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
November 9, 1999 - In a few hours, it will be Wednesday morning in Japan, the day Governor Ventura returns to Minnesota. Ventura spent the last day and half finising up business in Tokyo, then riding the Bullet Train to the industrial city of Osaka for an overnight visit on his way home. As Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, the Governor seems to be very satisfied with the way his Japan trip has gone.
November 17, 1999 - A proposal to temporarily halt mergers in agribusiness, put forth on the Senate floor by Minnesota's Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone, went down in clear defeat today. But the issue is far from dead on Capitol Hill. Emily Harris reports from Washington.
November 29, 1999 - Mankato residents will have to sort through no fewer than a dozen candidates in an upcoming special election for mayor. Typically a candidate's political philosophy can be the most important factor in a race. But when Mankato residents elect a new mayor in February, their stand on a controversial railroad expansion will be centerstage.
November 29, 1999 - Will Paul Wellstone break his long-standing promise not to run for a third term in the U.S. Senate? In an interview published in the Mesabi Daily News over the weekend, Wellstone seemed to suggest he'd consider running a third time. Today he said those comments were just speculation, and he says he still intends to come back to Minnesota at the end of his second term. But Wellstone ALSO opened the door wider for a campaign for Governor in 2002.
December 3, 1999 - One day after announcing another whopping budget surplus Governor Ventura is rejecting claims Minnesotans are overtaxed. As lawmakers...especially House Republicans...call for an immediate permanent tax cut, Ventura says he wants to take a more deliberate approach. And at least an unscientific sampling of public opinion shows many people would rather the state spend some of the money than give it all back to taxpayers.
December 9, 1999 - The 2000 election is eleven months away, yet campaign ads have already begun hitting the airwaves. DFL Senate candidate Mike Ciresi has been running radio spots on the Iron Range, the Republican Party has countered with an attack ad, and the first of what promises to be an explosion of so-called "issue ads" challenges Congressman Bill Luther. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports in the first of our series of Ad Watches scrutinizing campaign 2000.
December 14, 1999 - The Ventura administration is announcing plans to bring advanced telecommunications services to the state's rural areas and promote competition throughout Minnesota.
December 14, 1999 - Governor Ventura's office confirmed today that Ventura was never a member of the elite Navy "SEALs" -- but he says he did train to be a SEAL, and that his membership in the Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams was practically the same as being a SEAL. But a former SEAL and journalist in San Diego says the UDT's were NOT the same as SEALs during Vietnam, and he says Ventura is taking credit for the valor of others.
December 15, 1999 - On Sunday Russians go to to polls to decide roughly half the membership of the Duma, the Russian Parliament. It's been a contentious campaign so far, but there is a slight echo of Minnesota in one race: an internationally known wrestler who is running for elected office. From Moscow, Charles Maynes offers this profile of the man some are calling Russia's Jesse Ventura.
December 15, 1999 - The Jesse Ventura volunteer committee swung into action last night, holding its first public meeting to try to mobilize citizens to support a one-house legislature -- one of the governor's pet causes. The meeting took place in District 51, where all three legislators are undecided about the issue. Since Governor Ventura has no Reform Party allies in the legislature, his volunteer committee hopes Ventura supporters can sway legislators on unicameralism and other administration priorities.