Top political stories of 2008

2008 was a big year in politics in the North Star State. Please log your reactions to my list in the comments section or via Twitter (@mattabe).

• John McCain Picks Sarah Palin For Vice President - What were McCain's real motives? Did the pick hurt McCain more than it helped? Who knows, but judging by the huge rally crowds and the cast of characters who are still attacking Palin with slander, hammer, and tong, Palin is a conservative who can make it morning in America again.
• Minnesota U.S. Senate Election Recount - R.I.P. Clean Elections In Minnesota.
• Minnesota's Congressional Republicans Keep All Three Of Their Seats As Ramstad Retires - The bright side in 2008 for Republicans was that Republican Erik Paulsen was elected to succeed Jim Ramstad in the Third, and conservatives Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6) and Rep. John Kline (R-MN2) kept their seats on the Republican side of the aisle.
• Third District DFL Endorses Ashwin Madia For Congress - Third CD Dems boldly showed the courage of their convictions by bypassing (in a hotly contested endorsing convention) the well-funded, seasoned pol, and Minnesota State Senator Terri Bonoff for political newcomer Ashwin Madia. Madia's youthful campaign workers in the general election made extensive use of Internet technologies to spread the word. Madia raised more money outside Minnesota than in-state.
• Republican National Convention Held In Twin Cities - the hotels, bars, and restaurants were booked; the anarkids wreaked havoc; and Sarah Palin made her national debut as the eyes of the world gazed upon the Twin Cities for an unforgettable week in August.
• "Override Six" Targeted By Conservatives - conservatives flexed their political muscle in the most visible way since the No New Taxes Pledge. Here's to another encore in 2009.
• Precinct Caucuses Attract Record Turnout - the MNGOP got an infusion of new blood in 2008. Will the party keep them engaged for the run-up to 2010?
• Conservatives Find Selves Out-Tweeted by Democrats - it goes beyond social networking, it's a generational shift (see: Millenial Makeover). Conservatives, led in part by Hugh Hewitt, spent much of December signing up for Twitter accounts and creating Facebook pages, at least to see what all the fuss is about. Time will tell if they are able to exploit this new paradigm in political communications to win elections.
• An American Carol - now available on DVD, it was not the funniest political satire ever (see: Team America), but it was welcome comic relief in a year that needed it.

Young love

Click image to view large version, and see if you can find Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak

I have had it with the Republican Party treating voters under 30 as an "outreach" group. I had the not unexpected experience of watching a large DFL contingent march in the annual University of Minnesota Homecoming parade, complete with campaign bus and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak zig-zagging through the parade spectators, shaking hands and posing for pictures — without a corresponding presence from the Minnesota Grand Old Party.

The existing conservative and College Republican groups need the active engagement of the party: funding, candidate and elected official appearances, and accountability for growing their membership.

Besides a physical presence at colleges and universities, skillful use of Internet technologies has replaced phone banks and direct mail as the most effective way to reach this key demographic. This article sums it up well:

...young voters may prove to have been the key to Barack Obama's victory. Young voters preferred Obama over John McCain by 68 percent to 30 percent — the highest share of the youth vote obtained by any candidate since exit polls began reporting results by age in 1976, according to CIRCLE, a non-partisan organization that promotes research on the political engagement of Americans between ages 15 and 25.

Through a steady stream of texts and Twitters, experts agree Obama has managed to excite young voters by meeting them where they live — online.

“This is a group of people who are constantly checking in with everybody else in their circle to make a decision,” says Morley Winograd, the co-author of “Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics” and a former adviser to Vice President Al Gore. He defines Millennials as ages 18 to 26.

“This is a generation that doesn't tend to think about asking experts for opinion," Winograd says. "They tend to ask each other, and then that becomes the truth.”

Winograd says that means no decision is made without dozens of e-mails, texts or Facebook messages to check whether an idea works for the whole group — anything from “Where should we hang out tonight?” to “Who should we vote for?” — which could explain why Millennials so firmly latched onto Obama’s message of unity, he says.

