Copper, nickel and precious metals can be safely mined in Northeastern Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan said Thursday in Duluth, lending his support to the nonferrous project proposed by PolyMet. (more…)

So far, this is how Rep. Rick Nolan’s first week in Congress has gone: Get sworn-in on Thursday, take three votes on Friday, and then adjourn for a week.

In fact, the House is scheduled to be in session only six more days this month. Plus 11 days in February, for a grand total of 17 work days between now and the next “fiscal cliff” deadline on automatic (“sequester”) spending cuts.

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Aaron Brown: “To a degree, Nolan won this election by cobbling back together the old line DFL coalitions that failed during the Oberstar campaign. I say "to a degree," because Nolan holds some notable differences from Oberstar. He’s a fan of Social Security and Medicare, a hit with many older voters in the graying corners of the district. But he’s also an economic progressive with a much broader coalition on environmental issues. He won older voters, but he also carried younger voters in Duluth,”

via Minnesota Brown.

KSTP/SurveyUSA: 8th District too close to call. Nolan 47% Cravaack 45% undecided 8%. Margin of Error +-4.1%

— Tom Hauser (@5hauser) November 5, 2012

“As the race between incumbent Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack and Democrat Rick Nolan heads into its final days, the amount of outside campaign money being spent in the 8th District has continued its upward trajectory — with nearly $3 million spent in the last two weeks alone.

“The combined $8.6 million spent in outside money from SuperPACs and other groups is the third-largest amount spent on a congressional race in the country, according to Federal Election Commission reports,” via Duluth News Tribune.

“Accelerating spending by outside groups in the final weeks of the 2012 campaign will drive total spending on federal elections this cycle to a record $6 billion, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan research group Center for Responsive Politics,” reports the LA Times.

“Former President Clinton is slated to visit the University of Minnesota Duluth campus this afternoon, his first stop in Duluth since Nov. 4, 1994.

“During his previous visit to Duluth, President Clinton went for a morning jog on Skyline Parkway with then-Mayor Gary Doty and stumped at UMD for Ann Wynia in her unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid. She ultimately lost that race to Sen. Rod Grams.

“This time around, Clinton will lend his support to the campaigns of fellow Democrats Rick Nolan, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and President Obama,” reports Duluth News Tribune

An opinion poll by Public Policy Polling of voters in the 8th Congressional District suggests that Rick Nolan leads Chip Cravaack 48% – 44% with 8% of voters still undecided.

“At least one Duluth television station has decided to pull a political ad from its airtime schedule after a complaint from a candidate in the 8th District congressional race. The ad makes claims about U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack’s Minnesota residency status and a vote he made in Congress,” reports the Duluth News Tribune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHh5VpnzmkY

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MinnPost’s David Brauer shot holes in the recent Star Tribune poll that gave former Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL) a 7-point lead on incumbent Rep. Chip Cravack (R) in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. His central concerns about the poll; 1) it was conducted over a single day 2) respondents were landline only. Read the takedown at MinnPost.

“Voters in northern Minnesota may be ready to return a Democrat to Congress next month, a potential setback for Republicans who captured the U.S. House seat for the first time in seven decades in a national GOP wave two years ago.

“DFL challenger Rick Nolan, who last served in Congress in 1981, leads freshman Republican Chip Cravaack 50 percent to 43 percent, according to a poll of likely voters in the Eighth Congressional District conducted last week for the Star Tribune.

“That’s a lead of seven percentage points for an underfunded challenger in a nationally watched race that has drawn more than $4 million in spending by the national parties and outside interest groups. Seven percent of the 1,000 people contacted by the poll remain undecided,” reports the Star Tribune.

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3%. The Cravaack campaign disputes the poll’s findings.

MinnPost’s media writer David Brauer also raised a couple of specific concerns about the polls.

Not-so-great thing about Strib CD survey: it’s a one-day poll (a Tuesday, in this case). Better polls multi-day. startribune.com/politics/state…

— David Brauer (@dbrauer) October 22, 2012

Holy moley. Strib congressional pollster weights by partisan ID. That should be an output, not an input. pulseopinionresearch.com/Methodology

— David Brauer (@dbrauer) October 22, 2012