News Cut: April 2, 2008 Archive

I've picked up something bearing a resemblance to the flu since last we met, so posting today will be sporadic.

Unfortunately, it caused me to miss an event this morning that I had hoped to offer for your consideration. There was (actually it's going on at this very moment) a panel discussion about the gaps between Minnesotans. The discussion intended to feed off a preview of Twin Cities Public Television's new documentary series, Close the Gap, which premieres on Saturday.

I'm hoping it features some new perspectives rather than the "usual suspects."

The University of Minnesota's Lawrence Jacobs and Eric Ostermeier are out with a paper today (pdf here) that says Jesse Ventura is responsible for strengthening third parties in Minnesota and other states.

Even when not winning, they tipped several elections by drawing voters from one of the major parties. In the 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns, Independence Party candidates Tim Penny and Peter Hutchinson likely served as king makers by drawing enough votes from Democratic Party candidates to help Republican Tim Pawlenty win by pluralities of 44 percent and 47 percent.

The knock on the third parties, of course, is that they actually helped make the Republican Party stronger.

Ventura, who rode off into the political sunset, is now riding back into the limelight while on a publicity tour for his new book.

Citizens Against Government Waste, the organization which monitors pork spending in Congress, is out with the 2008 Pig Book, which chronicles questionable appropriations that are thrown into bills.

The national average cost per person is $33.77. In Minnesota the "pork per capita" is over $38, putting the state in 26th place, up from #38 in 2006. (See table here)

On this page, you can search the individual projects by state or politician.

The group cites 127 different projects in Minnesota, but none seem to fall into the category the group cites in handing out its "Oinker Awards" for such projects as the $188 million given to Washington state and Maine for The Lobster Institute or the $98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, Virginia.

Minnesota Rep. John Kline has sworn off "earmarks" and has no projects on the list. Rep. Michele Bachmann has also said she won't be seeking project funding through earmarks. She has three projects on the list, however.