Yes, the McCain campaign had an extensive web site, YouTube ads, Facebook groups, etc., but these initiatives are sorely lacking at the state and BPOU level. "The youth vote" came of age in 2008. The Republican Party at all levels needs to take this demographic seriously if it wants to avoid being marginalized in 2010, 2012, and beyond.

The morning after

Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio, producer Stephanie Curtis, and interactive producer/the world's most 24/7, multitasking, blogging, Twittering, mobile Internet connected, Minnesota Nicest woman Julia Schrenkler for the opportunity to reprise my liveblog role at this year's Election Night Policy and a Pint event (see previous post for a replay). The folks at MPR were very hospitable to me, from the lobby to the fifth floor UBS Forum and everywhere in between. I got to meet MPR on-air personalities Steve Seel and Tom Crann, who hosted the event. I enjoyed Bob Collins's interview and chatting with him afterwords. And political reporter Tom Scheck was even kind enough to flag me down to say "hi" at the Republican Victory Party at the Sheraton Bloomington later that night. Everyone connected with the event thanked me for liveblogging at least twice.

Kudos to MPR for being very committed to their "all of the above," early adopter approach to new media. In some cases, they seem ahead of the curve and ahead of their market (what we in research and development call "the bleeding edge"). They are certainly not waiting around for the future to happen to them; they're inventing it as they go.

I would like to drag other conservative bloggers and pundits into other collaborations with MPR. This would be a great opportunity for bloggers and pundits without a current media gig.

Liberals are really good at getting out there in the public square with the media, with their nonprofits, with their special interest groups, with their fun little events and creative promotions. Conservatives need to get better at this, beyond talk radio and the blogosphere, in order to better make their case with the public — especially in light of yesterday's elections.

Escape From MPR

As in 2006, my MPR liveblog experience was a little like going to Madison to see the Gophers play Wisconsin, and sitting in the middle of the Wisconsin stands — in a luxury skybox, but still on the Wisconsin side.

After McCain's concession speech and right as Obama began his, I left the fifth floor UBS Forum in downtown Saint Paul for the Sheraton Bloomington (formerly the Radisson South). Several differences between the two venues were obvious:

• All of the video monitors were showing election coverage from Fox News
• Being a partisan event, there were Republican campaign signs everywhere
• There was a large media pit and stages for television remote broadcasts
• A wider range of ages present, with lots of men in suits and ties, and lots of young ladies in heels and cocktail dresses — and campaign staff with their cell phones and BlackBerrys
• Cash bars and lots of food, once you found the various campaign suites

Even though it was late, I ran into a lot of my cronies from various campaigns. Jeff Johnson was enjoying his election to the Hennepin County Board. The irrepressible Laura from Sue Jeffers's gubernatorial campaign was celebrating one of the Minnesota House victories. I managed to find Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN6) campaign party, and wish her well, several minutes before she made her acceptance speech before the die-hard crowd and media, after midnight. I was happy to find a few other of my fellow BPOU campaign volunteers still there. I'm not sure, but I think that I saw Sarah Janecek enter the building as I was leaving, just as Erik Paulsen delivered his acceptance speech for the Third Congressional District race.

Going up to Erik Paulsen's suite on the twentieth floor was deja vu from 2002, when a bunch of us partied in Jim Ramstad's suite (it even might have been the same room). Other than that, I did the usual wandering around looking for friends, partaking of the deli trays, and finding that most had already called it a night. With Paulsen, Bachmann, and Rep. John Kline (R-MN2) all winning, hopes alive for a Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) reelection, and at least an even performance in the Minnesota House, the mood was upbeat despite the McCain-Palin loss.

Photo by Laura Gatz

The highlight for me was definitely Michele Bachmann's triumphant acceptance speech, very exciting and a vindication for Bachmann, with the requisite TV cameras and bright lights, and supporters waving large campaign signs. One of the handwritten signs held up said "Nice Try, Chris Matthews."

