Polinaut: February 1, 2006 Archive

"The next two things you have to do..."

Posted at 7:39 AM on February 1, 2006 by Bob Collins

The blogs are roiling today with speculation (that's pretty much what blogs do, bless 'em) that Patty Wetterling has all but announced her decision to enter the 6th District race. This is based on some comments in the Star Tribune (surprisingly, according to blog-supplied links, the only source of political information for a lot of folks who spend a lot of time describing it in unflattering terms) published on Tuesday that she wants to continue her work "at the federal level."

That is then linked to comments from lone DFL candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg in October that he was assured by Wetterling that the only reason he got into the race is because he was assured by Wetterling that she would not run. In other words, the big "story" brewing is that Wetterling is breaking a promise.

Here's a bulletin: Politicians say whatever politicians need to say. Let's suppose, for example, a candidate -- a congressman, let's say -- is rumored to be interested in higher office. Let's say a Senate seat. So a reporter says to the congressman, "is it true you're thinking about running for the Senate?" You know the answer that's coming and so do I. "I'm only interested in being the best congressman for the next two years."

Really? That's all you're interested in? Figuring out what you'll be doing two years from now doesn't interest you? The Super Bowl? That doesn't interest you?

When I was learning to fly, my instructor told me "there's only two things that matter when you're flying a plane."

"What's that"" I asked.

"The next two things you have to do," he said.

OK, so pilots are one step ahead of politicians, who recognize that the only thing that's important to say is the next thing you have to say.

So let's suppose Wetterling gets into the race everyone with an ounce of political savvy knows she should've jumped into in the first place. Grown men will cry and opponents will be shocked -- shocked -- that she broke a promise.

Sure, it'd be nice if politicians told the whole truth from time to time, but the issue also raises questions about whether truth is a fixed data point. Do circumstances matter?

If Mark Kennedy says "I'm opposed to drilling in ANWR" right up until the moment that he votes for drilling in ANWR, do the circumstances surrounding that vote matter? If Samuel Alito were to say "I support precedent," can we take it to the bank what his vote on court cases would be even before they're filed?
If Wellstone says "this is the last time I'm running for office," and then runs again. does it matter if Democrats taking control of the Senate changes the circumstances surrounding his decision?

I don't know. That's my answer. But on the day I come up with one, I'm thinking the answer should be the same for all three.

Do we really want to bet the farm on a politician's statements?

Wetterling to make announcement on Friday

Posted at 1:27 PM on February 1, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Patty Wetterling will make an announcement on Friday. Asked whether she is running for the 6th District, an aide said only, "we'll see you Friday," according to MPR's Tom Scheck.

Check and Balances (registration required) reports on internal polling from the Wetterling camp:

In a poll of 400 Sixth Congressional Districts residents with a margin of error of +/-4%, Wetterling beats all comers in a head-to-head match-up. The poll was weighted heavily in favor of Republican voters with 40% represented and only 28% being Democratic voters. Of the respondents 42% percent self-identified as Conservative, 24% self identified as Liberal and 29% self-identified as Moderates.

In hard name identification Wetterling polled at 76% while Elwyn Tinklenberg barely made double digits at 15%. In the break down:

Of the respondents, only 4% had never heard of Wetterling and 22% did not know enough to form an opinion, compared to 45% had never heard of Tinklenberg, and of those who had, 40% did not know enough to form an opinion.

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Where's my numbers?

Posted at 5:50 PM on February 1, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Folks have inquired why I haven't added the Mark Kennedy and Amy Klobuchar numbers to the Campaign 2006 site. Well, the story is it's a scurrilous attempt to prevent any good publicity for one candidate over the other.

No, wait, that's not it. It's because I still don't have the exact numbers from the FEC. They're supposed to be available immediately for candidates who file electronically, and within 48 hours for those who file paper. So far, neither Klobuchar or Kennedy are showing up (note to campaigns: feel free to fax the actual year-end statement to me at 651-290-1295). And there's a couple of congressional candidates who haven't shown up either.

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Excuse me while I touch the sky

Posted at 9:53 PM on February 1, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Warning! Warning! Stream of consciousness posting follows.

This follows the discussion that got underway in the note about the Checks and Balances posting about Patty Wetterling's internal polling and what it means for the quotation of which to appear on a blog "run" (and I use that term loosely) by mainstream media; in this case, MPR. Michael at Minnesota Democrats Exposed has raised some good points.

I know they're good points because my bosses here raised them too and my bosses would never raise a point without it being good. OK, sure, the chances of them actually reading Polinaut aren't real high, but...

Seriously, here's a little background on all of the intricacies that went into the creation of Polinaut: one day I woke up and said, "we should have a political blog to go with Campaign 2006 that can capture a sense of the content and feel of political blogs around here." I asked my immediate boss, who said "OK" and then tried to sneak it through the rest of the chain of command and get it actually up and running before anybody actually noticed. That's the thing with being on the fringe side of mainstream media (i.e. online): you can do a lot of things that the bosses don't really know about it until it's too late.
But nobody said "no," even though they surely recognized this constituted moving the furniture around a bit.

