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Minnesota Monitor is now the Minnesota Independent

Paul Schmelzer — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:28:15 GMT

After nearly two years as Minnesota Monitor, we've created a new home for ourselves and a new name. To match our mission of independent-minded nonprofit news and to better mesh with our network of Center for Independent Media sites, we're now the Minnesota Independent. Our new home features a cleaner design, improved commenting, social-media tools, lots more front-page real estate for news, and the capacity for more multimedia. We've named our new blog at MnIndy The Monitor in honor of our roots, but we won't be updating this site any longer. Drop by and check us out, and don't forget to subscribe to our RSS feed.

News sites and bloggers: Please update your linkroll to reflect our new name and URL!

Video: O'Reilly Factor ambush on Moyers backfires at media conference

Paul Schmelzer — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:53:58 GMT

One of the worst kept secrets at this weekend's National Conference for Media Reform at the Minneapolis Convention Center is that Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show sent a crew to record the "real nuts" who are advocating for changes in the media -- "the furthest left people in the face of America," according to O'Reilly. He promises to show footage on Monday of what the crew captured. O'Reilly's teaser suggests it'll be anything but "fair and balanced." On his show he said, "I gotta tell you, these people are crazy."

Noah Kunin from The UpTake has been tracking the crew all weekend as they've been trying to compile footage for Monday's piece. He was there when a producer from The O'Reilly Factor ambushed Bill Moyers after his talk Saturday morning -- or, more accurately, tried to ambush him.

Moyers, uncowed, turned the table on the under-gunned producer, inviting him to appear on next Friday's show. "If you can't come on my show, send somebody below you. Send Bill O'Reilly," he said. "Bill is not a journalist, he's a pugilist."

The indignant producers persisted in his questioning of Moyers, but the PBS mainstay fired back, with a kinder approach. "I like to honor the people who do the real work in journalism; that's the producers and reporters," he said. "It isn't anchors. It isn't blowhards."

The producer's feeble comback to Moyers' anchors-and-blowhards dig: "That's you."

Look for more on this altercation from The UpTake and the American News Project's Davin Hutchins who appears at the end of Kunin's footage.

6/9/08: Minnesota Monitor is now the Minnesota Independent. Check out our new digs.

Franken wins DFL endorsement

Paul Demko — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:45:05 GMT

Well, that was anti-climatic. DFL delegates endorsed Al Franken on the first ballot to run against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. The radio host and comedian garnered support from 62 percent of delegates, just over the threshold required for party backing.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, who received support from 35 percent of voters, immediately conceded and the party faithful endorsed Franken by acclamation. The strong show of support from delegates comes as Franken's campaign has battled weeks of bad press over his tax problems and questions about his past writings. Attorney Mike Ciresi, who dropped out of the race in March, has repeatedly stated that he is considering re-entering the contest.

Franken wasted no time taking on Coleman. "On issue after issue he hasn't brought people together to get things done," Franken said of the incumbent in his victory speech. "He's sold people out to get ahead."

Franken vowed to work tirelessly to win back the senate seat that was previously held by Paul Wellstone. "I'm not a perfect person and I'm not going to attempt to have all the answers," Franken told the convention. "But I'll tell the truth. I will keep my spine. And I will work for you."

DFL Convention: Let the balloting begin!

Paul Demko — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:19:29 GMT

Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer just finished addressing the convention. They're now conducting a 15-minute Q-&-A session (Lord knows why we need another one). Then they'll get down to voting.

Nelson-Pallmeyer gave a fiery speech that emphasized hope and idealism, repeatedly invoking Paul Wellstone. "We never change the world by saying what can't be done," he told the delegates. "We change the world by saying what needs to be done."

Franken's speech was slightly more somber. He addressed the controversies that have swirled around his campaign regarding his past writings. "I've had some tough conversations in the last week," he acknowledged, noting that he was a comedy writer for 35 years. "I wrote a lot of jokes. Some of them weren't funny. Some of them were inappropriate. Some of them were downright offensive."