I heard Paulsen's speech on the radio on the way home around 1:40 am. I had to work today.

Election Night liveblog

I tried something new for this year's election night liveblog. It was powered by Cover it Live. Check out the replay below, live from the UBS Forum at Minnesota Public Radio headquarters in Saint Paul:

I voted

I was voter #310 at 8:40 am, Plymouth Precinct 14, Central Middle School.

A warm Minneapolis?

Minnesota needs to elect Republican legislators like Brian Grogan (HD 43B, Minnetonka-Hopkins-Plymouth) who understand that big business is not the enemy, and that Minnesota's tax and regulatory policies need to attract and keep businesses instead of driving them away.

An example of one state's success in this area is Nebraska, which recently attracted Yahoo! to the Cornhusker State:

Today Gov. Dave Heineman and corporate officials announced that Yahoo! has selected Nebraska as the home of two new developments. A 150,000 square ft. Yahoo! Data Center will be located in LaVista. A Yahoo! Customer Care Center will be located in Omaha.

“I am excited to welcome Yahoo! to Nebraska,” Gov. Heineman said. “These two projects present an extraordinary opportunity for Nebraska. It leaves no doubt that Nebraska can successfully compete for technology jobs.”

Yahoo! cited the Nebraska Advantage as a major factor in selecting Nebraska. The Nebraska Advantage was updated in the 2008 legislative session allowing Internet web portal companies to qualify for business incentives. Other factors include the availability of job training assistance, abundant fiber optic providers, low-cost utility rates, and a growing information technology-oriented workforce.

To paraphrase Hubert Humphrey, apparently Nebraska is determined not to become a warm Minnesota. We need to elect legislators who can work with Governor Pawlenty to give businesses a compelling reason to locate and stay in Minnesota.

John Benson fact check

More batches of campaign literature continue to arrive in mailboxes (and go right into the recycling, as my wife says), including this piece from the reelection campaign of House District 43B incumbent Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka). It seeks to reassure voters that Benson is a "bipartisan" leader by leaving out some key facts from several of its claims. DFL legislators statewide are making this claim. Here's the rest of the story:

• CLAIM: "The state budget was balanced without raising taxes."
  
  
• FACT: As reported by Jeff Davis on True North, "The budget fix was nothing more than a band-aid and taxes were raised — significantly. Lest we forget, the override of the governor's transportation bill veto cost us a $6.6 billion tax increase on sales, fuel and vehicle registrations...The final budget deal also included a $125 million tax increase on corporations with foreign operations. This was sold to the public as "closing a corporate loophole," as if corporations were doing something underhanded. In reality, this provision was enacted by the state legislature years ago to avoid driving corporations with foreign operations out of Minnesota.
  
  Senate Minority Leader David Senjem (R - Rochester) cautioned that the fix relied too heavily on tapping the state's “rainy day” reserve fund and not enough on actual spending cuts. Nearly $500 million needed to balance the budget came from the state’s rainy day fund, tapping about 80% of the fund’s reserves. Senjem predicts the result will be a much worse budget problem in 2009."

Another DFL claim that Benson and others have made is the 2008 session's one-year $51 per pupil increase to school districts. This political gimmick is found money that will be characterized as a "cut to school funding" if it is not reappropriated every year.

There are going to be a lot of last-minute claims made in the last 72 hours of this campaign. Fortnately, the Internet makes it easier than ever to check these claims. Please make an informed vote on Tuesday.

You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone

The next time you hear someone say that they will be so glad that campaign season is over, or worse yet that they won't be voting, you might want to remind them that many of our patriots died to protect our free elections and freedom of speech, and that other governments have killed to prevent the same.

I have friends who fled Cuba in the 1960s after Fidel Castro began nationalizing private property and cracking down on political dissent. They will never take voting for granted or forget that freedom is not free.

The last Plymouth campaign sign report

As reported by the Plymouth Police Department:

• Theft, reported 10-25-2008. Political signs taken from yard. 165xx 39 Ave.


