Almanac: At the Capitol

Senate Republicans want Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to step aside and let a deputy oversee the Jan. 3 special election to fill Sen. Tom Neuville's seat. Minority Leader David Senjem said secretaries of states "live in glass houses and that glass has been broken."
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Gov. Pawlenty has set the date for the special election to fill Sen. Neuville's seat for Thursday Jan. 3. That is the day students return to class at St. Olaf and Carleton, so Democrats should be pleased it's at least not during the school break, which many of them were anticipating.
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I think you're hearing it here first, former State Representative Ray Cox just told me, "yes, I do plan to run" for the seat Sen. Tom Neuville is expected to vacate today. Cox told me he had coffee this morning with Sen. Neuville and he encouraged Cox to attend Gov. Pawlenty's announcement at 1:00 in Faribault where the governor will appoint a new judge to the Rice County bench.
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There are reasonable economic arguments to be made against a statewide smoking ban for public places — not necessarily correct arguments, but reasonable.

And then there's the argument State Sen. Tom Neuville (R-Northfield) tried to make in the Mankato Free Press — lo and behold, second-hand smoke isn't all that bad!
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