New Twists In US Senate Race

Another Candidate Looms In The Wings
Three-way primary very likely
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Conventional wisdom says Amy Klobuchar will see smooth sailing in the U.S. Senate race now that she has former opponent Patty Wetterling's backing. But candidate Ford Bell's arguments that the party shouldn't pick its nominee before the precinct caucuses seems to resonate with some DFLers. Toss in a potential Mike Ciresi candidacy and this is not at all a done deal.

Listen as Peter analyzes the race and talks about the political earthquake in Palestine this week and how it could impact U.S. foreign policy. Is democracy always a good thing? Or is U.S. policy at fault for not holding corrupt governments accountable?

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Ford Bell speaks against "clearing the field" in U.S. Senate Race

Bell Challenges Klobuchar To Debates
Says his campaign has had "indirect pressure" to get out of race
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With Patty Wetterling now out of the U.S. Senate race, is the DFL endorsement of Amy Klobuchar a forgone conclusion? You might have thought that if you read the paper or watched the TV news reports. Most reports only gave passing mention to the only other candidate remaining in the race – Ford Bell.

Bell took that issue head on at this weekend's DFL Central Committee meeting. The Central Committee is made up of hundreds of delegates who will very likely play a role in deciding who gets the DFL endorsement.

He said it was too early in the process to mimic the Republicans and “clear the field”. He said the political insiders in Washington were telling the DFL to “sit down, shut up, we’re from Washington and we know best."

"I reject this attempt to bulldoze over our party’s strength. Our strength is diversity and debate, THEN consensus."

Listen to our exclusive interview with Bell and find out what issue he says Klobuchar has been silent on, and the major differences he sees between himself and Klobuchar.

Bell then challenged Klobuchar to a series of open debates across the state. A representative of the Klobuchar campaign wouldn’t give us a yes or no answer about participating in the debates, saying only that Klobuchar and Bell have had several debates and those debates would probably continue.

The full text of Bell's speech can be found on his website.

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Why Wetterling Is Out

Wetterling bows out despite popular support
Poll Predicted Klobuchar win
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Inside Minnesota Politics listeners should not be surprised that Patty Wetterling dropped out of the U.S. Senate race. In August, we were the first to document Amy Klobuchar's huge lead among DFL party activists in our exclusive poll. But while Klobuchar has the party support, why did Wetterling quit when she was polling better against Republican Mark Kennedy than Klobuchar was?

Listen as Peter explains the real reason why Wetterling does so much better in the polls -- she tells the truth!

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Caution On Playing The Race Card

DFL Governor Candidates Forum
Peter's advice to candidates: be cautious about accusing Pawlenty of racism
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There's much agreement between the four Governor candidates seeking the DFL endorsement. They all agree Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is trying to use immigration as a wedge issue for the 2006 election. But the strategy to counter Pawlenty varies.

Listen as Becky Lourey, Steve Kelley, Kelly Doran and Mike Hatch representative Lori Swanson offer their thoughts on immigration reform. They fault Pawlenty for trying to raise fear of neighbors, doing nothing about the problem for three years, and not pushing the Bush administration to address the problem at a federal level.

Steve Kelley said the Governor was trying to promote racism. Becky Lourey alluded to racism when talking about how the Governor was pressuring Indian tribes to cut the state in on their gambling revenues. Listen as Peter cautions against making that allusion and instead suggests focusing on the Governor's failure to control the sale of MN drivers license information which leads to identity theft and makes illegal immigration easier.

You can be sure there will be a contested primary in September. Both Becky Lourey and Kelly Doran plan to run in the primary. Steve Kelley says he will abide by the endorsement. Mike Hatch has said in the past he plans to abide by the endorsement, but it depended upon the level of participation of Minnesotans at the caucuses in March.

We also do some fact checking on what the candidates said. Is Minnesota the largest importer of energy in the U.S? And does Minnesota have more sunny days than Houston, TX or Tallahassee, FL? We give you the truth.

The forum covered a large number of issues including abortion, health care, the environment, education, transportation, and of course taxes. You can listen to the entire debate by clicking here.

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DFL Governor Candidates Forum

Three of the four candidates seeking the DFL's endorsement for Governor were there this afternoon. Mike Hatch was a no show since he is sick. He sent a representative who filled in for him. We recorded the whole thing and will have highlights and the complete forum posted soon.

There is no question now that there is going to be a contested primary. Both Kelly Doran and Becky Lourey confirmed they plan to go all the way to the primary. Steve Kelley said he would abide by the DFL endorsement. The representative for Mike Hatch said she had read that Hatch would abide by the endorsement, but Becky Lourey pointed to previous Hatch primary runs against endorsed DFL candidates and questioned if Hatch really was planning to abide by the endorsement.

Pawlenty tries to embarrass Bush

Immigration proposal a slap in the face to President Bush
Also: Prediction of armed conflict between Israel and Iran
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This week Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty proposed several ways the state should crack down on illegal immigration. While the proposal is meant to bolster Pawlenty's chances for re-election, listen as Peter points out it is one of the few times a high ranking member of a political party has tried to embarrass the flag-bearer of the party --President Bush.

Since Peter has first hand experience with the immigration system (he is a legal immigrant and a U.S. Citizen), he knows the ins and outs of the system. It is a complex problem. Listen as he explains why forcing local police officers to enforce the intricacies of immigration law will be a burden on them without the necessary training, salary and infrastructure.

Most Minnesotans know that immigration is a federal issue and needs to be solved at that level. So the main intent of the proposal seems to be to create a new wedge issue for Republicans in 2006. However, the proposal should not be entirely dismissed. Some of the points in Pawlenty's proposal are good such as increasing the penalty for human trafficking. But the Governor should focus on issues the state can really solve such as enabling identity theft by selling driver license numbers to scam artists.

Prediction: 2006 will see fighting between Israel and Iran
With Israel's leader Ariel Sharon suffering a brain-damaging stroke, the prospects for peace in the Middle East have dimmed. Listen and find out why Peter is predicting there will be an armed conflict between Israel and Iran before the end of 2006.

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