Posted on: September 7th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
With the State Fair come and gone, we will be sure to turn attention back to the blog where we will feature the latest links, videos, and other assorted updates from the campaign. Here are a few to keep you busy for the moment:
The Star Tribune has offered a wide array of coverage of the three top gubernatorial candidates during recent weeks. Some of the Horner highlights came just in the last few days. In one editorial the Strib commends Horner for saying the right things on education reform. A pair of Sunday columns from Lori Sturdevant and D.J. Tice examine the Horner campaign as more Minnesotans are tuning in and kicking the tires a bit.
Good takes on the Horner-Mulder budget plan were written up in the opinion pages of both the Pioneer Press and the Mankato Free Press.
While at the Fair, Tom made plenty of appearances across the radio dial. A few of those stops included visits to the WCCO and KFAN booths for great discussions with Michelle Tafoya, Chad Hartman, and Paul Allen.
Tom was just as active on television, from appearances on KMSP to KARE and WCCO. This past Sunday Tom also appeared in a segment of At Issue with KSTP’s Tom Hauser. Meanwhile, the campaign’s second statewide television ad hit the airwaves as well.
This week will include another pair of debates, speeches before health care and education groups and a variety of other campaign stops. Tom will spend Tuesday in Duluth by first participating in a Duluth News Tribune / Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce debate. He then moves on to attend a variety of meetings and tours at everywhere from St. Luke’s Hospital to the Duluth International Airport.
Tom at the Fair speaking to WCCO's Michelle Tafoya
Posted on: August 25th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
Tom Horner has been all over the state in the last week-plus debating issues ranging from infrastructure and local government to taxes and job creation. Despite this early frenzy of debates leading into the state fair, we know most Minnesotans haven’t had the chance to hear from the three candidates in such a forum. Thankfully the Uptake is keeping tabs on all those forums in a new section of their site called “Debate Central.”
On Thursday, August 26 Horner will take part in the TwinWest Chamber debate held before a sold out crowd of 500+ at General Mills headquarters. It will mark the fifth such gubernatorial debate in ten days. Here’s what you’ve missed in the other four, courtesy of the Uptake:
August 25 – Infrastructure Debate (Brooklyn Park)
August 24 – MSP Business Journal and the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis)
August 20 – Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (Winona)
August 17 – Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Brainerd Lakes Chamber Debate (Nisswa)
Posted on: August 20th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
The Tom Horner for Governor campaign has released a TV ad for the general election campaign. The rollout also includes two updated radio spots and ads at the Minnesota State Fair. Check them out below!
Posted on: August 17th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
While Tuesday’s primary results brought great news for the Horner campaign, a celebratory evening was quickly followed by an accelerated schedule. Tom Horner held dual press conferences in St. Paul and Mankato on Wednesday and Jim Mulder made press stops in Glencoe, Hutchinson, Litchfield, and Monticello.
Then came the first of the general election debates on Friday as the three major candidates took to the set at TPT’s Almanac for a spirited hour long discussion on everything from education to the Vikings. That debate was quickly followed the next morning by an outdoors forum held at Game Fair in Ramsey. The Uptake was there with video coverage. Take a look!
On Monday, August 16 Tom Horner spent most of the day in St. Cloud where he toured facilities at both St. Cloud State University and St. Cloud Technical and Community College. Tom followed that up with an extensive visit at St. Cloud Hospital and then an evening fundraiser at the Holiday Inn. St. Cloud Times reporter Mark Sommerhauser spent much of the afternoon with Horner and wrote this piece for Tuesday’s edition.
Following a Tuesday morning meet and greet at Green Mill in St. Cloud, Tom is headed to Nisswa for the Minnesota Chamber and Brainerd Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce gubernatorial debate. He will spend some of the afternoon there before heading off to Little Falls for an evening event.
On Thursday evening the gubernatorial debates continue in Winona where Tom and at least one other candidate will participate in a forum hosted by the coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities. Tom will spend the night in Winona and visit other southern Minnesota towns through the day on Friday.
