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With an insider’s eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota’s political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

Contributors in Minnesota: Jennifer Brooks, Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Patricia Lopez, Jim Ragsdale, Brad Schrade and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Contributors in D.C.: Kevin Diaz and Corey Mitchell.

Posts about 8th District

Outside money buying mud-slinging in the 8th District

Posted by: Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Updated: October 23, 2012 - 7:08 PM

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As of Tuesday afternoon, outside groups had spent nearly $6.2 million to influence the outcome of the race between freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack and Democrat Rick Nolan in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional district.

Of that, $5.5 million, or nearly 90 percent of it, has been spent to oppose one of the two candidates, largely on attack ads, according to federal records.

Cravaack has been the hardest hit. Groups, from the DCCC to AFSCME, have spent $3.2 million to oppose him while $2.4 million has gone to oppose Nolan.

But Nolan’s friends haven’t done much to build him up – his supporters, have spent only $360,000 to promote him. Much of that money was spent by the DFL.

Cravaack’s supporters have been similarly chintzy in spending cash to boost him. Only about $117,000 has been spent to sing his praises, according to campaign records.

 

Nolan, Cravaack square off in heated debate

Posted by: Baird Helgeson Updated: October 17, 2012 - 12:46 PM

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Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack and Democrat Rick Nolan slugged it out in a debate Tuesday, the latest spirited exchange in what is emerging as one of the most expensive and closely-watched races in the country.

The two sides clashed over health care, their voting records and who best represents the area.

“I am a lunch pail Republican, I am a pro-union Republican and I have the record to prove it,” said Cravaack, who came out strongly after recent fundraising reports show he trailed his rival in contributions.

Nolan, a former Congressman, noted his deep family and business ties in the area, trying to shore up votes from union members and working-class voters heavily courted by Cravaack.
“You strengthen the middle-class from the inside out, not the top down,” Nolan said at the debate in Cambridge.

The rivals are battling to represent northeastern Minnesota’s expansive 8th Congressional District, an area where residents traditionally have strong union ties but more conservative social values. The area had been a reliable Democratic stronghold for decades, until two years ago when Cravaack stunned political watchers by beating powerful longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar. Cravaack is trying to ensure seat remains solidly Republican, while Nolan is resurrecting his political career after leaving Congress 30 years ago to wrestle the seat back into Democratic hands.

The two differed over the impact of the federal stimulus program and whether they would repeal President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Cravaack said he would scrap the program, which he deemed too expensive and complex. Nolan supports the health care plan, saying it covers millions of uninsured residents and prevents people with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage.

The two candidates used nearly every question jab at one another.

Cravaack blasted Nolan for missing what he called crucial votes decades ago, including a vote to hike benefits for veterans, while at the same time regularly voting to increase his own salary.

Nolan shot back that he was always there for big issues and significant votes.

Nolan accused Cravaack of trying to portray himself as a friend of working men and women while taking money from Charles and David Koch to carry out their union-busting agenda in Congress.

“You might be for mining, but you are a company man, not a working man,” Nolan said.

Cravaack countered that he was a union leader at Northwest Airlines and has regularly bucked his party on key votes he thought would hurt the district, despite sometimes intense pressure from fellow Republicans.

In a sign of the growing intensity in a race most polls show to be a dead heat, both campaigns pumped out more than a dozen real-time rebuttals during the hour-long debate hosted by Debate Minnesota.

One of the most heated exchanges came over the environment. As the economy in northeastern Minnesota has languished, many residents in the area now blame environmentalists for imposing government regulations that they say have suffocated mining activity. The issue has stoked animosity among groups outside the area who want the region to remain a pristine recreation area and local residents struggling to scrape by.

“We need jobs and we need good paying jobs,” Cravaack said. “We can do both, I am convinced of it.”

Nolan also stressed that “we can do the dance” of balancing the desire to protect the environment while having a thriving and sustainable economy.

Cravaack noted that Nolan helped created the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness decades ago, preventing any development, mining or motorized vehicles from the park, a move which rankles many locals to this day.

Cravaack said sharply: “You sided with Twin Cities environmentalists” over economic development.

In a notable interruption, Nolan shot back: “Chip, stop trying to divide.”

Nolan then said he was proud of his role creating the wilderness area, which helped turn the area into a tourist hub.

The two have only one more scheduled debate before the election.
 

Cravaack questions Nolan's 'checkered' business past (Updated)

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: October 15, 2012 - 4:02 PM

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Freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, facing an increasingly tough reelection battle in northern Minnesota, went on the attack Monday against DFL challenger Rick Nolan, highlighting what he said were the Democrat’s past business failures.
 
