Polinaut: March 24, 2006 Archive

Many voices can do good work

Posted at 9:06 AM on March 24, 2006 by Bob Collins

It looks like Minvolved is giving up the ghost as a result of unspecified e-mail. Too bad. The blog has a point of view -- most political blogs are supposed to and it's always a good idea to read and listen to as many as possible.Mr. Sponge says his e-mails had nothing to do with ideology, for the record. But nonetheless a voice is silenced and it's a good time to remind ourselves of the value of sitting in the den, banging away at a computer, with something to say and a way to say it. And how important the person across the street doing the same thing is too.

Minvolved aside, sometimes, in our passion for politics, we forget that it's kinda important to maintain perspective a little bit. The political blogosophere in Minnesota is rough-and-tumble and a lot of times where good writing could take place...often you end up with one blog firing a salvo over at another blog until you wonder whether there's anyone else reading the darned things besides the people throwing spitballs. I'm not referring to any specific blog here, but a climate that can, unfortunately, encourage the gridlock rather than help people sort through issues, learn to talk to each other like adults, identify and work toward a common good.

That's not everyone's goal in politics,of course and some of the folks who created this environment, are the ones creating it in the blogosphere too.

The only thing people longing for a more intelligent process can do... is participate in a more intelligent processl. This is an independent medium where some Democrats, some Republicans, some Independents, some voters, some non-voters say some really interesting and insightful -- as opposed to inciteful -- things. Seek them out. Ignore the rest.

Awhile ago, a series of 10 guidelines for people who want to write blogs crossed my desk. These were issued by, I think, the Charlotte Observer, for their staff. I'll try to dig 'em up and post them because if you've thought of writing a political blog -- or are writing one now... they make for a great refresher.

Bottom line? Set out today to do good work. And let's all refocus and try to leave Minnesota better than we found it this morning, OK?

The whole point of the blogosphere is to provide more voices than MSM can. It's not really logical for any of us in that world to consider it a "good day" when a voice goes away.

Is this it?

Posted at 11:28 AM on March 24, 2006 by Bob Collins

Word from the Capitol is that the ethics hearing for Sen. Dean Johnson is over and the upshot is he has to apologize on the Senate floor next week.

Familiar ground

Posted at 11:38 AM on March 24, 2006 by Bob Collins

Lots of comings and goings in the races today so I'm trying to update Campaign 2006 like crazy and falling a bit behind. So we'll take all of these today one by one.

First, Rebecca Yanisch. She announced her candidacy for the 5th District congressional race this morning. I should have the audio of her speech on her C2006 Web page in the next hour or so but looking through the transcript, it sounded rather familiar.

"When I was 21, I had a high school diploma, a job that paid less than the minimum wage, a two-year-old daughter and a marriage that wasn't working. I decided to enroll in college, and after working my way through as a single parent, graduated with a degree in finance and, later, a master's degree in business administration."

It's certainly a compelling story. It could be her campaign theme. It was in the campaign of 2000. Take, this line from Michael Khoo's profile of her back then.

Yanisch downplays the gender card, but it's subtly woven throughout her campaign. She married early and divorced early. The story of the candidate giving birth without the benefit of health insurance and, as a single mother, working her way through the University of North Dakota, has proven too potent for the campaign to resist. At nearly every public appearance, Yanisch reminds potential voters she has not just studied their problems, she has lived them.

I miss Michael Khoo. He was a fabulous reporter. But, alas, he's gone off to Yale Law School and the next time we hear from him will, no doubt, be when he's nominated to the Supreme Court.

This next paragraph from his story was a keeper.

Meanwhile, the campaign de-emphasizes other aspects of her past. She was born on a family farm, but a fairly prosperous one which, by her own reckoning, covered more than 3,000 acres in the fertile Red River Valley. She says, however, she didn't lean on her family for support in the years after her daughter was born.

Anyway, will familiar themes echo louder in the 5th than they did statewide in 2000?

Jon Olson in 5th

Posted at 12:38 PM on March 24, 2006 by Bob Collins

Minneapolis Parks Board President Jon Olson has announced his candidacy in the 5th. A page is built for him on C2006 and some audio is there from him from an interview Brandt Williams did with him this morning. I'm going to be adding more info to that page later on.

Surprise! Kelly Doran is leaving the...the....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted at 3:41 PM on March 24, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

It's been rather interesting seeing some of the various political sites over the last few days breathless over the rumored end of the Kelly Doran campaign. By the time Doran unveiled his future plans today, it wasn't a secret any longer. And that's the kind of situation I love about politics. The guy gets to provide no suspense whatsoever in ending a candidacy that was an apparent secret to a whole lot of people in the first place.

And now I've performed the Campaign 2006 gubernatorial Web site ritual of removing him from the list of active candidates, and moving him to the honored list of withdrawn candidates, where Bud Philbook has been living a lonely existence for far too long.

Audio of Doran's announcement is here (RealPlayer required)

All that said, I found Doran to be a decent guy and I enjoyed meeting him when he came into MPR last summer to spend 45 minutes answering my questions for his page on the Campaign 2006 Web site (yeah, we actually start kinda early on the online side of things). He had a hard-working campaign communicator in Tonya Tennessen. His campaign manager, John Wodele, knows a little something about getting people elected. And he had a message. And he sure had the cash.

I remain fascinated by the question, however, of whether someone from the business world can actually be elected to a statewide office without becoming a career politician first -- at least here.

If Doran's experience sours anyone with a message, money, and a good staff from running in the future, then I guess this really hasn't been a particularly good day for Minnesota politics.

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One for the 5th

Posted at 5:04 PM on March 24, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

I think I've got pages now set up for everyone who announced today in the 5th congressional district.

The last of 'em -- well, for me and for today is Anne Knapp.

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