Franken then pivoted to more comfortable turf: knocking off the Republican incumbent. "I'm going to stand up to Norm Coleman in a way that he's never been stood up to before because that's what I've done and that's what I'm good at," Franken promised.

We'll now find out if he'll get the chance.

DFL convention: Franken v. Nelson-Pallmeyer

Paul Demko — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:13:25 GMT

There were no surprise nominations from the convention floor this morning. Most notably, the name Mike Ciresi was not uttered by any delegates. That means the endorsement battle will come down to Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (unless Mr. No Endorsement shows up).

Among the primary gripes about Al Franken's candidacy in the long lead up to the DFL convention has been that he's not particularly impressive on the stump. For someone who's spent his life in the entertainmbent business he can be surprisingly stiff and rambling.

"When it comes to debates he is very, very poor," says delegate Barb Olsen, for example, who started out a Franken supporter, but was won over by Nelson-Pallmeyer at an early debate. "That's going to be needed in the general election agiainst Norm Coleman."

Franken had a final opportunity to change that perception in an hour-long Q & A session before balloting begins for the DFL endorsement. Given that his support is undoubtedly a bit soft following weeks of negative media coverage, it was also a potentially treacherous event.

Unfortunately for Franken, Nelson-Pallmeyer is no stodgy academic. He's a dynamic speaker who throws out plenty of red meat for the DFL faithful.

The freewheeling debate touched on Iraq, immigration, health care, and economic issues. Franken gave a particularly strong answer when asked why he's a Democrat. He mentioned that his father was a staunch Republican until the civil rights movement. But after witnessing protesters being assaulted by firehoses in Alabama his perspective changed. "My dad said that is wrong," Franken recalls. "No jew can be for that."

Nelson-Pallmeyer used the question to criticize the Democratic party for its feeble conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war. "If Democrats had stood up to the politics of fear we would not be in Iraq today," he stated.

The college professor also sought to differentiate himself from Franken on health-care issues, arguing that we need a national, single-payer health care plan. "It's not enough to say you are for universal health care," he said. "I love my mom and apple pie too, but how do we get there?"

Franken countered by saying he wants to get to universal health care as quickly as possible, no matter what the system. "You don't have to be sick to know that our healthcare system is broken," he stated.

Immediately after the debate, the Franken campaign announced a minor boon for his candidacy: the endorsement of the DFL Feminist Caucus. "Al very strongly demonstrated an understanding of our issues and we know he'll represent us in Washington," said caucus member Jackie Stevenson in a statement. Given recent criticism from female DFL legislators about some of Franken's past writings, this could prove influential with some delegates.

Lowe's ads get OK in Minneapolis parks

Chris Steller — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:26:44 GMT

A proposal floated May 21 to put ads for Lowe's home-improvement chain in Minneapolis parks passed the full park board Wednesday, despite commissioners' stated misgivings about the signs. The two banners, along with 12-by-17 inch indoor signs at other parks, are part of a deal in which Lowe's promises to provide certain city parks with as much as $90,000 worth of equipment and labor.

After confessing to having had nightmares about advertising banners hanging from trees in parks, Commissioner Tracy Nordstrom said she was relieved that's not how the Lowe's banners will be displayed. The banner ads (pictured, click for larger view) at Loring Park and Parade Ice Garden will be reduced from an original size of 8-by-2 feet to 6-by-2 feet, staff said, and would hang from buildings in positions judged to be least conspicuous: over the main entrance to the ice rink and on a side of a new Lowe's-supplied shed at Loring facing away from neighbors and park users.

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Commissioner Jon Olson had earlier expressed regret that Lowe's (via its marketing consultant, GMR) had targeted donations for parks only in particular ZIP codes, with nothing going to parks in the north, northeast or southeast sections of the city. But on Wednesday, Olson said he was satisfied that Lowe's would target other ZIP codes next year. Olson also emphasized that the ads will be on view for a "short amount of time."