• Theft reported 10-26-2008. Theft of 5 political signs from their yards overnight. 38xx Glacier Ln N.


• Theft, reported 10-26-2008. Report of theft of political signs on Fernbrook Ln between 34th Avenue and Rockford Rd.


• Theft, reported 10-27-2008. Report that sometime overnight unknown person(s) took 3 political signs out of yard. 47xx Upland Ln N.


• Criminal Damage to Property, reported 10-29-2008. Victim reported her political signs were thrown into the street and her solar light was broken with a brick over night. No dollar damage amount listed. 144xx 19th Ave N.

The Plymouth Police does not publish the political party involved in these reports. Please report campaign sign damage or theft to your local police department.

Smilin' and dialin'

Yesterday I put in a shift at my local Republican Victory Office phone bank, calling identified Republicans to remind them to vote our Republican ticket, from John McCain and Sarah Palin, to Sen. Norm Coleman and Third District Congressional candidate Erik Paulsen, to Brian Grogan for Minnesota House (43B), to John Cooney, the Republican endorsed candidate for the nonpartisan Hennepin County Commissioner in District 6.

Phone bank work is essential, not only to remind Republicans to vote, but also to update party records with current names and phone numbers, which are constantly changing as folks move and get new phone numbers.

We're down to the final week before the general election, and your entire Republican ticket needs your help now. Contact your local Republican Victory Office to find out how you can make a difference.

Vote your values

The Minnesota Family Institute has a comprehensive voter education web site at MNVoter.com. One feature of the web site takes the typical interest group scorecard one step further, by allowing you to print a voter guide that is tailored to the candidates you will see up and down ticket, from President to legislative and judicial races. It has always been particularly difficult to make an informed vote on judges, so this feature alone is well worth your time.

This election isn't just about partisan agendas, it's about the economic, cultural, and political future of our country. Get informed, and vote on November 4.

More Plymouth campaign sign thefts

As reported by the Plymouth Police Department:

• Theft, Reported: 10-16-2008. A resident reported that his political signs were stolen out of his yard within the last day. 115xx 44th Ave N


• Theft, Reported: 10-16-2008. Victim reported the theft of political signs from the lawn overnight. 4xx Niagara Ln N


• Theft, Reported: 10-16-2008. Complainant reported a political sign was stolen from his front yard sometime overnight. Comp reported this is the second time in the last week, his sign was stolen or vandalized. 43xx Deerwood Ln N


• Theft, Reported: 10-18-2008. R/P called reporting his political yard signs stolen. 8xx Vicksburg Ln


• Theft, Reported: 10-18-2008. Theft of political sign from the yard sometime overnight. 39xx Arrowwood Ln N


• Theft, Reported: 10-18-2008. Victim reported that a political sign was taken from her yard sometime during the night. 60xx Annapolis Ln N


• Theft, Reported: 10-19-2008. Victim reported that 3 of his political signs were stolen from his front yard during the night. 48xx Orchid Ln N


• Theft, Reported: 10-21-2008. Political sign taken from yard. 110xx 40th Pl N

The Plymouth Police does not publish the political party involved in these reports. Please report campaign sign damage or theft to your local police department.

Fiscal restraint needed on Hennepin County board

The MPR story, "Hennepin County commissioners give themselves a pay raise," reveals the apparent hubris gone wild on the Hennepin County board. What else could explain how the commission could vote this way given the current economic situation?

St. Paul, Minn. — Hennepin County commissioners voted 5 to 2 yesterday to give themselves a 3.4 percent pay increase in each of the next two years.

Their salaries will top $100,000 in 2010.

The increases match the maximum raises offered to regular county employees for 2008 and 2009, and property taxes are expected to decrease slightly for many Hennepin County homeowners next year.

But the county is also facing a significant budget shortfall, and may have to make hundreds of layoffs in 2009.

Outgoing commissioner Penny Steele, of Rogers, abstained from the vote. She said she didn't want to vote for a pay increase she would not have to answer to voters for. Steele also said it was a bad time for a raise for elected officials.

