Daily Digest: Bowzer, Bigfoot and more in 3rd District race
Welcome to Wednesday. Enjoy your Digest.
1. Campaigning outside the box. Theater has always been the cheapest tool in the campaign toolkit, but the must-watch debates, packed stadium rallies and constant twists of the 2016 presidential race has brought the political popcorn factor to a new level. Nowhere in Minnesota is that playing out more than the 3rd District, where five-term incumbent Erik Paulsen is facing a challenge from Dean Phillips, the heir to a Minnesota liquor fortune who now owns Penny's Coffee in Minneapolis. The race has already featured dueling television ads, flash mobs, Bowzer from Sha Na Na, pontoon rides — even a viral Bigfoot ad. (MPR News)
2. Historic year for Hmong-American candidates. A record number of Hmong candidates are running for office in November’s election, and it’s generating excitement for Minnesota’s largest Asian-American community. Nine Hmong-American candidates have advanced through the primary and will be on ballots throughout the metro in November. Six candidates are running for state representative, including State Representative Fue Lee, a DFLer who is running for re-election in District 59A, which covers much of north Minneapolis. In addition, there are two candidates running for Ramsey County judge and one for Hennepin County commissioner. (MinnPost)
3. A Blue Dog in Trump country. Rep. Collin C. Peterson shed his sport coat to inspect some shrimp. It was 86 degrees on a recent Thursday in the calf-barn-turned-tank room, where the son of two dairy farmers is raising saltwater shrimp in the middle of rural Minnesota. A 14-term Democratic-Farmer-Labor congressman, Peterson represents a district President Donald Trump won by 30 points in 2016. At first glance, that’d make him about as out of place as these Pacific white shrimp. But as one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, Peterson isn’t your typical Democrat. (Roll Call)
4. Rural issues take center stage in Johnson, Walz debate. With four weeks left until Election Day, Republican Jeff Johnson and Democrat Tim Walz spent 90 minutes debating transportation, health care, immigration and other issues Tuesday night. In what was billed as the Greater Minnesota debate, both candidates stressed their roots in rural parts of the state. (MPR News)
5. Pipeline protesters win surprise acquittal. An unusual and high-profile trial in northwestern Minnesota came to a surprisingly quick end Tuesday when a state judge acquitted three climate activists of damaging an oil pipeline. Both the prosecution and defense cases fizzled, leaving disappointment on both sides. (MPR News)
And a heads up that Mike Mulcahy will be moderating a debate Friday on MPR News stations between 1st District congressional candidates Jim Hagedorn and Dan Feehan. You can submit questions here.
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