With fundraising results, third Democratic debate is in reach for Klobuchar
With 100,000 unique donors so far, Klobuchar needs just 30,000 more (and one poll result) to participate in the debate in December.
Politics & Policy
Resignation puts state Department of Human Services under the microscope. Again.
Gov. Tim Walz rejected suggestions that the department is in chaos, citing the willingess of Pam Wheelock to take on the job. “I don’t think that acting Commissioner Wheelock saw an agency in crisis,” he said. “I think she saw an agency at a transition point.”
Lindsey Graham both ups the name-calling and advises Trump to ‘knock it down a notch’
Sen. Graham decided to one-up the denouncer-in-chief by calling the four women what is probably, in Grahamland, the worst (and hilariously erroneous) thing you can call them.
State Government
Minnesota is creating a way for patients to find lower-priced prescription drugs thanks to … Tim Pawlenty?
The idea is a vestige of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2004 effort, called RxConnect, to let Minnesotans purchase prescription drugs from Canada.
Eric Black Ink
Minnesota to go red in 2020? Color me skeptical.
I don’t claim to know the future, but I think my evidence from 2018 bodes well for the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020 in Minnesota.
MNopedia
Minnesota’s Anna Dickie Olesen was the first female major-party nominee for the U.S. Senate
Olesen’s oratorical skills and political acumen on the Chautauqua circuit soon caught the attention of national Democrats.
Eric Black Ink
Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and one incredibly predictable Twitter tantrum
Trump’s 180-degree turn on former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan came when excerpts from a new book indicated that Ryan had said what he really believes about Trump, which is that Trump is an ignoramus.
Metro
Minneapolis officials get an earful about proposed rules on renter screening, security deposits
City Council President Lisa Bender and Council Member Jeremiah Ellison are writing new language based on feedback from landlords, renters and colleagues that followed the release of draft ordinances.
D.C. Memo
D.C. Memo: All Tuckered out
Progressives and Problem Solvers; awaiting Klobuchar’s fundraising numbers; an anatomy lesson from Trump; and more.
National
Why Democrats disagreed about the best way to improve conditions at the border
At the center of the conflict is the question of what’s most needed at the border right now: more funding or more oversight?
State Government
Budget reform committee gets taste of how easy it’s going to be to reform Minnesota’s budget process
It’s not going to be easy.
Environment
What the legislative auditor will — and won’t — investigate about a key PolyMet permit
While the auditor’s findings could spark legislative action, the office is “not reviewing whether PolyMet should occur or not.”
Eric Black Ink
More serious mark against Biden: his Iraq war vote
Like the Vietnam War, the war in Iraq was a colossal, hubristic, imperialist blunder.