Q & A with Tom Scheck, political reporter at Minnesota Public Radio Since Election Day is tomorrow, we thought it would be appropriate to feature a political reporter on this installment of “Goff Public Grills a Reporter.”  Recently we sat down with Minnesota Public Radio political reporter Tom Scheck.  Tom started at MPR in 2000 [...]

I have proudly been a self-proclaimed social media Luddite. After a misspent early career in politics which included a lot of rhetorical bomb throwing, I eventually learned the wisdom of keeping my mouth shut in public on most occasions.  This became a professional necessity when I moved into the public relations and public affairs consulting [...]

President Obama took his deficit discussions to the Silicon Valley offices of Facebook yesterday.  This first-ever visit by a Head of State to the social media behemoth’s office highlights the key role that social media continues to play in politics … and the upcoming presidential race. Speaking of social media-savvy presidential candidates, former Minnesota Governor [...]

For many media outlets, New Years is an excuse to reminisce about the previous year and create hundreds of lists announcing the top stories, events, and people of the year. At The GH Spin, we agree – it just wouldn’t be New Years if we didn’t have a “best of” list. Here are some of [...]

Goff Public President Chris Georgacas was recently named one of Minnesota’s top political influencers by Campaigns and Elections magazine. On the list, he joins Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Congressman Erik Paulsen, former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, and others. Chris is widely regarded as one of Minnesota’s top public affairs strategists. He has been [...]

Employees are not often given the opportunity to spend the lunch hour learning about government and politics, but at Blue Cross Blue Shield, they have been doing exactly that for the last 10 years. Blue Cross has made it a priority to provide employees opportunities to participate in meaningful civic engagement activities through its CitizenBlue [...]

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press just released a new study that tests Americans’ reactions to words and phrases that are used frequently in political conversations: “capitalism,” “civil liberties,” “civil rights,” “family values,” “libertarian,” “militia,” “progressive,” “socialism,” and “states’ rights.” Here are the results, so look away now if you want [...]

A month and a half ago, I noted the PowerPoint slide cognitive corruption which passes for Pentagon thinking about the interconnectedness of military operations and political “affairs” in the war in Afghanistan. Yesterday’s New York Times and today’s Daily Mail (UK) now have stories about it. Just remember: In the world of communications, come to [...]

Some of my Republican friends have been unhappy with me lately because I’ve cautioned that this could become not so much an anti-Democratic year, but an anti-incumbent and anti-establishment one. Pollster Scott Rasmussen’s latest Rasmussen Reports survey of public attitudes about Congress illustrates what is brewing. While Americans have been giving Congress historically low approval [...]

Drama unfolded on Sunday as the health care reform debate jumped from Capitol Hill to television, computer, and cell phone screens across the nation. On a weekend traditionally dominated by NCAA basketball coverage, it is hard to believe that C-SPAN, FOX News, MSNBC, and CNN ratings were through the roof as many Americans skipped March [...]