Republicans see the oppurtunity to defeat Ellison by not running a candidate. Talking up candidates like Alan Fine do more to hurt the Republican party then anything else.

Thats a 34% deficit to make up. In a district that elects 90% Democrats.

Short of having Keith led away in handcuffs, he will be in office until they decide what to put on his tombstone.

Note true.

The state’s population is about 4.9 million. The population of Minneapolis and St. Paul is 670,000… that’s 13.6 percent of the state’s population… not half.

If Minnesota is to have nine congressional districts, it makes a lot of sense to put much of Minneapolis and St. Paul in the same CD. Their needs are similar, their voting behaviors are similar.

It makes no sense to “disenfranchise” rural Minnesota by lumping large portions of the urban core into their CDs.

I guess I fond my answer as to what Republicans intend to do to remove Keith Ellison from office. And hey why the heck not gurentee a Democrat wins rather then allow for the possibilty of a reasonable candidate knocking away the remaining 5% from Ellison.

I hope you can listen tomorrow on AM 1280.

I cannot imagine Bachmann surviving without Wright and Sherburne Counties while gaining WBL and Roseville.

Or maybe we’ll put Bachmann and Kline in the same district.

Oh the possibilities!

A Minneapolis-St. Paul district only makes sense. They are one collective constituency with the same issues.

The Democrats, of course, will scream loudly saying that both cities are so culturally and economincally different that they must be kept separate at all costs.

At one time, that was true. But St Paul has been sliding Leftward with each passing election and now is only slightly less liberal than Minneapolis.

The Democrats will likely try to merge John Kline (2nd CD) and Jim Ramstad (3rd CD) into one district. It wouldn’t be a far reach because in the early 90′s, Ramstad represented parts of northern Dakota and Scott counties, I believe.

With the way the 8th CD is bleeding out, I can almost imagine their new boundaries stretching all the way down to Anoka or Stearns counties in any new re-districting.

Given the Dem’s extreme dislike of Michele Bachman, it’s not a far reach that they would try to toss much of the 6th CD into the 8th CD and force her into an campaign against Oberstar.

In any case, 2012 will be interesting!

A typical congressional district had about 600,000 people. The population of Minneapolis (the city only, not the suburbs) combined with the population of Saint Paul (the city only, not the suburbs) is about that number.

The two cities combined do not constitute “half the state’s population”.