Bachmann pointed to her rapidly increasing number of followers on Facebook as evidence of her appeal and said she would like to see other GOP lawmakers reach out to the public in a similar fashion.

“For instance, I would love to see all of our members have at least 100,000 people on their Facebook page. I have 140,000 people, and we’re growing that,” Bachmann said.

“The more we can communicate and have a two-way conversation with the American people, the more we as representatives will stay in touch with what people want us to do in D.C. That can only increase a positive outcome for everyone,” she added.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is perhaps not celebrating his use of social media. He is getting into hot water for Tweets. According to MinnPost…

[Former Secretary of State Mary] Kiffmeyer alleged that his tweets are being posted on his “official” Twitter account, but that’s not correct. They are being posted on his personal account — which does identify him as the secretary of state — but that’s linked to his political campaign site.

It looks a little like a “he said, she said” argument – but interesting to see how social media is being used and with level of success.

I’ll post the questions I received so far. If you have questions to add – please add them in the comments below or send them my way (atreacy@treacyinfo.com).  I think the Governor’s race looms greatest this year – but I’d like to see questions for candidates at any level. I’m hoping to pull the Hot Sites article together on Friday.

1. As a candidate or public official, how important do you think world-class broadband services are for community and economic development? (from Bill Coleman)
2. If the private sector fails to provide these services, what do you believe the role of the public sector should be to ensure that these services are available? (from Bill Coleman)
3. What would you do to ensure every Minnesotan has the skills to participate in a broadband economy? (from Mike Wassenaar)
4. The MN Broadband Taskforce has concentrated on speed as an outcome, and acknowledges that including all Minnesotans in the digital economy is necessary. And yet there are no goals for digital inclusion in the report. What goals for digital inclusion would you aspire to? How would you define digital inclusion? (from Mike Wassenaar)

He learned about rural telcos and the need for broadband Internet to reach every home in rural Minnesota. He also learned about Paul Bunyan Telephone’s leading-edge push to bring broadband to remote areas, including Ash River at Lake Kabetogama.

After learning more about Paul Bunyan’s recent upgrade (last year they extended fiber optic to homeowners’ premises – including to areas such as Big Fork, Little Fork and International Falls), Emmer commented…

“Japan is touted as having the greatest telecommunications network in the world? They don’t, we do,” Emmer said, referring to comments by Randy Young of the Minnesota Telecom Alliance that Japan is totally wired in the cities, but has yet to bring broadband to rural Japan.

“It’s amazing when you look at this (service) map and see what this company has done,” Emmer added. “When I saw how they just expanded to 100 customers in Ash River, one of the most remote locations in northeastern Minnesota, it gets amazing. And these guys are always taking a chance.

“This is one place where government is important,” he said, “to make sure that the little guys can compete; make sure that the little guys can provide the competition for service that is necessary. Bemidji may not be where it is today if it hadn’t been as far as communications if Paul Bunyan had not been here.”

(My goal is to highlight every time I see broadband mentioned in a Minnesota context – so whenever I see a candidate, any candidate, mention broadband I’ll highlight it. If your favorite candidate mentions it and I miss it, please send the mention my way.)

• The state still has a piecemeal strategy — one relying too much on individual city or county initiative or luck getting grants — for making high-speed Internet available across wide swaths of Minnesota.
• An antiquated state law also stands in the way of communities that want to pursue their own version of FiberNet Monticello. With research increasingly demonstrating that high-speed service boosts rural economic development, communities underserved by current providers should not be held back by the unfair 65 percent threshold for popular support the law requires to go forward. A simple majority would suffice.

They go on to really highlight the importance of raising the issue in the Gubernatorial race and give a nod to Tom Horner for getting the discussion going…

So far, broadband speed and access has been a sleeper issue in this year’s watershed governor’s race. That needs to change. A landmark paper this year by Jed Kolko of the Public Policy Institute of California solidly linked broadband to employment growth, particularly in rural areas where it’s needed most. Bristol, Va., is a compelling real-world example of jobs following high-speed networks. The fiber optic cable laid by a utility there played a key role in Northrop Grumman and the consulting firm CGI hiring 700 people in the area.

Too often the link between jobs and Internet speeds goes unrecognized. This is not about surfing faster on the Web; it’s about building technological infrastructure for the state’s current and future businesses, institutions and entrepreneurs.

Here’s the mention…

He spoke of a new model for home-centered health care currently being developed by health care professionals. It is a model heavily dependent on the use of telemonitoring in the home to prevent an illness from reaching the point that hospitalization is required.

“We have to get ultra speed broadband access around the state. We need high speed internet access. Most rural areas are still dial-up, and this kind of medical service cannot be provided through dial up.”

He also sees technology playing a role in improving the public school system, with online interactivity that has a student designing his learning program under the guidance of the teacher.

On a semi-related note, Senator Al Franken also mentioned broadband this week…

Senator Franken then moved onto the subject of creating jobs by improving the US infrastructure such as roads and bridges. He also spoke on improving national broadband, noting that America had slipped behind other countries in broadband roll out and upgrades.

DFL -endorsed gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher continues to rack up the union endorsements.

On Tuesday, her campaign announced she’d gotten the nod from the Communications Workers of America MInnesota State Council, the president of which praised Kelliher for her “commitment to bringing high-speed broadband to every community in Minnesota.”

I try to post anything I see related to broadband and the candidates, campaigns or elections (mostly in MN). If something it posted on your favorite candidate and I miss it, please feel free to send it to me.

Today I noticed that candidate Paul Thissen mentioned broadband in a student video chat. Here’s what he said:

WILL YOU ACCEPT FEDERAL STIMULUS MONEY AND WHAT WILL YOU USE IT FOR?

Yes, and most of it will already be directed at particular things. We can use it to help with health and human services, invest in roads, bridges, transit, and rail, and for our communications infrastructure, where we’re well-positioned to do things like get broadband throughout the state. We’ll also be able to use some for energy efficiency and conservation, and in education. To the extent that we have discretion in how to spend it, the main thing on my mind will be getting people back to work in a way that’s win-win, for them and for Minnesota.

Eight of the 10 candidates showed up. It sounds as if they each had time for an introduction and to respond to a couple of questions. It sounds as if both Steve Kelley and Paul Thissen mentioned broadband specifically:

Kelley said he’s a leader who can “look over the horizon.” He added that the first bill he introduced in 1993 was for broadband communications.

He [Thissen] said the state should increase its support for rural Minnesota, such as providing broadband communication and more aid to schools and local governments.

There was an overall theme of raising rural areas through greater education and economic opportunities. The case could be made that broadband would support those efforts – but only Kelley and Thissen specifically mentioned it – at least going by the report in the Alexandria Echo Press. (Not that I think the Echo Press would get it wrong but they were covering the forum more generally and probably weren’t pressing to hear the magic term – broadband.

According to WorkDay Minnesota, at least one candidate brought up broadband as a goal for the future. They said that current House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher stressed the need to reinvest in infrastructure, including cellular and broadband technology in outstate Minnesota, to promote economic growth.

It will be fun to see how often broadband comes up in the future – and how and with which candidates.

“Shall the City of North St. Paul be authorized to construct a telephone exchange as part of a municipal fiber optic network and to issue not to exceed $18.5 million general obligation bonds to finance the construction and equipping of the network?”

The results are:
Yes – 33.10% or 1014 votes
No – 66.9 % of 2049 votes