Your contributions, volunteer sheets and lawn sign requests have come pouring in at a great clip since the primary. Please keep them coming and thanks for your patience as current volunteers and staff get back to you. Make sure to tell your friends and family of the importance of getting involved in the campaign now. The Star Tribune editorial page offered a thoughtful reminder of that on Sunday.
While we’re speaking of lawn signs, we not only welcome your requests to put one up but please let us know if you’d be willing to store extra signs in your community and even distribute them to neighbors in your area who have requested their own. Our new coordinators are in the process this week of contacting many of you have already made such offers. We appreciate your support and will need your help through these next weeks. Email lawnsigns@horner2010.com with any questions or comments.
Posted on: August 12th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
On Tuesday night supporters of Tom Horner for Governor gathered in the campaign’s Plymouth office around 7:30pm. The polls closed at 8pm and results came in shortly thereafter. Tom Horner and Jim Mulder won with 64% of the vote. The IP saw an especially high primary turnout.
Tom Horner made remarks shortly after 9pm, beginning with a reference to the unhappy Jet Blue pilot who has been in the news for using the plane’s emergency escape slide.
“I think there are a lot of people in Minnesota who feel like that,” he said. “So if I’m the emergency slide out to the tarmac, so be it.”
Tom’s speech was streamed LIVE online via Tom’s Facebook page.
Wednesday morning Tom held a press conference in St. Paul about the direction of the campaign post-primary. He said he’d be offering “centrist, common-sense solutions” for Minnesota and talked about TV ads that the campaign will soon be launching.
Posted on: August 10th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
(Ron Schara interviews Tom Horner at Game Fair)
In the week leading up to Tuesday’s August 10 primary, Tom Horner made appearances at a number of events from FarmFest in Redwood County to Game Fair in Ramsey to the Loring Park Art Festival in Minneapolis and many more. In between Horner hit the airwaves with a pair of one-hour debates on KFAI and MPR along with appearances on radio stations throughout the state. (To keep better tabs on those, you can follow the campaign staff and volunteer Twitter handle, @HornerCampaign).
In addition to public appearances, media swings and fundraising, the Horner campaign has also been getting out the vote with nightly phone banking from our campaign headquarters in Plymouth. Make sure you get out to vote on Tuesday, August 10. You can find your local polling place here.
Here’s a video of Tom going out to reach Minnesotans on their afternoon commute to encourage them to vote in the Independence Party primary.
In other news:
If you missed the Star Tribune’s endorsement of Horner in the I-P primary, you can read that here. “Only one candidate in the five-way IP field is gubernatorial material,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote.
We appreciate your patience as we’ve begun distributing lawn signs throughout the state. We need your support not only putting up lawn signs but also holding and distributing signs in your community. If you haven’t already contacted us, please send an email to lawnsigns@horner2010.com.
Horner appeared on ESPN radio 1500-AM last Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues including his Vikings stadium proposal. Horner’s leadership earned him some encouraging words from the editorial board of the Mankato Free-Press.
Television and print reporters in places like Rochester, Red Wing, and Marshall also spoke at length with Tom in this past week during his trips both east and west. Horner and running mate Jim Mulder hope to capture the primary on Tuesday and immediately continue their visits across the state of Minnesota. You’ll be able to follow along on our campaign map by clicking the button at the top of the blog.
Thanks to those of you in Richfield and Washington County who came out to show Horner around your local events this past weekend. Everywhere we go we meet great people. On Friday in Savage, we met a small but terrific group at the SarahCare Adult Day Center. Star Tribune reporter Eric Roper did a fabulous job of shooting and editing a brief video from the visit, where Tom not only talked to seniors but learned much more about the type of facility they have there as well as the high esteem it is held in by its attendees.
VOTE! Please find your local polling place. Make time to vote on Tuesday and encourage your friends, family, and co-workers to participate in this year’s early primary. Tom Horner needs your support to make this fall’s race one that is focused on issues and the solutions that are best for all Minnesotans.
Posted on: August 6th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
Dear Brian:
Here I am.
