By Jake Levy-Pollans 

This is a little bit late because of the Thanksgiving break, but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on DFL gubernatorial debate hosted by the 3rd and 5th Congressional Districts on November 24th.

It was a great event. I got there early to help staff Matt's table, so I got to interact with a lot of audience members as they were arriving.

The debate had a clever set up. The organizers set it up so three candidates were on the stage at a time, rotating between questions, which gave the proceedings a fast pace and still gave viewers the opportunity to hear the candidates' thoughts on many issues of importance.

Reflecting on the event, I come to two conclusions:

I hope everyone has enjoyed as wonderful a week as I have.

On Thursday, like many, I spent the day with family. It's especially wonderful to have my son Ben home from college for the weekend.

Yesterday, Ben and I celebrated the Hmong New Year. Thousands gathered at RiverCentre in St. Paul in traditional celebration of the rice harvest. There were games, dancing, music and much more. I'm including a few photos here. 

Today our friends in the Muslim community celebrate Eid ul-Adha. I wish them a happy and blessed celebration!

by Bridget Cusick

One of the great things about the holidays is the memories they inspire. With Thanksgiving begins that season of memories.

I know in my family, we will never forget the time my grandmother put the turkey in her oven at 6 a.m. as usual, and around 11 a.m., over appetizers, someone wondered aloud why they couldn't smell it. 

Grandma hadn't turned the oven on.

Now, that was before the days of The Simpsons, but that gets one big "Doh!" And a late dinner.

As we get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday, we at the Entenza campaign would love to hear some of your Thanksgiving memories. Feel free to post them up on Matt's Facebook wall or email them to me at bridget@entenza.com, and we'll share a few of them next week!

Safe travels and happy holiday to all.

First off, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Alex Rosselli, and I am the College Outreach Director for campaign. I'm finishing up my senior year (?!?!?) at Macalester College in St. Paul with a Political Science major and a History minor. I got involved with Matt's campaign last spring. The primary reason I was drawn to Matt was his position on education - check out our issues page to find out more about Matt's plan to get Minnesota's education system back on track. In light of Matt's commitment to education, I am particularly excited to be able to work with the colleges and universities around the state.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, I wanted to give a quick update about what the campaign has been doing with colleges. Last week Matt launched his official College Tour - a journey which took him to 11 colleges and universities. Starting down at Winona State on November 6th, Matt met with students and chatted about the campaign and their vision for Minnesota's future. Over the course of the next week, Matt visited:

-UM-Morris

-Moorhead State University

-Bemidji State

-College of St. Benedict/St. John's University

-St. Cloud State University

-Gustavus Adolphus College

-Mankato State University

-Carleton College

-St. Olaf College

-University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

We had a great turnout and we are seeing a lot of support at schools across the state. We're going to be heading over to meet with the St. Thomas Dems on December 10th, so we are still scheduling college visits. We have been making a lot of good contacts on these campuses, so we are in a great position to move forward into 2010!

by Will Howell

Hello there, internet. Remember me? I've been letting our fabulous interns share their experiences, but I'm back with a special message just for you:

Matt Entenza wants you. To caucus. And "convention".
And we want to help you through the process.

by Bridget Cusick

So here's what we've got:

WASHINGTON (AP) The Democratic-controlled House has passed historic health care legislation to provide medical coverage to millions more Americans.

Most Americans would be required to carry insurance and large employers would be obliged to cover their employees.

The vote was completed around 10:20 p.m.

The legislation will now be taken up by the Senate.

An important step. The work is hardly done, but this is still pretty exciting.

by Bridget Cusick

Although Matt wasn't able to make it, the Entenza team was out in force at Candidate Karaoke on Oct. 30, in support of Urban Embassy.

Here's campaign scheduler Clare Sorman doing a knock-out job on "Son of a Preacher Man. 

And here is political director Will Howell with his... eh... very own version of "Mack the Knife."

by Jake Levy-Pollans 

I have started a tradition of making campaign inspired jack-o-lanterns. Last year, I carved "Obama" and "Vote" into two of my pumpkins. This year, I had a grand plan to whittle "Entenza" in my pumpkin until I quickly realized that "Entenza" was just a little too long for my small pumpkin. But I figured "Matt 4 Gov" would still get my message out. Check out my pumpkin seed recipe below the fold!

by Bridget Cusick

Nov 1, 1872: Susan B. Anthony registered to vote in Rochester, NY. On Nov 5, she was arrested for attempting to cast a ballot.

There are elections this week. In the scheme of history, it hasn't been that long since many of us didn't have the right to vote. Exercise your rights!