2008 Minnesota Elections
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2008 Minnesota Elections
Elections were held in Minnesota on November 4, 2008. Primary elections took place on September 9, 2008. Federal President and Vice President of the United States The 2008 presidential election pitted Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama against Arizona Republican Senator John McCain. Minnesota was considered a swing state in the election. Both major-party candidates made high-profile visits to the state. Obama gave a speech declaring victory in the Democratic primaries in June of that year at the Xcel Energy Center. The venue was used three months later to host the 2008 Republican National Convention in September where McCain accepted the nomination of the Republican Party. Obama went on to win the state in the November election, earning all ten of its electoral votes. United States Senate Incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman was challenged by radio host and comedian DFLer Al Franken and former Independence Senator Dean Barkley. The race was close, requiri ...
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Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed, and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation. Roughly a third of the state is covered in forests, and it is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" for having over 14,000 bodies of fresh water of at least ten acres. More than 60% of Minnesotans live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", the state's main political, economic, and cultural hub. With a population of about 3.7 million, the Twin Cities is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the state include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and ...
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Minnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assembled as a three-judge panel in 1849 when Minnesota was still a Minnesota Territory, territory. The first members were lawyers from outside the region, appointed by President Zachary Taylor. The court system was rearranged when Minnesota became a state in 1858. Appeals from Minnesota District Courts went directly to the Minnesota Supreme Court until the Minnesota Court of Appeals, an intermediate appellate court, was created in 1983 to handle most of those cases. The court now considers about 900 appeals per year and accepts review in about one in eight cases. Before the Court of Appeals was created, the Minnesota Supreme Court handled about 1,800 cases a year. Certain appeals can go directly to the Supreme Court, such as those ...
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Spousal Abuse
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner violence'', which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack. Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, ho ...
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Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting of members of a political party to nominate candidates, plan policy, etc., in the United States Congress, or other similar representative organs of government. It has spread to certain Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, where it generally refers to a regular meeting of all members of Parliament (MPs) who belong to a parliamentary party: in such a context, a party caucus can be quite powerful, as it has the ability to elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The term was used historically in the United Kingdom (UK) to refer to the Liberal Party's internal system of management and control. Etymology The word ''caucus'' first came into use in the British colonies of North America, ...
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Mark Douglas Olson
Mark Douglas Olson was an American politician who served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from district 16B, first elected in 1992. After his re-election in 2006, Olson was arrested and subsequently convicted of domestic assault. Olson left the legislature 2009 after failing to win a special election for a vacant seat in the Minnesota Senate.''2006-2007 Members'', Minnesota House of Representatives. Early life and education Olson was born and raised on a farm in Sherburne County, Minnesota and resided in Big Lake, Minnesota during his tenure in the state legislature. He graduated from Becker High School and received carpentry training at Wright Technical Center in Buffalo, Minnesota. Career He was a carpenter and log home builder for over 25 years. Olson previously served on the Monticello-Big Lake Hospital Ethics committee and was active in volunteer youth work, Boy Scouts, and as a youth camp wilderness guide. He was a volunteer for the developmentally ...
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Minnesota House Of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Paul. Offices for members and staff, as well as most committee hearings, are located in the nearby State Office Building. History Following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, women were eligible for election to the Legislature. In 1922, Mabeth Hurd Paige, Hannah Kempfer, Sue Metzger Dickey Hough, and Myrtle Cain were elected to the House of Representatives. Elections Each Senate district is divided in half and given the suffix ''A'' or ''B'' (for example, House district 32B is geographically within Senate district 32). Members are elected for two-year terms. Districts are redrawn after the decennial United States Census in time for the primary and general elections in years ending in 2. The most recent election was hel ...
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Minnesota Senate
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are held in the west wing of the State Capitol in Saint Paul. Committee hearings, as well as offices for senators and staff, are located north of the State Capitol in the Minnesota Senate Building. Each member of the Minnesota Senate represents approximately 80,000 constituents. History The Minnesota Senate held its first regular session on December 2, 1857. Powers In addition to its legislative powers, certain appointments by the governor are subject to the Senate's advice and consent. As state law provides for hundreds of executive appointments, the vast majority of appointees serve without being confirmed by the Senate; only in rare instances are appointees are rejected by the body. The Senate has rejected only nine executive appointments si ...
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Erik Paulsen
Erik Philip Paulsen (born May 14, 1965) is an American businessman and politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1995 to 2009 and as majority leader from 2003 to 2007. In 1994 Paulsen was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 42B, which covered part of suburban Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He was reelected six times and, in addition, he was elected by his fellow house Republicans to serve as majority leader from 2003 until 2007. He won the 2008 election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district, which covers the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, and succeeded retiring Republican incumbent Jim Ramstad. Paulsen represented the district in Congress for five terms. He easily won reelection four times, but was defeated in his 2018 reelection bid by Democrat Dean Phillips. From 2018 ...
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Jim Ramstad
James Marvin Ramstad (May 6, 1946 – November 5, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Minnesota's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Ramstad served in the Minnesota Senate from 1981 to 1991. Ramstad was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1981 and was reelected until 1990, when he was elected to represent Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ramstad won reelection in the suburban congressional district eight times, all by landslide margins. He had a reputation as a moderate Republican. Ramstad chose to retire and not seek reelection in 2008. He was succeeded by Republican State Representative Erik Paulsen. Throughout his legislative career and later life, Ramstad, empowered by his prior struggles with alcoholism, was a notable advocate for addiction recovery. In 2020, Ramstad died from Parkinson's disease at the age o ...
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United States House Of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being the Upper house, upper chamber. Together they comprise the national Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the United States. The House's composition was established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of representatives who, pursuant to the Uniform Congressional District Act, sit in single member List of United States congressional districts, congressional districts allocated to each U.S. state, state on a basis of population as measured by the United States Census, with each district having one representative, provided that each state is entitled to at least one. Since its inception in 1789, all representatives have been directly elected, although universal suffrage did not come to effect until after ...
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Minnesota's Congressional Districts
Minnesota is currently divided into eight congressional districts, each represented by a member of the United States House of Representatives. After the 2010 census, the number of Minnesota's seats remained unchanged. Minnesota statutes do not require candidates for the United States House of Representatives to reside in the district in which they run for office, but candidates must be inhabitants of the state at the time of the election. Current (until 2023 inauguration) districts and representatives List of members of the Minnesotan United States House delegation, their terms, their district boundaries, and the districts' political ratings according to the CPVI. The delegation has a total of eight members, consisting of four Democrats and four Republicans. Historical and present district boundaries Table of United States congressional district boundary maps in the State of Minnesota, presented chronologically. All redistricting events that took place in Minnesota between ...
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Dean Barkley
Dean Malcolm Barkley (born August 31, 1950) is an American attorney and politician who briefly served as a United States Senator from Minnesota from 2002 to 2003 as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota. The founder and chair of the Minnesota Reform Party (later renamed the Independence Party), he was the chairman of Jesse Ventura's successful upset bid for governor of Minnesota in 1998. Ventura subsequently appointed him director of the state's Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning. After Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash just weeks before the 2002 election, Ventura appointed Barkley to fill Wellstone's Senate seat. His brief tenure ended when Republican Norm Coleman was elected and sworn in to fill the seat. Barkley has run for office four times. Inspired by Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, he first ran for Congress as an independent in that year's election in Minnesota's 6th congressional district, but lost. He unsuccessfully ran three ...
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