Boom

Posted at 9:26 AM on November 3, 2006 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)

This morning, Mike Hatch was on Midmorning and was greeted by protesters who, I think it's safe to say, are not Minnesota farmers who left Old Bossie in the stantion to go to St. Paul to protest.

I haven't paid much attention to the E-85 controversy, although I acknowledge that if I were a farmer and I sold corn to make a fuel that makes my car get fewer miles per gallon, it'd be high on my radar.

Frankly, there's a good debate surrounding the role of subsidies and alternative fuels and all that. We all know that. We all know it's never going to happen.

So we're left with the fact that Judi Dutcher had a long day of campaigning at 11 in the morning and didn't know what E-85 is. OK, that's interesting, because it's probably a big 'suck up' issue on the campaign trail (more so than, say, mental health parity, or the current income limits for MinnesotaCare, I'd guess.) and candidates should at least be aware of the suck up issues.

And I'm still wanting to understand what Hatch meant in this quote from Tim Pugmire's story:

"The governor is running against me for governor, and he's behind in the polls, and he's so desperate that he wants to pick a fight with the lieutenant governor, the woman, rather than me..."

Ummmmm. What?

But you know what interested me the most? Channel 5 gave this "space shuttle explosion"-like coverage and KARE 11 gave it about 20 seconds.

I went with Channel 5 because a good friend of mine works for the state and runs around the world pushing ethanol and called me and said, "ya gotta watch Channel 5 tonight!" I'm not sure he was referring to this exchange with a reporter.

"Stanley Hubbard is a political hack and he hires reporters who are political hacks."

It's true, Stan Hubbard (KSTP owner) is a Republican. I don't know who the reporter he was referring to was. But that's not what interested me. (Memo to KSTP: the Dayport stinks.)

What interested me was who Hatch thought he was playing to? He clearly wasn't trying to influence favorable coverage -- and you have to assume he's smart enough to know that -- but is this the "I'm running against the media" strategy which -- and excuse me for saying this -- a lot of candidates resort to when the campaign isn't going so well (see "Party, Green").

Is it a strategy at all, to burnish the "bulldog" image?

How about when you call a reporter a "whore"? What strategy is that?

My guess is a whole bunch of reporters are going to join in following the Hatch campaign this weekend. Because Judi Dutcher ain't the issue anymore.

Republicans have wanted to get Hatch to explode like this for the entire campaign. Forget about whether you agree with him or not. It doesn't matter. But in the last few days, have you noticed that Tim Pawlenty has switched from the negative campaigns to the warm-and-fuzzy ones? They're going to position the guy over the next four days -- I'm guessing -- as a calm, likeable guy next to Hatch's angry outbursts.

And the reporters? They're smelling blood.

Suddenly, the air feels like the last days of the Ventura administration.

Comments (14)

*sniff* Do I smell burnt toast?

You can put those packing boxes back in storage, Gov. Pawlenty.

Posted by Jeff | November 3, 2006 10:06 AM

KSTP went over the line in their coverage of the story last night. Yes, Hatch got a little miffed, yes, Dutcher should have known what E85 was, but it was "bash Mike Hatch" night at KSTP. It was really ridiculous - worse than a Fox News piece. Five to ten minutes at the top of the newscast of pure Mike Hatch bashing. They all but said "Mike Hatch is a terrible person and you need to vote for Tim Pawlenty".

The whole newscast actually proved Hatch's point: Stanley Hubbard IS a political hack, a point man for the Minnnesota GOP.

It was truly sickening to see. T. Paw, trailing in the polls, must have reached out to Hubbard to step in and create a smear campaign against Hatch. Very ugly stuff.

Posted by joe | November 3, 2006 10:35 AM

I'd be very surprised if the scenario was that Stan Hubbard ordered a hackjob on pawlenty. I could see, perhpas, Hubbard wanting to do that. But I also believe the KSTP news staff would resign in protest -- or at least a lot of them would.

Posted by Bob Collins | November 3, 2006 10:39 AM

"If I were a farmer and I sold corn to make a fuel that makes my car get fewer miles per gallon, it'd be high on my radar..."

Well, Bob, you're not a farmer, you are a reporter (and a damn good one, BTW). As such, the first thing you should know is the proper spelling of E85 (no hyphen).

As for the milage, that's true. But you could have also said:

"If I were the owner of a vehicle that burns gasoline or diesel, the single greatest source of air pollution in Minnesota, a cleaner-burning alternative fuel would be high on my radar..."

That's true as well.

More true (and nonpartsan) facts on E85 and biodiesel in Minnesota can be found on this American Lung Association website:

www.CleanAirChoice.org

Robert Moffitt
Communications Director
American Lung Association

PS: Yes, that's me in the original KSTP-TV report.

