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 20, 2006 - Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports on child advocate Patty Wetterling withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race and endorsing Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. Wetterling said she made her decision so the DFL party would unite behind Klobuchar. While many political experts are calling Klobuchar the party's clear front-runner, fellow DFLer Ford Bell says he's in the race until the end.
January 24, 2006 - Family and friends of the late Senator Eugene McCarthy gathered at St. John's University in Collegeville for a memorial yesterday. This is an excerpt of Walter Mondale speaking at memorial service.
January 24, 2006 - There was a memorial held in Collegeville for the late Senator Eugene McCarthy. McCarthy, who died in December, graduated from St. John's University in 1935 and taught there in the 1940s, before moving on to a career in politics.
February 3, 2006 - When is a candidate for governor NOT a candidate for governor? Governor Tim Pawlenty and several of his potential opponents disagree on that question. The governor's rivals say Pawlenty is clearly running for reelction so he should cancel his weekly radio show. But the governor and the station that airs the program says legally Pawlenty is not a candidate...and his opponents should not expect to get equal airtime. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
February 7, 2006 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on Hennepin County District Court Judge Charles Porter's ruling which states the Twins' lease at the Metrodome expired in 2003 and the team can leave at the end of the upcoming season.
February 13, 2006 - Governor Tim Pawlenty has changed his mind and says he's now ready to support plans to expand Duluth's convention center. Pawlenty had rejected the project from his initial bonding bill recommendations, saying he was concerned about Duluth's financial health, because of its outstanding retiree health care obligations. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports.
February 14, 2006 - Governor Pawlenty and the federal government have reached an agreement to ensure that low income Minnesota seniors continue to get their medicine in the coming weeks. Disarray in the new medicare prescription drug program left many seniors unable to pay for their medicine in the program's first days. The governor issued an emergency executive order authorizing state payments for medicine but it was set to expire on Friday night. Pawlenty says the state has now applied for a federal government waiver to ensure those payments continue. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.
March 3, 2006 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on first U.S. Senate debate. Taxes, health care and national security were among the key issues addressed by three candidates running for Minnesota's open U.S. Senate seat. The seat has been viewed as one of the more competitive seats in the nation ever since Mark Dayton announced his decision not to run for reelection. Republican Mark Kennedy and DFLers Amy Klobuchar and Ford Bell all hope to replace the DFL incumbent and put their differences on display in the debate sponsored by the North Metro Chamber of Commerce.
March 9, 2006 - Governor Tim Pawlenty touted the accomplishments of his first term in his State of the State address today (Thursday). In what sounded like a test of possible themes for a reelection campaign, Pawlenty said he's completed the biggest financial turnaround in state history. The governor also said the state has regained its status as an education leader. He outlined a handful of new proposals, which Democrats dismissed as pilot programs and slogans. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.
March 14, 2006 - Public safety officials say human trafficking has come to Minnesota. They don't have enough information on exactly how many victims of this modern form of slavery are here, but they believe it's probably more than a hundred. Traffickers bring victims to the United States by fraud or coercion, and compel them to work in the sex industry or as forced laborers. A Senate anti-trafficking bill authored by DFLer Sandy Pappas is expected to get a hearing today in the Crime Prevention and Public Safety committee. The legislation is part of a move to understand the extent of human trafficking in Minnesota and how to combat the problem.