Polinaut: April 14, 2006 Archive

Open thread -- Friday April 14, 2006

Posted at 8:12 AM on April 14, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

(Updates added here during the day... hopefully)

Is Ted Kennedy hanging with the wrong crowd? Some folks think so. But maybe it's just political genius. It reminds me of something a Republican elder noted the other day about the Senate. He said the older senators are more collegial, willing to actually talk and be seen with the "other party" members. The younger ones can't stand the "other side," regardless of the individual.

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Tom Scheck with the sharp eyes today points out that the Washington Post's The Fix has met Mark Kennedy and likes him.

5. Minnesota: The Fix sat down with Rep. Mark Kennedy, the Republican nominee for this open seat, and came away impressed. Kennedy is not a typical politician -- he is neither slick nor particularly polished. But he is smart and practical, two essential traits for winning candidates. Kennedy acknowledges that the national political climate is a hurdle, especially given the Democratic tilt of Minnesota. But he also makes a strong case that his image as a unorthodox politician with a business background (he says he would be the only CPA in the Senate if elected) could appeal to voters looking for an agent of change in November. Democrats counter that Kennedy is nothing more than a rubberstamp for President Bush and say they have the votes to make the case. Both Kennedy and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, who has effectively cleared the Democratic field, will be well-financed. Kennedy narrowly outraised Klobuchar in the first quarter of 2006 ($1.5 million to $1.3 million) and has a $900,000 cash-on-hand edge. This seat is -- by far -- Republicans' best chance at a takeover (Previous ranking: 6)

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Shoot, I was supposed to be a panelist yesterday at a Chamber of Commerce event on how blogs are changing politics with two talented folks -- Tim Nelson of City Hall Scoop and Michael Brodkorb of Minnesota Democrats Exposed. I didn't write down the date when they asked me, but I told the person to be sure to call me a day before to remind me. She didn't. Shoot, I was really looking forward to that too. I was going to win you all over with my charm and boyish good looks. Shoot. Now I've got nuthin'.

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Rquired reading. Matt Welch in his goodbye to blogging today says "I used to think blogs would transform ideologues into nonpartisan truth-seekers. Man, was I wrong."

But as I look back at December 2001, and prepare to hang up the blogging fun of Reason’s Hit & Run for the stodgier print pages of the L.A. Times, I can’t shake the feeling of nostalgia for a promising cross-partisan moment that just fizzled away. Americans are always much more interesting than their political parties or ideological labels, and for a few months there it was possible for readers and writers alike to feel the unfamiliar slap of collisions with worlds they’d previously sealed off from themselves. You couldn’t predict what anyone would say, especially yourself.

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We interrupt this political dialog for a non-political item. This is always a special date in our house -- a sibling's birthday. My oldest sister turns 56 (I think) today. She was a straight-A student, always had the champion cow in 4H, was a champion skier, and the best baseball player in the Collins clan. Tough footsteps to follow in, but we never felt we had to.

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Anybody going to the Twins-Yankees game tonight? If so, stop by Section 118 Row 32, seat 021 & 022. I'll be the one with the Yankee fan. But I love him anyway. He's my son.

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Senate debate audio

Posted at 12:51 PM on April 14, 2006 by Bob Collins

Olin Moore of the Ford Bell campaign posted a link to audio of yesterday's Senate debate before the venture capitalist group in the comments section of yesterday's riveting thread. But you can't make html in comments so I downloaded it, processed it into RealPlayer and posted it. You can listen here. However, be advised it's very much off-mic and you'll probably want to listen with some headphones. If you want to kick around some of what you hear, be my guest in the "comments" section below.

Next week

Posted at 1:00 PM on April 14, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

A couple of upcoming political shows on Midmorning to relay.

Tuesday - 10 a.m. Kerri Miller talks to Gov. Tim Pawlenty

Wednesday (Patriot's Day) - 10 a.m. Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at the Johns Hopkins University and the author of "America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy." He was on NPR awhile ago and you can listen to a segment here.

Friday - 9 a.m. - Hennepin County Attorney candidates Andrew Luger and Mike Freeman.

