Over the decades, MPR has presented the many different perspectives of Minnesota politics and politicians. This collection is home to a multitude speeches, interviews and debates on the issues of the day. Important topics of civil rights, environment, crime, budget, legislation, and campaigns are addressed.
Click on link to these well-known figures to see audio segments directly related to them: Michele Bachmann Arne Carlson Keith Ellison Hubert Humphrey Amy Klobuchar Eugene McCarthy Walter Mondale Tim Pawlenty R.T. Rybak Jesse Ventura Paul Wellstone
May 19, 1997 - MPR’s Martin Kaste describes that state lawmakers are facing a midnight deadline to finish their work of the session. Two big bills are headed to the Governor Carlson’s desk, where they face all but certain vetoes.
May 20, 1997 - Midday discussion with the four legislative leaders from the State Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, Senate Minority Leader Dean Johnson, House Speaker Phil Carruthers, and House Minority Leader Steve Sviggum share their thoughts on the close of the regular legislative session and the chances of a special session due to potential governor veto on education bill. The guests also answer listener call-in questions.
May 29, 1997 - Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone will tour several towns in the Mississippi Delta today ... in the first part of what he's billing as a nationwide poverty tour. Over the coming weeks, Wellstone plans to retrace the steps of Robert Kennedy... who visited some of the country's poorest regions in 1967 and '68. Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen reports on how poverty has... or has not... changed... in the past thirty years. When Senator Robert Kennedy traveled to the Mississippi Delta in 1967... he found children in tattered clothing... with no access to a doctor and, in some cases, not enough to eat. Their parents had lost their cotton-plantation jobs to mechanization. A few months later... Kennedy found similar conditions among displaced coal mining families in eastern Kentucky. Georgetown
June 9, 1997 - Governor Carlson plans to call a special legislative session in to deal with the Minnesota Twins request for a publicly-funded ballpark. Carlson says he believes the Twins will leave if lawmakers don't approve funding before October, when the team can opt out of its Metrodome lease.
June 25, 1997 - Midday previews the special session of the Minnesota Legislature with guests Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe and House Minority Leader Steve Sviggum. Education funding is the main topic. Listeners also call in with questions.
July 1, 1997 - (Minneapolis) Senator Paul Wellstone is continuing his nationwide poverty tour in Minnesota this week. Today (Tuesday) he toured poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods of Minneapolis. Tomorrow (Wednesday) he visits Aitkin County; one of the state's poorest districts. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe is travelling with Wellstone during this leg of his tour, and has this report: Wellstone met with at-risk teens enrolled in the American Indian Center's Golden Eagles Program in South Minneapolis. It's an afterschool leadership club geared at Native American youth. There, he heard stories about what it's like growing up in neighborhoods where affordable housing is scarce, livable wage jobs scarcer but gunfire easy to come by. Lisa Sheftee is 14-years old: BITE: "once there was a shooting...and whatever." 11-secs (grn cut one)
July 3, 1997 - Aitkin Democratic U.S.Senator Paul Wellstone finished the two-day Minnesota leg of his nationwide poverty tour. Earlier this week, he toured poverty stricken neighborhoods of south Minneapolis and then it was off to Aitkin County, where Wellstone says poverty might be more HIDDEN but is no less severe. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe travelled with Wellstone, and has this report. In Minnesota, those who live their lives on the social and economic edge can sometimes escape the gaze of community leaders, elected officials...and even neighbors. The invisibility of rural poverty is perhaps partly due to the fact that when SOME think of poverty...the mind's eye is averted to the depression era imagery captured by photographer, dorthea lange. The gaunt faces that haunt her black and white stills are what we of
July 7, 1997 - Senator Paul Wellstone brought his poverty tour to Minneapolis and rural Aitkin County this (last) week. The Democrat is touring pockets of poverty across the country this summer and fall. He says he wants to evoke Robert Kennedy's poverty tour of thirty years ago. Some observers think Wellstone may also be setting the stage for a try at the presidency in 2000. Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen reports that Wellstone's campaign to shine a light on poverty is getting mixed reviews from political observers and poverty experts. When senator Robert Kennedy travelled to places like the Mississippi Delta and eastern Kentucky in 1967 and '68, he found families in shacks with no running water... and children without enough to eat. 30 years later, hun
July 9, 1997 - Midday discusses the lawsuits against tobacco companies with Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey. Listeners call in with questions.
July 11, 1997 - Midday discusses a report showing that the cost of college in Minnesota has more than doubled since 1982. Host Gary Eichten talks with guests State Representative Lyndon Carlson, who chairs the House Education Committee; and Ann Schluter, deputy director of Minnesota Planning, about the potential reasons behind cost increase and answers listener call-in questions.