Capitol View: March 29, 2006 Archive

And they never tied in the whole "Saint" thing...

Posted at 7:09 AM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins

It was a big night for Minnesota on the Comedy Channel.

OK, anytime St. Paul is mentioned on the Comedy Channel it's a big night, I guess. Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report focused on Bunnygate, happening even as we speak in St. Paul's City Hall. It included one of the more controversial graphics I've seen, even by Comedy Channel standards, in which Christ was shown shooting it out from behind the rock that covered his tomb as "War on Easter" was splattered across the top of the screen. I'm going to guess there'll be no rioting in the streets today, but we'll see. No video up on the Colbert Report Web site, but maybe later, since the St. Paul story was the basis of last night's "The Word."

Which brings us to The Daily Show last night whose guest -- and I admit I usually shut it off before the guest -- discussed the immigration "problem."

I bring this up because in my morning read of area blogs, I stumbled across a couple of screeds on the issue and I was reminded of one of the points of the guest. who was the editor of Newsweek International.

Immigration is the one thing this country does better than anybody else, and these people want us to be more like France?

It was another moment of Zen when I realized -- again -- that in the age of blogs, and multiple media, it's a comedy show that at least gets us thinking about the possibility that maybe there's another perspective to consider.

I wonder if it works that way in France?

The White House inside out

Posted at 11:20 AM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins

Hope you get a chance to listen to Midday today. Host Gary Eichten has NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea as a guest. The show is originating from the spiffy MPR Forum, with a crowd on hand to watch.

Listen Live (Windows)

Obligatory 5th District entry of the day

Posted at 11:37 AM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Ember Reichgott Junge made her candidacy for the 5th District official today with a news conference in St. Paul.

She says she will not abide by the party endorsement and she will continue to run her radio show. She says she pays for the air time and will list it as a campaign expenditure.

Hmmmm. She -- or her radio station -- might want to have a talk with the FCC because that turns her radio show into a political commercial and requires -- from my station-owning days as I recall -- the lowest available ad rate. I don't know anything about her radio show but the station would now be obliged to sell a similar block of time to everyone else in the race should they request it. I don't know if the station -- wherever it is -- would be interested in doing that, but there you go.

Audio later and it'll be posted on her page in the Campaign 2006 section.

That reminds me. I'm getting occasional cryptic phone messages from people who wonder why they don't have a page yet in the Campaign 2006 section.

The reason is:

(1) I don't know who you are.
(2) I don't know you're running for office.

If you're running, send me a statement of your candidacy (for the snapshot section), a mug of yourself, as much personal information as you'd like to share (date of birth, where born, where do you reside, married? To whom? Kids? How many? What religion (I'm not actually sure why this is relevant but some candidates think it is so I include it), political experience (if any), education (don't bother including high school unless you didn't graduate or get a GED, Web site (if you have one, of course)

And once I set it up, if you could stay in the race for longer than 4 days, my life will have a little more meaning to it.

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Picture of the Day

Posted at 11:45 AM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins

Spotted by Tom Scheck at the 21st Amendment restaurant (OK, bar) in Boston.

What's going on here...

Posted at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Another candidate has dropped out of a race in Minnesota, after barely getting into it.

Sharon Marko has bagged the 2nd District race against Coleen Rowley.

"The obstacles seem insurmountable," she said in a news release. She said she could not spend the time she needed on the congressional campaign and still serve her legislative district.

She apparently is going to honor her decision not to run again for the Legislature.

Translation: She can't beat John Kline.

That seat is moving closer to the "safe" category for John Kline. The DFL appears in complete disarray in the 2nd.

Here is MPR reporter Laura McCallum's interview with Marko in its RealAudio glory.

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Dueling for delegates

Posted at 5:06 PM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Lots of press releases still flying around the governor's race (and the 6th District race) about delegate counts.

Gubernatorial candidate Steve Kelley says these are hard numbers.

Steve Kelley: 131.5 (21%)

Mike Hatch: 129 (20%)

Becky Lourey: 74.5 (12%)

Uncommitted: 206 (33%)

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More evidence Pawlenty is working on the national image

Posted at 6:42 PM on March 29, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I wrote a few lines the other day about the various pieces of evidence that Tim Pawlenty is burnishing his national image -- basically indications that he really is thinking of something Washington-like in his future.

The latest: upon his return from Iraq, both of MPR's "bookend" shows -- Morning Edition and All Things Considered -- tried to get the governor for an interview about his trip. According to ATC producer Jayne Solinger, they were both told the governor would be "unavailable."

She was surprised to see the national lineup tonight for All Things Considered from National Public Radio and who is on coast-to-coast? Yep, our man Pawlenty.

The subject was immigration reform.

Be sure to listen for the obligatory Washingtonian "Minnesota as cute" treatment from the inner-Beltway crowd.

Once you've seen the bright lights...

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