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If you were a flower, what kind would you be?

Posted at 2:55 PM on April 14, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

I'm interested in big weighty political issues and all, but one of the things I like about campaign season, is when you ask a candidate questions they don't expect that aren't about big weighty issues. Since they don't expect it, they usually don't have an answer prepared, and the ones that do come out are illuminating because they can often reveal the person beneath the persona.

Laugh if you will, but this is what made Barbara Walters' interviews somewhat enlightening. Don't get me wrong, I don't recommend asking a politician, "if you were a tree, what kind would you be?" But I often sit around thinking of questions that I'd ask. This year, I only got to pose them to Kelly Doran -- and I didn't have that many at the time.

I could send out surveys for candidates to fill out, but there are two problems with that: (a) an increasing number of candidates -- Peter Hutchinson comes to mind as the latest -- refuse to fill out surveys and (b) you don't really know if the candidate, or some staffer, is filling them out and you lose the spontaneity of the candidate and the look on his/her face when they realize they are now working without a net.

The Associated Press does this every year, but usually not until August or so. Too late for my purposes.

Most of these include things like: what car do you drive, what's your favorite movie, what's your favorite song etc. But I'm thinking of some more and so far today I've come up with:

1. What's the last thing you tried to fix at your house that resulted in disaster?

2. What's the one record album (OK, CD you whippersnappers) you purchased when you were younger that you're now embarrassed to own?

3. If you told loved ones that when you die you want your ashes scattered somewhere, but a law was subsequently passed allowing ashes to only be scattered in a Home Depot, what department would you want to be scattered in and why?

4. What was the last argument about with your spouse in which you finally admitted you were wrong and he/she was right?

and my new favorite

5. Who was the last person you talked to that made you change your mind about something.

So, I know all the candidates seem to keep a close eye on Polinaut. If you want, feel free to answer any of these.

For everyone else, feel free to add your own.

(By the way in the interest of full disclosure, my answers would be (1) a lawnmower. I bought an engine repair manual, followed it as best I could...put it back together and was thinking 'man, i could do this for a living,' threw all the parts that were left over on the workbench and started 'er up. It caught fire and belched smoke. I rolled it down to the end of the driveway and put a "free" sign on it.

(2) Learn to Do the Hustle - And that's all I have to say about that. And, yeah, it was an 8-track.

(3) The tool crib. And, no, it's not even close.

(4) I have absolutely no clue.

(5) It's usually the last person I talked to. But if it's one I listened to (as opposed to talk to), I think it would be the soldier from Anoka who we profiled a few weeks ago. But I think I've changed my mind again since then....and again...and again...

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Two items before closing up shop

Posted at 4:48 PM on April 14, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

MPR Capitol reporter Tim Pugmire is going to have a piece on Monday morning, looking at the Republican race in the 6th District. We'll have extended interviews with Michele Bachmann, Jay Esmay, Phil Krinkie, and Jim Knoblach. I'll post the entire thing online at 3pm Sunday and you'll find it here at that time.

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There's a place where good ideas go to die and maybe that's where this one will end up too, but at least it's worth a shot. Yesterday I suggested that it would be good to have the three candidates for U.S. Senate sit and listen to the stories that the soon-to-be-unemployed autoworkers at the Ford Assembly Plant in St. Paul have to tell. No speeches. No using them as props to make a point. Just listen and, with any luck, learn.

I wasn't volunteering to organize it, but one candidate has already responded, saying it was a good idea. Maybe the other two will join in. I know their "people" read Polinaut, so here's your invitation. Of course, we also have to convince a few folks within these hallowed halls that it's OK to have three candidates for a top job in the same place, and not actually feel compelled to ask them what they have to say. (It's sort of like putting a dish of jellybeans out and not digging in and eating them). There'll be time for that, and it would be cool to find out if what they learned changed how they feel about certain things.

These folks have great stories and great passion about it means to work everyday. They have histories in which several generations have all worked in that plant. And they have perspective that's valuable.

I just had a thought. What if we got Studs Terkel to come host the show?

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