National Politics
Who Gives? An Occupational Profile of Large Donor Contributions to the MN US House Delegation
Minnesota’s eight-member U.S. House delegation raised more than $1.6 million last quarter, according to the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports. Large donor individual donations accounted for about half of that total, or approximately $800,000. So, who are these private…
Read MoreThe Honeymoon Is Over: Obama Approval Rating Drops to 51 Percent in Minnesota
After six consecutive months of notching approval ratings between 59 and 65 percent in the Gopher State, President Barack Obama’s job performance numbers haven taken a nose-dive in July, in not only Minnesota, but other key battleground states as measured…
Read MoreBachmann Outraises McCollum in 4th CD; Nearly Outraises Ellison in 5th CD
A Smart Politics analysis of FEC data for the 2nd Quarter of 2009 finds 6th District Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann raised more individual itemized contributions in the home districts of two of her fellow DFL colleagues, and nearly as much…
Read MoreEllison Raises 90+ Percent of Q2 2009 Large Donor Individual Contributions from Outside 5th CD
In April 2009, Smart Politics reported on Keith Ellison’s unusual campaign fundraising numbers that found the 2-term DFL Congressman raising the vast majority of his large donor individual contributions from out of state. That reporting period was not an aberration….
Read MoreOberstar Raises 100 Percent of Q2 2009 Itemized Individual Contributions from Out of State
Of the many benefits that come with being a Committee Chairman and one of the longest serving members in the U.S. House, is a certain national renown that enables a U.S. Representative to more easily raise campaign funds from…
Read MoreBachmann Leads Minnesota House Delegation in Campaign Contributions by Individuals and Small Donors
Last Spring, Smart Politics explained how while the headline coming from the Federal Elections Commission Q1 2009 reports on the fundraising by Minnesota’s U.S. House delegation was that Republican Michele Bachmann outraised all of her Gopher State colleagues by nearly…
Read MoreWhat Will Be the ‘Obama Effect’ on the 2010 Minnesota Gubernatorial Race?
The recent news of Barack Obama’s sliding approval ratings across key battleground states (e.g. Ohio, Virginia) as well as the nation (e.g. Gallup, Rasmussen) has raised the question as to what effect a potentially less popular (if not unpopular) President…
Read MoreSen. Rest and Rep. Emmer to Speak on U.S. Senate Recount and MN Election Reform
Two leaders from the State Capitol will be speaking at a forum hosted by the Humphrey Institute on Friday morning to pinpoint reforms that could be made in the Minnesota election system to avoid recount pitfalls in the future. DFL…
Read MoreBachmann Voting Record Is 2nd Least Supportive of Obama in U.S. House
Last month a Smart Politics analysis of the most conservative members of the U.S. House (as determined by National Journal’s annual rankings) found Representative Michele Bachmann to have received the smallest margin of victory of the 44 most conservative Republicans…
Read MoreHow Blue Are the Blue Dog Democrats?
Congressional Quarterly’s vote study for the first half of 2009 is in the books, and finds that House Democrats overall supported Barack Obama 91.1 percent of the time in which the President stated his clear policy preference on legislation that…
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