October 30, 2002 - Tune in to Midday for the rest of this week to hear from the major gubernatorial candidates. Today learn about the views of DFLer Roger Moe. Then Republican Tim Pawlenty will be in the studio Thursday at noon, and IP candidate Tim Penny on Friday at 11 a.m. Green Party candidate Ken Pentel was on October 24th.
October 30, 2002 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Republican candidate Norm Coleman for U.S. Senate. While DFL'ers select a new candidate this evening, Republican Norm Coleman's campaign plane has just left St. Paul's Holman airfield for a fly around the state. Coleman's campaign swing, that includes International Falls, Thief River Falls and stops in Southern Minnesota. This comes as a new poll from the Star Tribune shows him behind Mondale by eight points.
October 30, 2002 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Larry Jacobs, political science professor at the University of Minnesota about status of U.S. Senate race.
November 6, 2002 - MPR’s Michael Khoo breaks down the numbers of 2002’ election results. Republican House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty won his bid to be Minnesota's next governor. With 96% of precincts reporting, unofficial returns show Pawlenty leading DFL rival Roger Moe 45% to 36%. Independence Party candidate Tim Penny was trailing a distant third with 16% of the vote. The Green Party's Ken Pentel finished with just over 2%.
November 6, 2002 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with political reporter Mark Zdechlik as voting results come in showing Minnesotans have apparently sent Republican Norm Coleman to the U.S. Senate, rejecting calls to honor Sen. Paul Wellstone's memory by putting Democrat Walter Mondale in his seat.
November 6, 2002 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer about dealing with absentee ballots and polling places being swamped by a higher than expected turnout.
November 7, 2002 - Minnesota Senator-elect Norm Coleman says he hopes to persuade interim Senator Dean Barkley to step down before the newly elected members of Congress are sworn in. On November 4th, 2002, Governor Ventura appointed Barkley to replace the late Senator Paul Wellstone who died in a plane crash two weeks ago. Coleman will follow Barkley after defeating former Vice President Walter Mondale in Tuesday's election.
November 8, 2002 - Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman talks to Gary Eichten about the situation in the middle east, terrorism, and other global issues. He is the author of a new book, "Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11."
November 21, 2002 - In the two weeks after Halloween, three college men disappeared - Christopher Jenkins from Minneapolis; Josh Guimond from Collegeville; and Michael Noll of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Around the same time, Erika Dalquist, a 21-year-old woman in Brainerd, failed to show up for work, and has not been seen since. Despite constant media exposure and massive search efforts, all four are still missing, and authorities are still waiting for the one tip or stroke of luck that might yield some answers. If the cases are linked, a break in one might solve them all. But at this point it seems just as likely all four are only connected by a tragic coincidence.
November 25, 2002 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on NCS Pearson, a test scoring company that mishandled thousands of Minnesota high school exams, agreeing to pay seven million dollars in damages to affected students and their families. The settlement comes more than two years after state education officials uncovered the errors, and just days before a class action lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial.