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
January 16, 2002 - Mee Moua comments on her who hope to become the first Hmong person ever elected to a Minnesota state legislature.
January 17, 2002 - Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone joined local officials for a closed meeting in St. Cloud this afternoon (THURSDAY), one day after the city's second-largest employer announced it was probably going out of business. The parent company of Minnetonka-based Fingerhut announced it eliminate the catalog and internet retailer if a buyer cannot be found. It would be the biggest one-time job loss in Minnesota history. And it would be a major economic shock for St. Cloud, home to almost half of Fingerhut's workforce. Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports St. Cloud is already bracing for the impact.
January 18, 2002 - Mainstreet Radio’s Laurel Druley reports that city and county leaders throughout the state have been complaining about Governor Ventura's budget deficit plan for about a week. Many worry the proposal cuts too much state aid to local governments. Some state nursing home workers may be without jobs and the governor's plan cuts money that would go to rural road expansion and repairs.
January 21, 2002 - On Martin Luther King Day, former Vice President Walter Mondale joins MPR’s Gary Eichten to talk about the civil rights movement, yesterday and today. Mondale also discusses a wide range of current events.
January 30, 2002 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports voters on St. Paul's East Side having elected the world's first Hmong American legislator. Thirty-two year old Mee Moua won special election to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Randy Kelly, who was elected mayor.
January 30, 2002 - That was Minnesota DFL Senator Paul Wellstone.
January 30, 2002 - Mee Moua made history last night when the voters on St. Paul's East Side elected her to the state Senate. Moua is the first Hmong American in the country to win a seat in a state legislature. Florida represenative Phillip Brutus understands well the excitement surrounding Moua's victory. In 2000, the Democrat received similar attention when he became the first Haitian elected to the Florida state Legislature. Brutus says his election has meant a lot to the Haitian community.
February 1, 2002 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports on Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s effort to organize his office staff, and the opposition move is encountering on the City Council. The council votes on the plan that would see a sixty-thousand-dollar reduction in salaries in the mayor's office. But some council members complain the cuts are at the expense of those who are paid the least.
February 4, 2002 - We're live in Duluth this morning, at the WSCN studios. It's a special broadcast looking at the people and places of this area. Well, of course, politics is always an area of interest in the Twin Ports. People keep a close ear on what's happening in St. Paul. It's the second week of Session 2002, and the state's budget remains on center stage at the Capitol, where legislators got off to a flying start a week ago. Lawmakers have to close a projected nearly 2-billion dollar budget shortfall, and Governor Jesse Ventura has urged them to act quickly. Joining us on the line is Minnesota Public Radio's capitol bureau chief Laura McCallum.
February 4, 2002 - Mee Moua, a Hmong woman in St. Paul, makes history when she's sworn in as the nation's first Hmong legislator. The Southeast Asian hill tribe people started arriving in the U.S. more than 20 years ago. Yet, for many Hmong, their true date of arrival in this country starts with this political moment.