Posted by Bob from ALAMN | November 3, 2006 10:52 AM

On the one hand, it is a little odd that KSTP finds the story so compelling, but on the other, Hatch hasn't exactly handled it well. DFL voters: time to support Hutchinson!

Posted by bsimon | November 3, 2006 11:29 AM

Everyone knows Mike Hatch is a tough fighter who won't take garbage from those working against the best interest of MN. So the insurance industries don't want him governor, neither does Hubbard, why should we be surprised by this?

Yes Hatch will kick some butt, and we should all be outraged enough about the way the common good has been neglected to stand up and cheer him on.

The days of corporate greed at the expense of the middle class are over, and Mike Hatch will take on all the powers who hurt the common Minnesotan, and all the whining from those who don't like that, well its just too bad you won't get your golden parachutes under a Governor Hatch.

I for one cheer Mike Hatch on, and we should all get behind in to support our own best interests.

Posted by Ag | November 3, 2006 11:35 AM

//Well, Bob, you're not a farmer, you are a reporter (and a damn good one, BTW). As such, the first thing you should know is the proper spelling of E85 (no hyphen).

Now, Bob, you know I wrote that, knowing you'd read it, right? (g)(Disagree on the reporter thing, btw).

You probably know the friend I'm referring to. He's my neighbor and we sit on my bench in my hard and I always give him a bunch of nonsense about farmers just to see him blow. It's like playing with your food.

Unfortunately, I don't drive an E-85 capable car. I drive a 04 Chevy Cavalier which gets about 33-34 miles highway. My friend drives a huge SUV that has E-85 stickers on it. I'll bet he gets about 17 mpg. So I've often wondered which one of us is doing more for clean air. I don't know the answer.

I try to use Blue Planet, but I don't get as good gas mileage, nor do I think my car -- which already struggles -- has as much power.

One thing I don't like about ethanol and ethanol mandates, though, is airplanes. Some of them use auto fuel. Pilots are deathly afraid that ethanol will not only harm their engines, it won't give them the power to take off.

Posted by Bob Collins | November 3, 2006 11:55 AM

Bob: Sorry I can't just link, but see this page on our website on emissions tests we did with a 2004 Ford Explorer, using a variety of fuels, including E85. That should answer your clean air question.

http://www.cleanairchoice.org/outdoor/OutdoorItemDetail.asp?item=summer2004

BTW, Embraier, a Brazilian aircraft firm, has made a small plane called the Ipanema that runs on E100. It's a single-seat cropduster, but imagine the posibilities...

Posted by Bob from ALAMN | November 3, 2006 1:14 PM

You have to love all the wishful thinking.

First, the running against the media strategy isn't just for Greens, the GOP has been assailing the MSM for years.

Second, Hatch is a man and Minnesotans like men. After years of virulent, aggressive Republicanism it's kinda funny to seem media professionals putting soft focus lenses on GOP campaign ads. Suddenly they all want to use their indoor voice.

Third, Hubbard does end the myth of a liberal bias in media. Dare I say his reporters and channel are in fact republican whores?

Posted by Rahelio | November 3, 2006 1:31 PM

Fewer miles to the gallon, yes, but a gallon costs less money. So the question is whether it is a better bargain in terms of dollars. I don't know the answer to that, and I assume that the answer changes as gasoline prices fluctuate.

Posted by Peter Swanson | November 3, 2006 1:39 PM

I've seen that plane Bob. It's tall and tan and young and lovely and it flies like a samba.

The kids won't get that.

Posted by Bob Collins | November 3, 2006 1:44 PM

Bob C- isn't there an RV squad out of Dakota Territory that fly on ethanol?

Peter- the rough mental math that we've done (wife and I) is that our costs are roughly neutral, given the cost/mileage trade for e85 vs. gasoline. Therefore I start to count carbon, and burn the alcohol from this year's crops rather than from dug-up million year old ferns. Though I do miss my diesel which ran b100 with no problem.

Posted by bsimon | November 3, 2006 2:43 PM

Yes, that's right...TEam Ethanol. They're running RV-3s. The difference is they're running 100% ethanol in remanned Lycomming IO-320s... as a replacement for 100 LL, which -- of course -- is not auto gas.

Those aren't the auto engines, though. There are, actually, a fair number of Subaru engines, Corvairs and Chevy engines around that are running on straight auto fuel... but the ethanol mandate is a real problem for them.

And the problem is the interests that are pushing the legislation are pretty much thinking only cars. EAA is trying to up the octane requirement -- or was last time I checked, which was more than a year ago, I think -- in Montana, for example.

Complicating this whole thing is the fact that 100LL is disappearing because of lead rules. The only problem is there's thousands and thousands of engines out there that need lead. And I'm about to buy one, unfortunately.

Posted by Bob Collins | November 3, 2006 3:19 PM

Mortgage the house, buy a Thielert & run kero / diesel/ jet A / biodiesel? (G)

Posted by bsimon | November 3, 2006 3:41 PM

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