"You know, obviously, with the kind of pressures on the people that live in Hennepin County, in terms of job losses in terms of their own property taxes still perhaps going up or not being reduced, and yet the valuations are not where they were a few years ago. I mean, there's a lot of pressure on the people that live in this county," Steele said.

Commissioner Linda Koblick, of Wayzata, voted against the pay raise.

Both Steele and Koblick are retiring from the board. They both heroically opposed the confiscatory taxpayer subsidies granted to the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team and its owner, Carl Pohlad, that enabled the new Twins stadium to be built in a brazen example of public debt financing private profit.

In November, the property taxpayers of Hennepin County desperately need to elect two commissioners that will carry on Steele and Koblick's record of service to the taxpayers. Jeff Johnson is running to succeed Penny Steele in District 7, while John Cooney is running to succeed Linda Koblick in District 6. Both candidates are Republican endorsed, and Johnson is running as a self-proclaimed "taxpayer watchdog."

Plymouth campaign sign thefts

From the Plymouth Police Department:

• Theft, reported 10-11-2008: Political sign that was nailed to fence was broken off and taken sometime within the last week. 143xx 50th Pl N


• Theft, reported 10-12-2008: Theft of political sign overnight. 117xx 26th Ave N


• Theft, reported 10-12-2008: Victim called to report that 2 of his political signs were taken from his yard during the night. 47xx Kingsview Ln N

The Plymouth Police does not publish the political party involved in these reports. Please report campaign sign damage or theft to your local police department.

Hate mongers

The mainstream media and lefty blogs have focused during the current news cycle about those angry, dare we say "hateful," Republicans at John McCain's last two rallies in Waukesha, Wisconsin and Lakeville, Minnesota.

Polinaut's Tom Scheck titled his blog post on the Lakeville rally, "Out for blood..." At least he exercised some typographic restraint: it could have been OUT FOR BLOOD!!

The crowd at John McCain's townhall meeting in Lakeville was, shall we say, a bit partisan. Some called for McCain to fight Obama at next Wednesday's rally. Another woman said she didn't trust him because he was an Arab. Another said they didn't know if they could live in a country that had Barack Obama as its president.

Helpfully, Sheck also posted the full audio of the town hall, from McCain's entrance to his closing remarks. The audio reveals that the crowd at the suburban Lakeville South High School sounded more like Minnesota Nice than "out for blood." Unreported was the crowd's applause when McCain corrected the ignorant characterization of Obama as an "Arab."

Yet Sheck was mild compared to Bob von Sternberg in the financially troubled Star Tribune. In Sternberg's version of the story, "In Lakeville, McCain tamps down hostility," McCain was "Struggling to contain an emotional fire his own campaign kindled."

Shocking reports of "hate" and "anger" (or even partisanship) were curiously missing from media coverage of anarchist "demonstrations of free speech," in which real damage was done to property and persons peaceably assembled for the Republican National Convention. Pheisty and Michelle Malkin have documented other recent examples of liberal hate speech (viewer discretion advised).

The McCain rally reports hype a few exceptional comments but fail to further understanding about how Midwestern grassroots activists feel about issues like socialism, the economy, and the right to life. Intentionally or not, they serve Obama's campaign by stereotyping conservatives and attempting to demoralize the Republican base. Don't fall for it.

Some of the passion shown at the rallies is directed at the McCain campaign as the game clock winds down with our team down by a field goal. We have the better ideas and the better candidate, so let's score a touchdown and win this game, Senator.

Benson and Grogan to face-off at TwinWest forum

House candidates in districts 43A and 43B will discuss business-related issues at a forum sponsored by the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce on October 23, from 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm. There will be questions from the chamber and the audience, and opening and closing statements from the candidates.

Invited candidates from HD 43A are incumbent Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) and challenger Clint Faust (DFL). Invited from HD 43B are incumbent Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) and challenger Brian Grogan (R). Public registration for the event is open until October 21.

Benson: hey, big spender!