The indoor signs will hang in kitchen areas near donated appliances for one year and will not include proposed language directing park visitors to look for similar merchandise at the Lowe's Web site. The outdoor banners will go up as early as July and remain through December, unless they become damaged, in which case they won't be replaced.

But the original wording on the banner ads -- "This area brought to you in part by Lowe's" -- may not change, despite drawing sharp criticism from commissioners at their May 21 meeting. Vice President (and former superintendent) Mary Merrill Anderson asked staff to repeat what she thought she'd heard: that the banner slogan "would remain the same or" would change. Still, Merrill Anderson voted in favor of the ad plan, despite her stated fear that accepting ads in parks "can be a slippery slope until we set some guidelines." Commissioner Annie Young, saying "It's still a big banner," cast the only vote against.

The park commissioners don't have a policy on ads in parks but say they plan to craft one. Besides taxpayer support, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has long received donations of goods and services from corporations and individuals without swapping for ad space or similar sponsorship benefits. A recent deal with Toyota (which came via St. Paul's parks department) broke with that tradition, and another deal with Traveler's could happen by year's end.

Howard Dean addresses DFL convention

Paul Demko — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:18:56 GMT

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean delivered a 20-minute, meat-and-potatoes speech to the state DFL convention in Rochester this afternoon, vowing to win back the White House and increase the party's margins in Congress.

"Our goal is to end the Bush administration and not allow a third term for George W. Bush," Dean said to thunderous applause. "We honor John McCain's service to America, but he has served enough."

Dean drew the biggest ovation of his speech for condemning the Bush administration's Iraq policies. "Anybody who believes that the American people want to stay in Iraq for another 100 years under any circumstances is badly out of touch with what the American people want," he said.

The former Vermont governor repeatedly linked McCain and Bush, at one point referring to them as "two peas in a pod."

Dean repeated the DNC's announcement this week that it will no longer accept donations from lobbyists or political action committees to bring it in line with the rules governing the Obama campaign. "The American people will set the priorities in the Obama administration, not special interests," he said.

Dean also went out of his way to give a shout-out to the candidate that Obama finally defeated this week. "You have not heard the last of Hillary Rodham Clinton," he declared.

The DNC chairman directed his harshest words at freshman Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann. "That's not a right wing lunatic district," he said of the 6th Congressional District. "That's average hardworking Americans."

After the speech was over, Dean was immediately whisked away and did not talk with reporters.

Klobuchar on Franken

Paul Demko — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:11:57 GMT

Sen. Amy Klobuchar briefly took questions from the media after addressing the DFL convention. The topic on everyone's mind? The ongoing controversies shrouding Al Franken's Senate candidacy.

Klobuchar stated that she found some of Franken's past writings "entirely inappropriate" and believes that he should have addressed the issue directly as soon as it surfaced.

"He needs to take this on upfront and more directly," she said. "And from what I've heard that is what he's doing. I think that's a good thing. We will be heading in tomorrow where I understand he's going to be addressing it in a more public way."

Klobuchar also said she still believes Franken can defeat the GOP incumbent. "The polls show him very close, so of course he can beat Norm Coleman."

Senate committee: Bush misled public on Iraq intelligence

Andy Birkey — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:26:03 GMT

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its final report (PDF) today on misstatements by President Bush and members of his administration in the lead up to the Iraq War. The committee contrasted statements by the Bush administration with the intelligence reports at the time. The report's finding square with what the American public has thought for the last year: Bush misled us on intelligence leading up to the Iraq War.

"The president and his advisors undertook a relentless public campaign in the aftermath of the [Sept. 11] attacks to use the war against al Qaeda as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein," Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.V., wrote in a commentary on the report. "Representing to the American people that the two had an operational partnership and posed a single, indistinguishable threat was fundamentally misleading and led the nation to war on false premises."

