Free Republic

ST. PAUL, Minn. Former U.S. senator Rod Grams, a popular TV anchorman who went on to become the most conservative politician ever elected to statewide office in Minnesota, has died. He was 65. Grams died late Tuesday night at his home in the east-central Minnesota town of Crown, said Kent Kaiser, a longtime GOP activist and spokesman for the Grams family. Grams had been diagnosed with cancer in April 2012. After nearly a decade as lead news anchor at KMSP-TV in the Twin Cities, Grams launched his political career in 1992 by running for Congress and ousting the Democratic incumbent....

AP) St. Louis Park, Minn. State Rep. Keith Ellison won the Democratic Party's endorsement as its candidate for the 5th Congressional District on Saturday, putting himself on a path to be Minnesota's first black member of Congress. Ellison's rapid victory was unexpected in the crowded field of candidates seeking the seat. By the third ballot he was just a few votes short of the 60 percent needed to claim the endorsement, and the two remaining contenders -- Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman and peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer -- withdrew and backed Ellison. "We've got to unify," Ellison, 42, told the...

Rod Grams gave up his bid for a U.S. Senate seat on Saturday, according to an official in the state party, a move that would virtually ensure that U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy will walk away with the Republican nomination in 2006. Grams did not return phone calls to his home Saturday for comment, but a party official said the former senator announced plans to drop out of the race during a speech at the Minnesota Republican Party's Eighth District Convention in Isanti, Minn. "He basically said, 'I want my friends here of the Eighth District to be the first to...

KENNEDY COUNTRYCould a "Draft Al Franken" movement be far behind? Rep. Betty McCollum, thought to be one of the stronger Democratic options to fill the seat of retiring one-term Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton, announced that she would not seek the DFL nomination in 2006. McCollum was considered one of the stronger potential challengers to Rep. Mark Kennedy, who is quickly solidifying his position as the presumptive Republican nominee. Former Sen. Rod Grams is also seeking the Republican nomination, but according to a Republican National Committee aide, there are ongoing discussions within the party of how to clear for field for...

Rochester, Minn. (AP) U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht said Friday he would run for re-election to the House, ending the possibility of a primary fight between two Republican congressmen for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. "I love the job I have in Washington and I just feel like I fit more in the House of Representatives than I would fit in the Senate," he said. "If the voters of southern Minnesota will allow me to do this, I would like to run for re-election." Shortly after Dayton, a Democrat, announced that he would not seek a second...

When talking about Social Security reform, we need to make two points extremely clear: No one is going to end Social Security or reduce or take away any benefits you have earned over the years. And discussing other options is healthy for our country. Our Social Security system, in its current form, was designed for another era. It cannot meet the needs of today's demographics and it cannot support the benefits it has promised for tomorrow. A program that 50 years ago relied on 16 workers for each beneficiary now relies on three workers. And in less than 30 years...

WATERTOWN — In a city park in his hometown, U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy today declared he is officially in the race for U.S. Senate in 2006. "I'm here to announce my candidacy for the United States Senate…I know the great things that can happen if we trust the people and make sure government helps rather than hinders them as they pursue their dreams,'' Kennedy said, making it official one of the worst-kept secrets in Minnesota politics. Voicing many of the same messages he has in his three congressional races, Kennedy said, "I'm the kind of guy who was taught that...