Coleen Rowley: Up in the Polls, In Touch with Her District
By CassCasper
Posted on Fri Oct 20th, 2006 at
DFLers.org
A new SurveyUSA poll shows that Coleen Rowley is closing the gap on Bush Administration rubber-stamper John Kline in the 2nd Congressional District race.
With the support of 42 percent of respondents, Rowley has closed the gap by 12 points since the last SurveyUSA poll was conducted in the district nineteen days earlier. The poll has a margin of error of nearly four-and-a-half percentage points, conceivably putting the race out of the "safe Republican" category.
Most recently Rowley made headlines by promising to make ethics reform her number one priority if elected to Congress this November.
A retired FBI Agent and Bush Administration whistle-blower turned one of Time's 2002 People of the Year, Coleen Rowley brings the 2nd District an alternative to Kline's hard-line support of Bush policy and advocacy of social security privatization.
Not only fighting Kline's war against the middle class and party one-sidedness, Rowley has shown herself an able and well in-tune problem solver by demonstrating an understanding of the complexities of her district's suburban/agrarian economy.
Recognizing that urban sprawl and high gas prices are mutually reinforcing, Rowley's support of domestic farm support and simplified agricultural regulations may provide the solution to the land price disconnect between the inner-city and rural areas which causes sprawl and forces up everyone's gasoline bill. If the farm economy is encouraged, so is farm development: rural land becomes more expensive and urban developers and city planners must look again at the inner city, or at least to the already existing suburbs.
Rowley also has national renewable energy reform ideas that could help free Minnesota from its oil dependency and encourage investment in ethanol. Again: encouraging farm development may lead to less sprawl, which means less driving time. Such a multi-pronged rural/suburban economic approach is highly relevant to voters in the suburban and agrarian district.
Rowley has proposed cutting down the administrative costs of health care to lower the price of coverage for the working Minnesota family.
The latest polls show Rowley fast approaching Kline in the 2nd District. Eighteen days from Election Day with Republican failures and scandal surfacing daily, there are solid grounds for 2nd District voters to reject John Kline, and bring Coleen Rowley's new voice and relevant ideas to Congress.
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