National Politics
Are Supreme Court Justices Living Longer?
Yesterday Smart Politics challenged the popular notion that Presidents have been eying younger Supreme Court nominees in recent years, presumably to deepen their impact and legacy on the Supreme Court as the judicial branch has become seen as more partisan….
Read MoreAre Supreme Court Nominees Getting Younger?
Many commentators and political analysts have speculated that Barack Obama’s nomination of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court was based not only on his agreement with her judicial philosophy, but also her gender, ethnicity (Hispanic),…
Read MoreHow Many Senators Will Vote for the Next Supreme Court Nominee?
With the recent announcement by Associate Justice David Souter that he intends to retire from the Supreme Court this year, all eyes are on President Barack Obama to see who he will send up to the U.S. Senate for confirmation…
Read MoreThe Secret to Klobuchar’s Popularity: Enduring Republican Support
The latest round of SurveyUSA monthly polling data again shows Minnesota DFL U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar holding on to her statewide support more than any of the 25 Senators tracked by the polling organization. With a 62 percent approval rating,…
Read MoreBachmann on the State of the GOP: “Republicans are for all practical purposes irrelevant”
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is seemingly a fixture in the state and national media these days, and in particular on WWTC 1280 AM’s Northern Alliance Radio Network. The Minnesota U.S. Representative appeared once again on Brian Ward and John Hinderaker’s “The…
Read MoreWill Arlen Specter Win in 2010?
When Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party on Tuesday morning, the first question asked was not why he bolted from the GOP, but how his change in party affiliation will impact the Democratic…
Read MoreObama Approval Rating Holding Steady in Minnesota and Blue States, Still Dropping in Red States
Barack Obama’s latest approval rating in Minnesota remains in the low 60s – holding essentially, and impressively, flat for the third consecutive month, according to the latest round of polling by SurveyUSA. For the month of April, in a survey…
Read More‘Darfur 5’ in Little Jeopardy of Losing Congressional Seats
The arrest of Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison and four other members of Congress Monday morning for crossing a police line at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. brought front-page attention to the humanitarian crisis and atrocities occurring in the Darfur…
Read MoreKeith Ellison Campaign Funding Data Revisited: A Response to the Congressman’s Complaint
Last Friday, Congressman Keith Ellison’s communications director Rick Jauert responded to recent data unearthed and analzyed by Smart Politics that Ellison was receiving an unusual amount of itemized individual contributions from out-of-state, both in Q1 2009 (when he had the…
Read MoreWho Does Keith Ellison Represent? (And Why Aren’t Minnesotans Funding His Campaigns?)
The FEC’s Q1 2009 campaign finance data reveals several interesting facts about how Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives fund their campaigns. Earlier in the week, Smart Politics documented that GOP Representative Michele Bachmann received the largest percentage of contributions from individuals…
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