Suppose you're a endangered Republican Senator from Minnesota. Suppose you wanted to attack your opponent who has drawn even with you despite you and your buddies relentless attacks. Suppose you didn't want to pay for it because you want to save as much as possible of your corporate donations for attacks during the final weeks of the campaign. Suppose you didn't want the attack to come from you.

Suppose you're the businessman who would receive substantial financial gain if a certain endangered Minnesota Republican Senator were to be reelected. In other words, suppose you are the businessman who has received over $1.5 million worth of business from this endangered Republican Senator from Minnesota. Let's also suppose that your wife works for this Senator. Let's further suppose that this Senator rents a place from you in DC. Let's suppose even further that your company office-shares with the endangered Senator's campaign. Let's finally suppose your company does a lot of business with the Chamber of Commerce.

Suppose you're the Chamber of Commerce. Wouldn't you want to attack your endangered Republican friend's opponent? Wouldn't you want to help a businessman who stands to lose a large chunk of business if this endangered friend loses?

It appears that Sen. Norm Coleman has been working with Jeff Larson's company (FLS Connect) to create a Chamber of Commerce sponsored attack ad against Al Franken. FLS Connect does a lot of work for both Sen. Coleman and the Chamber of Commerce.

Ok, so I went to a party last night.... A long ago friend of mine, who is now a DA in Maryland, Glenn Ivey, arrived for the last two days of the convention (his wife is a Maryland Delegate). They invited me to the Maryland Govenor's party Fodo Irish Pub in downtown Denver after the convention had closed for the night. I haven't seen him for about 25 yrs so this was my chance. It took me about an hour to catch a cab back to my hotel so I had a late night and couldn't update you all last night.

...but, "The Special Interest Senator" is accurate, too!

This one, just in:

Delegates were instructed to be in our seats by 3 p.m. for a role call vote on the Presidential nomination. From the Convention Center I got in line for the delegate shuttle to the arena at about 2:30. I could have walked, but that means going through public security which I hear is incredibly slow.

There’s a snarl in the shuttle line and those of us in the front have to wait for about half an hour to board a bus while those behind us board and depart. This puts me dangerously late for the vote. As the bus pulls up to the convention hall security tents at 3:40 I get a call from the convention floor, “WE NEED YOU ON THE FLOOR TO VOTE!”

I freak! I breeze through security and run the roughly quarter-mile to the arena. In this altitude that is not an easy thing for me to do.

OK, ladies and gentlemen, the numbers are in, and we'll take a quick look with some quick commentary....

SCHEDULE B
ITEMIZED DISBURSEMENTS
All Listed Line Numbers

Committee: FRIENDS OF ERIK PAULSEN

I recommend that you consider this training for being a Legal Observer as a great way to make a difference on Labor Day at the RNC.

Legal Observer & Videographer Program

Trainings for NLG Legal Observers and Videographers
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD - MINNESOTA CHAPTER!

If you are planning to legal observe or do videography for the National Lawyers Guild during the RNC, here are some
things you need to know.

1. Legal Observer Training: All Legal Observers are required to attend one NLG-approved Legal Observer Training. Trainings
will be held in Saint Paul on August 25, 26, 29, 30, & 31. Details below.

2. Legal Observer Finishing School: All Legal Observers are required to attend on session of Legal Observer Finishing School,which will be held on August 29, 30 & 31. Details below.

" I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as President.” George aWol Bush, June 17th, 2008 (The White House)

Well, give that dog a bone! Boy Blunder got one "right"!!!

Here's another quote, to think about today: "The future belongs to those who dare." (author unknown)

What is known, is that there are 67 days until the the election, and that January 20th, 2009 will be The End Of An Error.

So, dare. Dare to make a difference. Dare to ensure the next four years aren't more of the last eight. Dare - I dare you.

"The future belongs to those who dare."

Someone was accosted for taking pictures was questioned and threatened by the Minneapolis police.

For Democrats that is!

The Minneapolis Star Tribune endorsed the Republicans lies surrounding the Employee Free Choice Act today on their op-ed page. The Strib will do what they can to frame the issues so that they benefit Republicans Norm Coleman, Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen. This means that they won't talk about Republican giving tax breaks to the richest Americans. They won't talk about healthcare. They won't talk about Iraq. The editors at the Strib know that if the 2008 election is about these issues, Coleman, Bachmann, Kline and Paulsen will lose.

Taxes. Health care. The war. Certainly, those are some of the more obvious contenders to be marquee issues in Minnesota's hard-fought Senate race. But what has surprisingly emerged to dominate the airwaves and the debate is a bill that was passed by the U.S. House but bogged down in the Senate more than a year ago: the Employee Free Choice Act.
(Strib)

Since they clearly understand what is bad for Republicans, they proceed to repeat the Republican lies about union balloting. They downplay the most important aspect of the EFCA, severe punishments for employers who intimidate and harass employees who are in the process of unionizing. They and the union-busters across America don't like strengthening labor's ability to organize.

