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
June 13, 2002 - Republican party activists will formally endorse former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman for US Senate. Republicans are beginning their state convention this evening at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Top republicans from President Bush on down are banking on Coleman to unseat two term DFL Senator Paul Wellstone. It's a campaign of stark ideological contrasts, even though the last time Wellstone ran, Coleman was a Democrat.
June 13, 2002 - GARY INTRO: The Republican Party state convention is underway at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. This evening, delegates will endorse their candidate for the US Senate: Norm Coleman. But it's anybody's guess whether businessman Brian Sullivan or legislative leader Tim Pawlenty will win the party's endorsement for Governor. Minnesota Public Radio's Gary Eichten reports........ The Coleman endorsement is a foregone conclusion. He is (virtually) unopposed. But tomorrow's contest for Governor looks like a real toss-up. Sullivan will apparently go into the voting tomorrow with a narrow lead but neither candidate is expected to be close to the 60% delegate support needed for endorsement. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck joins us now with the latest on the contest for Governor..... ______________________
June 14, 2002 - The race for governor is, as predicted, extremely close. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum has been following the balloting, and joins me now. After three ballots, legislative leader Tim Pawlenty leads entrepreneur Brian Sullivan - by just 43 votes, out of nearly 22-hundred cast. On the first ballot, Sullivan led Pawlenty by 13 votes. On the second ballot, Pawlenty pulled ahead of Sullivan - but by just nine votes. Pawlenty says he thinks momentum is going his way...
June 14, 2002 - Delegates to the Republican State Convention turn their attention to endorsing a candidate for Governor today. Last night the convention belonged to U.S. Senate candidate Norm Coleman. Delegates unanimously endorsed Coleman's campaign to unseat DFL Senator Paul Wellstone, and Coleman wasted no time in attacking Wellstone's record. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.
June 17, 2002 -
June 17, 2002 - (to follow laura) Steven Schier is chair of the Political Science Department at Carleton College. He says Tim Pawlenty's pledge NOT to raise taxes could be a big issue on the campaign trail:
June 17, 2002 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on the newly-endorsed slate of Republican candidates as they embark on a three-day statewide bus tour. This follows the candidates flying around the state earlier, after getting party backing during the state convention. Gubernatorial candidate Tim Pawlenty says his campaign will focus on the three issues he terms "kids, roads and jobs."
June 20, 2002 - With Jesse Ventura out of race for governor, Minnesota's Republican, Democratic and Green Party candidates are each claiming Ventura supporters will flock to their respective camps. That may be wishful thinking. Three and a half years ago Ventura won the election with 37 percent of the vote statewide. But he did much better than that in a ring of suburban metro counties north metro of the Twin Cities. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik visited Chisago county and talked to voters about the 2002 race.
June 21, 2002 - The first attack ad of the U.S. Senate campaign is running on radio stations across Minnesota. Paid for by an interest group, the ad accuses DFL Senator Paul Wellstone of "taxing the dead". Wellstone's campaign is outraged over the ad. At the same time, the Wellstone campaign is running its first television spot. In the latest in our series of Ad Watches, Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
June 28, 2002 - An all out advertising war has broken out in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race over the estate tax issue. Republican Norm Coleman's campaign is asking a Washington D.C. area special interest group to stop running ads attacking incumbent DFL Senator Paul Wellstone on the estate tax issue. The Coleman campaign is also ONCE AGAIN extending a proposal that both campaigns fight off outside advertising. But Wellstone's campaign says it will NOT ask outside groups to stay out of the Senate contest and will NOT ask the Minnesota DFL Party to pull an ad the Democrats say sets Wellstone's estate tax record straight.