Minnesota Majority reported that Minnesota House District 43B Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) scored a favorable rating of ZERO out of fourteen tax-and-spending votes tracked by the organization. Benson scored an overall favorable rating of 16% across 43 votes in a wide range of issues.

Benson voted to raise taxes, against tax cuts, and against spending restraint on these occasions (search the House Journal yourself by entering the HJ page number here:

• Increased Taxes and Government Spending: HF2268 included tax increases, increased local government aid and mandates automatic spending increases. HJ page 7575.


• Restrict Bonding to Emergency Spending: Amendment to HF886 to reduce a pork-laden $334 million bonding bill to $8 million for emergency spending only. HJ page 2222.


• Eliminate State Income Tax on Social Security Income: Amendment to HF3149 eliminating state income tax of Social Security income. HJ page 11320.


• Tax Increase on Compressed Natural Gas: SF3564 imposes a 37% tax increase on compressed natural gas for transportation. HJ page 10737.


• Omnibus Bonding Bill: Were it not for line-item vetoes, HF 380 would borrow over one billion dollars for mostly "pork barrel" spending projects. HJ page 9689.


• Property Tax Increase: Omnibus tax bill HF3201 raises property taxes for most Minnesota property owners. HJ page 8103.


• Limit Tax Increases on Cabins and Recreational Property: Amendment to HF3201 that would have limited property tax increases on recreational property. HJ page 8072.


• Property Tax Freeze for Seniors: Amendment to HF3201 preventing an increase in the assessed taxable value of homes owned by senior citizens. See HJ page 8099.


• Override Governor's Veto of Gas and Sales Tax Increases: A vote to override the governor's veto of HF2800 which increased taxes by $6.6 billion. HJ page 7889.


• Massive Transportation Tax Increase: HF2800 created one of the single largest tax increases in Minnesota's history by raising gas, excise and sales taxes. HJ page 7883.


• Require Referendum for Sales Tax Hike: Amendment to HF2800 that would require a referendum to raise the sales tax in affected counties. HJ page 7862.


• Arts/Outdoors Sales Tax Increase: A historic $11 billion sales tax increase for the arts and outdoors to be approved by voters via a constitutional amendment. HJ page 7684.


• Reduce Income Taxes in all Brackets: An amendment to HF3149 to reduce state income taxes in all brackets by 1/2%. HJ page 11297.


• Super Majority Required to Raise Taxes: An amendment to the rules of the House requiring a 60% majority to raise taxes. HJ page 586.

This is a long list, but the scorecards from Minnesota Majority and other groups are valuable because they clearly show how each member of the legislature represents his or her district. They are not "cherry picked" votes meant to distort the record; the same votes are tracked for all members. By reviewing these scorecards for the incumbents in your district, you can cast an informed vote on November 4.

Benson and Grogan spar at forum

House District 43B incumbent Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) and Republican challenger Brian Grogan provided the most confrontational exchanges of Tuesday evening's Wayzata/Plymouth Area League of Women Voters (LWV) forum in the Plymouth City Council chambers. Participating were candidates for seats in House Districts 33A, 33B, 43A, and 43B, and Hennepin County Commissioner District 7. Only thirty minutes or a little less was devoted to each race, so the affair felt a little like a political speed dating session.

Benson used his introductory time to highlight his "friend of education" awards from the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, which lobbies on behalf of Twin Cities school districts, and the Education Minnesota teachers union, the state's largest political lobby.

Benson was president of the Education Minnesota local in Edina and the pre-merger Minnesota Federation of Teachers in the 1990s, and state president of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers from 1987-1995. He taught social studies in the Edina public schools for over thirty years. Benson currently sits on the education policy and education finance committees in the state House, in what must be a very direct route from the union's lips to the Legislature's ear.

Grogan highlighted the state budget deficit, unemployment, and the economy as reasons to reject Benson and vote for Grogan. He questioned the wisdom of bigger government in light of the DFL-controlled Legislature's insatiable appetite for more spending and higher taxes.