Its innocuous name belies the furor raging over it in Minnesota and across the nation.
[emphasis mine]
(Strib)

The furor over this bill come from the union-busters who are able to spend millions upon millions in their union-busting efforts. The raging comes from the Republicans who cannot run on 8 years of the disastrous Bush Administration and have made their party platform secret ballots, "Drill Here, Drill Now" and personal attacks. The Strib is complicit by fanning these flames.

So they focus on the the Republican lies about the card check votes. Under EFCA, employees would get to choose how they want to run their election. They can choose secret ballot, card check or whatever they want. Only a small minority, 30%, need to demand a secret ballot for the union election to be by secret ballot. Regardless, pushing the Republican talking points is much more important:

But the EFCA has the potential to do more harm than good. Its provision allowing unions to bypass a secret ballot with something called a card check is a serious problem. Under the proposed law, unions could bypass a secret ballot if 50 percent of eligible employees signed an authorization form to form a union. It doesn't make sense: Would you pass a school levy or elect a mayor this way? The proposed card-check system also would invite peer-pressure from union sympathizers and, by making a supporter's name public, it has the potential to heighten the risk of employer retaliation.
(Strib)

On the principle that enough people repeating the lie must make it true, you all know that Coleman, Bachmann, Kline and Paulsen can now say that the Strib agrees with their lies. The Strib give their lies credibility and legitimacy. They can now use this op-ed in their attacks on Democrats.

Next up for the Strib, "Drill Here, Drill Now"?

[Updated: see below]

Did everyone see Republican Fox News commentator Mike Murphy on MSNBC's discussion of Bill Clinton's speech? What an @$$ clown.

"I think that Sen. Clinton and John McCain have more in common on foreign policy issues than with Barack Obama and I think that the Clintons will be voting for John McCain in November."

He was booed resoundingly by the people standing around the stage. This is the kind of alternate-reality analysis we've all come to expect from Republican Fox News. I'll post a video once I find it. What a joke.

Getting into the convention on Tuesday was pretty quick and easy. I rode the delegate shuttle from downtown. Because I used this mode, I missed a large demonstration of anti-abortionists sitting-in near the front entrance. Police were removing the protesters one by one.

The arena is PACKED. I’m a little late so I rush right to the MN seats. Though our delegation chairs aren’t full yet, competition for the seats gets pretty intense as we get closer to Sen. Clinton’s speech. We have 88 delegates and 88 seats. By the time Hillary approaches the podium there is hardly any space to stand even.

Consensus says tht Governor of Montanna Brian Schweitzer Democratic National Convention speech was the best!

I'm a rancher who has made my living raising cattle and growing wheat, barley and alfalfa in Montana, a beautiful place with soaring peaks, pristine rivers and endless prairies. I'm probably a little biased, but I think it's the best place in the world to raise a family, to start and grow a business, and to build a community.

From Miguel Lindgren

As promised, now that I have a few minutes to catch my breath, here is a quick report from "ground zero."

The hectic pace of the convention is enough to make your head spin if you let it. There is so much to do that choosing among the events becomes a real chore.

We arrived at our hotel in Denver on Sunday night, at about 8:00 pm and already had missed much of the welcoming activities that began that afternoon. So we decided to have dinner and charge our batteries to what promised to be a long day on Monday.

I just received this invite via email, I think this will be a powerful event

You're invited to our launch of the Guantánamo Bay Cell Tour in St. Paul!

A life size replica of a Guantánamo Bay cell is coming to St. Paul the week of the Republican National Convention; August 31-September 3. Tour the cell and find out what it's like to be illegally detained. While you're there, you'll be able to record a video to President Bush and sign Amnesty International's global petition to shut down Guantánamo and end illegal U.S. detentions.

Today's schedule is a bit different than the previous two so I am able to type a few lines. During our morning breakfast meeting (this morning sponsored by Xcel Energy and Qwest) we had another line of notable speakers including Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and author of The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington, David Sirota (we all got copies). At the end of the meeting, however, we uncovered a bit of frustrating "system failures" in our delegation.

Important information:
what materials the absentee ballot voter receives in the mail, and instructions on how to fill out the absentee ballot correctly.

Materials Received

Already there is a report of Minneapolis police of seizing citizen journalist notes and equipment and making up a reason later. Uptake has the story!

I've just returned to my room after another exciting and exhausting day in Denver. I woke up with a hoarse throat from all the shouting last night on the floor of the convention and a rather stiff neck from the dancing (which apparently some of you saw on CNN and CSpan last night!). Today marked the 88th (I think that's right) anniversary of women having won the right to vote. This fact permeated the whole day.

Over on Michael Brodkorb's MinnesotaDemocratsExposed, he's got a video where "college Republicans" are asking if a joke that never made TV is "funny".

Ladies and gentlemen, let's be clear: that "joke" never made it to camera, it was never shown on TV. It was discussed at a backstage writing session where nothing was sacred - that's where satire is created - that's what satire is. For satire, a lot of stuff that is WAY over the top and WAY out-of-bounds is discussed - and that over-the-top stuff never makes it out of the session. Unless, of course, some republiCon political hacks resurrect it and spin it for partisan political gain.