Tom Elko

While Obama lowers expectations, McCain declares victory

This morning an online advertisement appeared on the Wall Street Journal’s web site heralding, over an image of the Republican presidential candidate before a flag, “McCain wins debate!” This declaration of victory came despite the fact that the debate in question has not yet occurred and at the time of its appearance McCain’s participation was [...]

Follow the money: Wall Street’s political giving

The Sunlight Foundation has put together a fascinating animated graph that tracks the political donations from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors and to which party the money has gone. Utilizing Google Motion Chart and 20 years worth of data gathered by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the chart seeks to demonstrate how [...]

Campaign tech: Bailout edition

The Internet threw its collective weight around and led a public rejection of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s proposed $700 billion blank-check Wall Street bailout.  The online petitions, open sources and incendiary snark came fast and furious from all political corners.

MPCA tightens rules on ballast water, invasive species

The Minnesota Pollution Control Authority (MPCA) citizen board voted 6-0 to move ahead with regulations on discharge of untreated ballast in state waters on Tuesday. The new rules put in place a permitting process for ballast discharges in Lake Superior and require ships to clean and treat their ballasts before entering the lake by 2016.

This year’s GOP platform rejects ‘government bailouts of private institutions’

A few weeks ago the Republican Party adopted the latest iteration of its party platform during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The platform embodies the ideals and vision of the party on issues of importance, like rebuilding home ownership:
We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates [...]

Arts and environment amendment adds intrigue to ballot

A proposed constitutional amendment to provide dedicated funding for the environment and arts during the next 25 years is proving to be one of the most intriguing statewide election battles, with two patchwork coalitions at odds over issues of constitutionality, taxes and civic priority.

Big Ten Poll: Obama has narrow lead in Minnesota

The Big Ten Battleground Poll of the eight states that are home to the eleven universities in the Big Ten conference shows competitive races within the margin of error in all but Illinois.
More details, plus video, below the jump.

Campaign Tech: Obama has your number, we’ve got Palin’s email

Voter databases have become nearly as essential to national politics as money itself, and for the better part of the last decade the advantage has gone to the Republican Party and its Voter Vault database. This year the playing field has been leveled.

Also inside: Sarah Palin’s purloined Yahoo emails; Google Labs’ new audio search engine.

Nader: Ode to a perennial candidate

Campaigning for president of the United States sure isn’t what it used to be, and there may be no one more qualified to capture that sentiment than the perennial candidate. The campaign of Ralph Nader produced this lighthearted campaign spot in which the candidate solemnly pours his heart out to a parrot named Cordoza.

If Nader’s [...]

Obama announces plan to jump-start Great Lakes restoration

With six of the eight Great Lakes states being hotly contested battlegrounds, this election year the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes is being elevated to a major campaign issue.

Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama today proposed a major plan to jump-start the process. The Obama-Biden Great Lakes Restoration Plan calls for $5 billion over a 10-year period to go toward sewage treatment improvements, rehabilitation of toxic sites and wetlands restoration.