About two days into Polinaut, a bigger boss than my immediate supervisor advised me of two things (1) he hated the name and (2) he hated the "cartoon" graphics. "They're going to hurt us," he said. Well, three things actually. He hated my picture too.

He didn't actually say, "hey, we're Minnesota Public Radio and we need to be stuffy and boring. People expect it," but he might as well have. Because he'd be right. Content-wise, a lot of people, I think, expect Minnesota Public Radio to be pretty much what it was a year ago, or five years ago, or 10 years ago. It should be... comfortable because in that comfort zone is the illusion of credibility.

Obviously, I disagree. I've been in the radio business for 30 years and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that a good way to achieve irrelevance, if not outright unemployment, is to do something because "that's the way we've always done it," even as the world around you is changing.

And then there's the little matter of the arrogance of mainstream media that dares -- even for a moment -- to believe that they can set the pace of changing how people consume information, simply because they always have. I'm sorry, that's just not possible anymore.

So what's this got to do with politics? Well, politics, as I'm guessing you're aware, is for the hyper-sensitive and the reaction to what people say about politics tends to be hypersensitive too. Mainstream media HATES hypersensitivity. MSM is hypersensitive to hypersensitivity.

As noted in the comments section, however, the way people are changing how they consume information is changing faster than MSM's ability to process it. And so even though starting a blog puts us squarely on the cutting edge of, I'd say, 2002,it seems like too much, too fast for a lot of people -- including a lot of people here. I get that. People are afraid that credibility will be lost because people won't know the difference between these colliding worlds. And they're right. It will on occasion, until people become more familiar with how these worlds relate.

There is, in fact, a difference between the "clipping service" nature of blogs and the dutiful, highly respected, much appreciated, and much admired process that leads to a newscast...or a talk show.

That the difference exists, however, doesn't erase the fact that most people don't yet know there's a difference. And that's the tension that exists in MSM newsrooms when someone says "blog." That's why I got a voicemail from the Kennedy campaign late this afternoon that said I didn't post the Rasmussen poll numbers that showed Mark Kennedy erasing an earlier deficit with Amy Klobuchar. Fair enough. But if I didn't -- and maybe I didn't, I don't remember -- so what? The blog -- this blog -- by its very nature, is going to throw stuff online as (1)fast as I can and (2) without keeping score. Sometimes I'll hit it. Sometimes I won't.

Now I wouldn't say that if I were writing stories. There, I would keep score. To me, that's a difference. Polinaut is one guy, perusing the blogs in Minnesota and elsewhere and trying not to duplicate stuff that's already out there, and tossing up the occassional tidbit that I hear screamed from one side of the newsroom to the other that might have some relevance. It's a very short trip to this page...shorter than anything MSM has ever done.

Is it worth doing? I sure think so. Are we -- that includes you -- going to help define how MSM embraces blogs? I sure see it that way.

At the moment, there's still a territorial DMZ between "the news" and "the blogs" here and at other MSM. In broadcast, the name "blog" is never uttered, even off the air except in the company of an adjective. Online, we're not going to put the Polinaut content in the news columns (except as a related link sometimes).

But take a look at what the Washington Post is doing. Using Technorati, the Post is embedding "what the blogs are saying about this story" in the story. That's just got to be killing some of those old dogs in that newsroom.

Let me close this sermon with a couple of links of folks who are trying to get MSM more interested in taking blogs seriously. The Center for Citizen Media and Buzz Machine. Check them out when you get a chance and I think they frame -- certainly better than I obviously can -- some of the issues surrounding MSM and blogs.

I think we're at a very important crossroad. I think blogs, especially in politics and especially in Minnesota, are going to get more exposure in the MSM and isn't going to be in a couple of paragraphs in the Saturday Strib. It's going to be everyday. And there are days you're probably not going to like it. There are going to be days I'm not going to like it.

And there'll be some evolutionary growing pains. For that, I apologize in advance.

Let's keep talking until someone hears us!

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Wetterling's announcement (updated)

Posted at 10:50 PM on February 1, 2006 by Bob Collins

Here's the particulars:

St. Paul --Patty Wetterling will be holding a press conference this Friday at 10am regarding an announcement about her political future.
The event will be held in the main atrium of the Anoka County Government Center.

*WHO: U.S. Senate Candidate Patty Wetterling*

*WHAT: Press Conference*

*WHEN: 10:00am, Friday, February 3^rd *

*WHERE: Main Atrium, Anoka County Government Center, 2100 3^rd Ave,
Anoka 55303*

Klobuchar, Bell answer questions

Posted at 10:51 PM on February 1, 2006 by Bob Collins

The Pulse of the Twin Cities has a survey response from Ford Bell and Amy Klobuchar posted. The subject is John Murtha's call for a redeployment of U.S. troops in Iraq, and health care.