Daily Digest (post caucus edition)
Hope your Wednesday is starting well. Here is your Digest:
Minnesota:
Precinct caucus night in Minnesota featured a typical off-year light turnout, but also a fight in Minneapolis that cancelled one caucus before it even began. Based on the results of the GOP straw polls, it was a good night for former state Rep. Marty Seifert in the governor's race and for state Sen. Julianne Ortman and her U.S. Senate campaign. The results are officially non-binding, but they are the first palpable victory of election year 2014. (MPR News)
Gov. Dayton chose his chief of staff Tina Smith as his new running mate. Democrats praised the governor for picking a savvy running mate with lots of connections in the politics and business world. Republicans were quick to criticize the Dayton/Smith team as the “all Minneapolis ticket.” (MPR News)
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The Council on Black Minnesotans wants changes in one of the key projects that Tina Smith has been heading up for the governor. The Council is backing legislation that would require the Destination Medical Center Corp. Board to use more minority-owned and women-owned businesses as part of the development in Rochester around the Mayo Clinic expandion. It would also require plans be in place for job training and placement of low-income residents. (Rochester Post Bulletin)
And speaking of Rochester, the troubled downtown Minneapolis property known as "Block E" is being being taken over by the Mayo Clinic. "Mayo Clinic Square" will house a sports medicine clinic along with previously announced practice facilities for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. (Star Tribune)
Former President Jimmy Carter spoke about Joan Mondale to MPR News: "In every way, Joan Mondale was a wonderful companion, a great friend," Carter said. "We loved her very much and she was one of the treasures for our entire country." (MPR News)
Washington:
After a two year delay the Senate passed the final version of the farm bill. President Obama said he will sign it. "As with any compromise, the Farm Bill isn’t perfect – but on the whole, it will make a positive difference not only for the rural economies that grow America’s food, but for our nation." (NPR)
What's in the farm bill? (AP via MPR News)
The Congressional Budget Office handed Republicans an election year weapon by projecting that the Affordable Care Act will result in 2 million fewer people working over the next 10 years. Democrats insist that’s because they won’t be tied to bad jobs by the need for health care benefits. (New York Times)
The federal deficit is shrinking fast. (NPR)
Finally:
I'm usually not all that sympathetic to gripes from reporters, but it sounds like Sochi is really not ready for the press corps there to cover the winter Olympics. (Washington Post)
And how about the New York Times writing about Warroad, Minnesota?: Warroad, population 1,781, a civic snow globe six miles from the Canadian border, has as many indoor rinks (two) as red lights. The town has sent seven hockey players to the Olympics since 1956 — four of them from the same family, the Christians — and each one has returned with a medal. The hope is for a pair of golds at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. (New York Times)