Here are some of the report's key findings:

Statements and implications by the president and secretary of state suggesting that Iraq and al Qaeda had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al Qaeda with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
Statements by the president and the vice president indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
Statements by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
Statements by the president and vice president prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
The secretary of defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
The Intelligence community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the vice president repeatedly claimed.

North Dakota is the Saudi Arabia of... oil

Chris Steller — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:51:33 GMT

Claiming that a certain state or country is "the Saudi Arabia of" wind, solar, biomass or some other form of renewable energy is so three months ago.

Back in March, a Minnesota Monitor survey found the phrase becoming so commonplace it bordered on cliche. The list of places that various media outlets had recently nicknamed "The Saudi Arabia of [one alternative energy source or another]" included: Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, California, Nebraska, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas, Martha's Vineyard, Quebec, Scotland, the United Kingdom, Inner Mongolia, Australia and even Saudi Arabia.

Now comes a handsome spread in the June 6 Star Tribune (pictured) via Bloomberg News that puts an old spin on this new cliche, announcing that North Dakota is "the new Saudi Arabia of oil." Billionaires from Texas, Oklahoma and other places that have oil know-how and big hats are finally finding ways to get at a thin layer of oil 10,000 feet down. It's known as the Bakken formation and has tempted prying petrol barons for decades.

Bloomberg's story comes with a fashion-forward photo of two aspiring NoDak oil moguls from Minneapolis (pictured) in fine duds, minus the hats. Strangely, the Strib gave short shrift to hometown heroes Mike Reger and Ryan Gilbertson, chopping a Saudi Arabia-sized chunk of text from the Bloomberg copy. Maybe the Strib cut the material because the local boys' colorful approach hewed a hue too close to that of some other local boys who got suspended from school this week when their fondness for "The Dukes of Hazzard" extended to waving Confederate flags in the parking lot at Bloomington Kennedy High School.

The missing Bloomberg money quote (from Gilbertson): "We're both cowboy-boot-wearing, country-music-listening, gun-toting sons o' bitches."

The Uptake's update

Tom Elko — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:30:42 GMT

Groundbreaking citizen-based media group The UpTake announced the relaunch of its website today. The UpTake focuses on training and assisting citizen journalists in reporting the political news of the day and becoming an engaged part of the media. The group's emphasis on video content was highlighted by a live webcast of Tuesday's mega-rally for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

The new design allows for registered users to rank the stories and features discussion boards, future stories and lists. The site also utilizes Minneapolis-based community web developer Zanby for much of the back-end.

In other Minnesota-based community journalism news, Ed Kohler of The Deets previews the dramatic renovations happening right here.

Friday Financials: How to put you money where your mouth is. Literally.

Molly Priesmeyer — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:20:36 GMT

Forget hoarding rice and flour. It looks like it's time to start stuffing money into the cookie jar or under the mattress instead. Friday Financials looks at why keeping bills with the bed bugs might be the new using feed bags as purses. C'mon! Everyone's doing it!

• "Give me some credit, will ya?" Sorry, but the answer is still "no," my friend. Credit is drying up like Joan Rivers. And after the subprime mess, the financial sector is expected to go through serious pains, ensuring the current credit recession will last at least two more years. The good news? There's a black market for the greenback in Venezuela. If you can make it to Venezuela, then to Panama, and back to Venezuela again, you can be 6,000 bolivars richer.

• This week, the Fed auctioned another $75 billion to banks to ease the current credit crisis. That makes more than $435 billion in short-term loans since Decemeber taxpayers are giving to the banks that caused the mess in the first place. But the homeowners suffering with subprime or negative amortization loans are offered no recourse -- including a simple deferment period that still required payments -- because, according to Gov. Pawlenty, helping homeowners renegotiate loan terms would make credit more difficult to obtain. The good news? Well, at least it's a good year for those who like to see records set. Foreclosures in Hennepin County are expecting to rise 400 percent from 2005 by the end of this year.