Detouring from his northern Minnesota district to hold a solo press conference for state Capitol reporters in St. Paul, Cravaack unleashed reams of opposition research on Nolan’s business difficulties in the 1980s, when he was in the export business and led then Gov. Rudy Perpich’s Minnesota World Trade Center (WTC) Corp.
 
(Update: Nolan’s campaign called the attack over events that happened three decades ago a sign of desparation).
 
Nolan’s problems at the debt-wracked WTC have long been chronicled. But Cravaack took the criticism to a new personal level by detailing Nolan’s failed U.S. Export Corp., which defaulted on a $300,000 loan in 1985, leading to Nolan’s personal bankruptcy filing in 1987.
 
Both episodes happened after Nolan served three terms in Congress from 1975 to 1981.
 
“This is former Congressman Nolan’s record as a businessman, civic leader, and steward for Minnesota taxpayers,” Cravaack said. “It is a checkered past, with prominent examples of neglect, mismanagement and self service.”
 
Nolan has campaigned on his past government and business experience, including a sawmill and pallet factory he owned in Emily, Minn.
 
(Update: “Nolan’s a businessman and an entrepreneur,” said campaign manager Mike Misterek, noting that Cravaack has had no similiar experiences in starting and running a business. “Like any entrepreneur, you take risks, and sometimes you have humbling moments.”
 
 
Cravaack’s broadside comes as Democrats have claimed to be ahead in the traditionally DFL-leaning district, which includes the Iron Range. Cravaack’s press conference also comes as the American Action Network, a right-leaning group headed by former U.S. Norm Coleman, announced a $100,000 ad buy against Nolan, bringing to well over $4 million the amount that has been spent by outside groups in the race so far.

More ad dollars roll in for Nolan v Cravaack

Posted by: Kevin Diaz Updated: October 15, 2012 - 6:35 AM

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The American Action Network (AAN) is announcing a $100,000 ad buy today against DFL congressional candidate Rick Nolan, bringing to $780,000 the group’s spending to help Republican incumbent Chip Cravaack in northern Minnesota.
 
The ad, "Working Hard," echoes the Cravaack campaign in attacking Nolan for supporting congressional pay raises and missing votes during his tenure in the U.S. House back in the 1970s. The center-right “action tank” led by former Sen. Norm Coleman said it will run the ad on broadcast in the Duluth media market, accompanied by a paid digital advocacy campaign.
 
This is AAN's fourth ad in the ever-tightening race for the seat held by Cravaack, who is holding a press conference this morning in the state Capitol. In a measure of national attention the contest in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District has received, the Sunlight Foundation estimates more than $4 million has been spent by outside groups in the race so far.

Nolan leads Cravaack in latest fundraising

Posted by: Jennifer Brooks Updated: October 12, 2012 - 10:55 AM

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DFL challenger raised more money than incumbent Rep. Chip Cravaack between July and September as money poured into northern Minnesota's fiercely contested eighth district race.

The Nolan for Congress campaign announced Friday that it raised $484,663 in the third quarter, topping the $471,183 the Cravaack campaign announced Thursday.

The incumbent still holds a significant fundraising advantage. Cravaack ended September with $1.1 million in cash on hand, compared to Nolan's $464,824. The Nolan campaign noted that it picked up contributions from 2,604 new donors since the August primary.

“The momentum continues to build for Rick Nolan,” Nolan campaign manager Michael Misterek said in a statement. “Rick Nolan is leading in the polls and receiving record contributions because voters know the only way we can get the country back on track is to grow the economy from the middle out, not the top down. As we enter the final weeks of the campaign, it’s clear that voters are rejecting Chip Cravaack’s Tea Party agenda and his unwavering support of the Ryan plan to privatize Medicare and give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.” 

Outside interest groups have thrown more than $4 million into the eighth district race already and the donations are likely to increase in the final weeks.

Recent polls show the two candidates tied in a statistical dead heat.

In response, to the Nolan announcement, Cravaack campaign adviser Ben Golnik said: "Yesterday, the Cravaack for Congress campaign announced its strongest fundraising quarter to date, over $471,000.  This cycle, the campaign has raised nearly $2 million and ended the third quarter with $1.1 million in the bank.  Despite millions of dollars of misleading and false attack ads from outside groups, Chip Cravaack will continue to communicate his positive pro-growth message to bring more jobs back to the 8th District."

 

 


 
 
 

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