Political junkies in the Northland fire up your computers -- and get ready to find your Public Access Cable Television station.
Not only is this morning's hottest-ticket-in-town candidate forum featuring U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Republican Rep. Kurt Bills being streamed live from the Duluth Playhouse at 8 a.m. , other candidate interviews and forums are being posted and broadcast , some today for the first time.
That means Northland voters -- whether political junkies or not -- can hear directly from the candidates and incumbents before deciding on Nov. 6 races that include U.S. Senate, the Minnesota Legislature and St. Louis County Board. And a U.S. House candidate forum is still on the docket for next month.
In addition to sharing information with voters, the forums are part of the News Tribune editorial board's process in deciding the newspaper's endorsements this fall.
A trio of candidate forums featuring Iron Range-area legislative races already is posted. The editorial board spent part of a day last week in Mountain Iron asking questions about mining, the IRRRB and more of candidates from state Senate District 6, state Senate District 3, state House District 3A, state House District 6B and state House District 6A. Hear what they had to say .
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Also posted is a candidate forum featuring Republican Travis Silvers and DFL write-in candidate Erik Simonson, both of whom are hoping to replace state Rep. Kerry Gauthier in state House District 7B. Independent Jay Fosle also has registered as a write-in candidate. Silvers and Simonson (Fosle said he couldn't attend due to a work conflict) were interviewed Sept. 5 by the News Tribune and Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce.
Expected to be posted today are forums featuring St. Louis County Board races. The editorial board hosted the candidate conversations Monday with 2nd District incumbent Steve O'Neil, 2nd District challenger Becky Hall, 3rd District incumbent Chris Dahlberg, 3rd District challenger Debbie Isabell-Nelson, 5th District incumbent Peg Sweeney, and 5th District challenger Pete Stauber. Topics covered included copper mining, group homes and economic development.
The county board forums will be aired on PACT-TV Channel 7 seven times in the next week, including at 8 p.m. today, 8 a.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday, 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, and 1 p.m. Monday. For more information go to pacttv.org . They also can be seen at The UpTake .
The election is just 50 days away. Decisions abound for voters. But opportunities to learn more to help make those decisions a bit easier also abound. Some of those opportunities start today.