MN Forward is seeking to support candidates of any stripe who are pro-business. That’s me. In fact, I think I am the MOST pro-business candidate in this year’s gubernatorial race. Of course, maybe we define pro-business a bit differently. I think a pro-business candidate is one who supports an economic environment in which start-up businesses can flourish, well-paying jobs are being created in the private sector, and Minnesota is seen as a great place for all businesses — those already here and those we want to attract — because it’s a great place to live.
You see, I think the business climate in Minnesota isn’t just about which candidate will cut spending the most or who has the most strident anti-tax rhetoric. But for Minnesota to flourish — for ALL Minnesotans to do well – the state needs the kind leadership that successful business leaders understand: the importance of investing in people and making our state one in which the hard work of all people is rewarded, the talents of everyone are respected and the opportunities for all people are not capped by prejudice.
So here’s my pro-business agenda:
Balance the budget. This will take hard decisions and significant spending cuts. It also will take the discipline other candidates have lacked to say NO to special interests, even if YES might buy some short-term political cover.
Reform a tax system that is out-of-date and suppresses job creation. I am the only candidate who is proposing a comprehensive package of tax reform — reducing taxes on job creation while raising the revenue needed to invest in Minnesota’s future.
Invest in Minnesota’s future. We will be the knowledge state in my administration — a state that makes early learning a priority so that all children enter school prepared for success. We will invest in lifelong learning, from cradle to grave. Along with education, Minnesota needs to once again make smart investments in health and our state’s infrastructure. It was noteworthy that at FarmFest — talking to the drivers of one of our state’s most important industries — I was the only candidate who highlighted the need to invest in rail and 10-ton roads. A great harvest (or great manufactured products or great anything) loses its value if we can’t get it to market.
Make applied and basic research at the University of Minnesota and our other institutions of higher learning a state priority. Minnesota must be a leader in innovation, new ideas and cutting-edge technologies. If we follow my tax proposals, research becomes the engine for ideas to come to market creating Minnesota businesses and Minnesota jobs.
Revitalize our communities. I’ve proposed a five-point plan to strengthen Minnesota’s rural communities, making sure that every person in every community has the opportunity to prosper.
Streamline the regulatory and permitting process. In my administration, every permit request will be resolved in six months. Guaranteed.
Attract the best talent pool in the nation. Ultimately, Minnesota’s greatest strength — and our greatest pro-business asset — are our people. We need to be a state that welcomes diversity.
That’s my agenda, and I’m eager to compare it to the Minnesota agenda of any other candidate.
Posted on: August 5th, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
If you’ve got a radio handy, make sure to use it over the next couple of days as Tom Horner covers plenty of territory. You can hear him on Minnesota Public Radio‘s Morning Edition on Thursday for a candidate profile. Then at noon MPR will replay Wednesday’s gubernatorial debate at Farmfest in Redwood County.
A pair of full-hour conversations leading up to the Independence Primary are also coming up. On Friday morning from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Tom Horner will be live in studio at KFAI in Minneapolis followed by another hour on MPR’s Mid-Morning coming Monday, August 9. That’s the final day before Minnesotans go to the polls in this year’s early primary.
On top of those appearances Horner will be live in studio with ESPN radio 1500 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night. Listen to Horner and Joe Anderson touch on everything from the budget to the Vikings.
And if you don’t catch any of those, be sure to listen for Horner around the state and follow on Twitter (@hornercampaign) to get updates. Later this week taped segments with Minnesota Score Radio and KRFO Owatonna will hit the airwaves.
In addition, as this blog just highlighted, two new radio ad spots have been released and will be playing in multiple markets throughout the state.
Posted on: August 3rd, 2010 by Tom Horner 2010 No Comments
This week Tom Horner released two new radio spots for the lead up to primary day on Tuesday, August 10. They will be playing in several markets around the state. One spot highlights the need for leadership by a governor and the other talks about how times aren’t changing fast enough for many Minnesotans. Check out the new ads below!
Remember to vote in the August 10 primary. Click HERE to find your local polling place.