The LWV moderator posted questions to each candidate, alternating who answered first. Each candidate only had a minute or so to respond.

Areas of government needing reform: Grogan said that an education system that consumes more and more taxpayer money while delivering poor student performance needs reform, and the welfare system needs further reform to reduce fraud and waste. Benson said that reforms should be made in the areas of teacher recruitment and retention.

Priorities in education policy and funding: Benson said that suburban districts need more state aid to cover higher operating costs. Grogan said that the emphasis needs to be on accountability for the achievement gap between white and ethnic minority students.

Homelessness and affordable housing: Grogan did not respond to this topic, instead challenging Benson's characterization of last session's transportation bill, which passed on an override of Governor Pawlenty's veto, as "bipartisan." He also attacked the new DFL education bill, known as the "Minnesota Miracle II," for dropping the Q Comp alternative compensation program for teachers, which has been successful in the Wayzata school district. Benson responded that he supports Q Comp, but because the governor has not been "helpful" with the bill, Q Comp was dropped to bring him into the negotiations. He said that he expects it to be added back into the final version of the bill.

Transportation: Benson reiterated his claim that the transportation bill was a bipartisan bill because of the six Republicans who voted to override the governor's veto (also known as "The Override Six"). Grogan again challenged the bipartisan nature of the bill, which increased as taxes, license fees, new car taxes, and sales taxes by $6.6 billion. He said that none of the licensing fee increases or sales-and-use tax increases will fund road and bridges, instead they will fund mass transit outside the district.

Aging population: Grogan said that a strong (taxpaying) workforce (implying a friendly business climate) is needed to ensure that the growing Baby Boom generation is properly cared for. Benson said that increased aid to nursing homes will be needed.

Economy: Benson said that government's ability to deal with a downturn is limited. Grogan responded with a laundry list of how businesses in Minnesota are overregulated and overtaxed, and cited several examples of businesses leaving the state or locating new operations out-of-state for more business-friendly states, including Marvin Windows, Northwest Airlines, and Polaris. Benson said that reducing regulation and taxation on businesses is the best way for the state to improve the economy.

Child care for low-income families: Grogan said that in order to better care for low-income families, fraud and waste needs to be eliminated from aid programs. Benson called for increased spending for Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) and all-day kindergarten.

Attendance at the forum was depressed by the coincidental scheduling of the nationally televised second presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. The forum will be rebroadcast on Comcast channel 12 and LMCC channel 21. Channel 12 also has forum archives for viewing on their web site.

Lewis, Bachmann voice conservative angst

On Wednesday's Jason Lewis Show (100.3 KTLK-FM), Lewis, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6), and several callers expressed their frustration at John McCain's lack of walking the conservative walk.

After pledging as president to veto any bill that contains earmarks, McCain voted (with Barack Obama) in favor of the $800 billion lender bail-out bill, which one caller called "the mother of all earmark bills."

In March, the New York Times reported, "McCain Rejects Broad U.S. Aid on Mortgages." At Tuesday's town-hall debate, McCain proposed a $300 billion government mortgage buyout plan. Even Obama called the plan "costly and out of touch."

Bachmann said that she was almost "breaking pencils" during the debate as McCain passed up several golden opportunities to make the conservative case against Obama's liberal positions.

As McCain runs toward the middle, he is running away from the conservative base of the Republican party — you know, the likely voters who man the phone banks, drop literature, pound lawn signs. When he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, and Palin made her national debut in Saint Paul last month, McCain enjoyed a post-convention bump in poll numbers, fundraising, and volunteer enthusiasm. Post bail-out, McCain's poll numbers are sagging along with grassroots morale. It will be interesting to see how many show up to McCain's (Palin-less) Lakeville town hall meeting on Friday.

Conservatives are afraid that "change is coming," alright: socialism, regardless of who wins in November.

Lewis urged frustrated conservatives to redouble their efforts to support solid conservatives down-ticket, to rebuild the Republican party from the grassroots up. One caller speculated about a Palin-Bachmann ticket in 2012.