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Capitol View®
Brett Neely

The Daily Digest: Transportation debate gets personal

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Good morning!

In Minnesota

Gov. Mark Dayton sharply criticized state House Republicans for putting forward a transportation proposal that Dayton says is living in “la la land.” (MPR News)

Dayton and transportation funding advocates say Minnesota can raise billions of dollars by adding a new tax to gasoline sales. But that tax could bring in less money than projected if the price at the pump stays at current low levels. (Pioneer Press)

Meanwhile, the new head of the energy policy committee in the Minnesota House, six-term Republican Rep. Pat Garofalo, drives a Tesla plug-in electric sports car. (Star Tribune)

The push in this year's legislative session to funnel more state goodies to greater Minnesota and away from the core cities appears likely to intensify debate over a program that's been a source of urban-rural friction for years: local government aid. (Pioneer Press)

A shift in Minnesota’s political landscape may finally afford Minnesotans the luxury of buying liquor on Sundays this year. (Star Tribune)

The Poligraph weighs claims about education spending. (MPR News)

Keith Downey, the state's Republican Party chair, said he will run for another term this spring. (Star Tribune)

The Minnesota GOP also announced the Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina will headline the party's Lincoln Reagan dinner next month.

Minnesota's state band rehearses in a basement cafeteria, stores its music in a hard-to-reach closet and can't afford a marimba. A group of DFL lawmakers wants to throw the band $50,000 over the next two years and guarantee free rehearsal space. (AP via MPR News)

National Politics

In the wake of terrorist attacks in France and elsewhere, the Obama administration announced it will host a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism next month. (USA Today)

Now Mitt Romney is talking about running for President again. (Washington Post)

Democrats spent much of the 2014 campaign castigating Republican big money, but, it turns out, their side actually finished ahead among the biggest donors of 2014 – at least among those whose contributions were disclosed. (Politico)

Three of Minnesota’s five Democratic members of the U.S. House split with their party to vote for a Republican bill to jump-start the approval process for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. (MPR News)

One political reality behind the vote: Minnesota politicians who oppose the pipeline flirt with a possible long-term increase in oil train traffic on tracks that many constituents say are already overloaded with railcars carrying flammable fuel. (Star Tribune)

Your children aren't safe: future White House campaigns will combine census reports with Instagram and Twitter posts to target teenagers who aren’t yet 18 but will be by Election Day 2016. (Politico)