• With all of that money in government bailouts, banks can't fail you now, right? Actually, the FDIC warned that major banks might be in danger of failing soon. Currently, the FDIC lists 90 banks as "troubled." Last week, two Minnesota banks suffered the failure trend. The good news? This (pictured) Depression-era-reproduction cookie jar can be yours for $7.99. It's vintage-like and a reproduction. Just like now!

Media Monitor: Ask a 'stupid' question...

Tom Elko — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:11:06 GMT

Smart Politics' Eric Ostermeier discussed Minnesota Monitor's content, audience and influence with news editor Steve Perry in a recent interview. However, one of Ostermeier's questions prompted City Pages' Jeff Shaw to weigh in with a post on "The Blotter" titled "Smart Politics asks a stupid question."

The question in question:

Since political reporting comprises a large portion of the beats you cover, it is surprising you have no explicit guidelines against stereotyping based on political party and ideology. Don't you think such stereotyping is perhaps the biggest cause of the growing partisan divide in this country? By permitting, if not encouraging, political stereotyping, does not Minnesota Monitor contribute to this partisan divisiveness in our culture?

After the jump, editor Steve Perry's reply.
Perry:

MM: No, I do not think "stereotyping" is the biggest cause of the growing partisan divide. I think factors such as a costly war mounted on the basis of fabricated threats, coupled with a stateside economy that is foundering badly and the approach of an election that will select a successor to the most unpopular President of the modern age, probably have a little more to do with the growing partisan divide than stereotyping does. And more fundamentally, I do not buy your premise that the growing partisan divide is a bad thing. Considering the enormous change of course at home and abroad that the Bush era has represented, I think anything less than a "growing partisan divide" would be a symptom of the failure of democracy.

An excerpt of Jeff Shaw's response:

Let me contribute to divisiveness by pointing out that this is a bone-chillingly stupid question.
Equating political beliefs and ideology with qualities like race and gender isn't just false equivalence, it buys into the whiny dodge that all beliefs are worthy of equal respect. First, race and gender are not like political party affiliation because the former qualities are not chosen. The question implies that painting with a broad political brush ("People pushing tax cuts for the rich are greedy") is the same as ethnic stereotyping ("Jews are greedy.")

You don't know Jack: Can Nelson-Pallmeyer beat Franken for the DFL nomination?

Paul Demko — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:46:08 GMT

In October, Barb Olsen drove from her Duluth home to Augsburg College in order to watch Al Franken speak at a forum. She was extremely excited about the radio host and satirist's then-fledgling senatorial campaign.

"I listened to Al Franken for all the years that he was on Air America," says Olsen, a veteran Democratic Party activist. "I was an incredible fan and think he's done wonderful things for progressive politics."

Before heading south to the Twin Cities, Olsen stopped off at Northern Waters Smokehaus to purchase some smoked whitefish for Franken, a delicacy that she knew he craved. She packed it on ice and made the 150-mile drive to Augsburg.

Olsen parked herself in the front row of the forum, which featured all four candidates who were then seeking the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) endorsement. With the pungent smell of smoked whitefish emanating from beneath her chair, she fully expected to be wowed by Franken.

But Olsen quickly found herself gravitating to another candidate on the "Progressive Promise" panel. "I was just completely taken aback by this gentleman," she recalls. "I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I really didn't know anything about him. Whenever Al stood up I really wanted to feel the same about his answers, but I didn't."

At the close of the forum, Olsen found herself with a dilemma. "I kept thinking 'Oh now what am I going to do with this fish?'" she recalls.

Ultimately Olsen handed over the gift to Franken as originally intended, but her political allegiance went to the other candidate on the panel who had captivated her that day, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. The University of St. Thomas professor and liberal activist is now Franken's last remaining contender for the DFL endorsement.

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Since attorney Mike Ciresi dropped out of the race in March, the conventional wisdom has been that Franken is the de facto DFL nominee to face off against incumbent Norm Coleman in one of the most anticipated 2008 Senate races in the country. With a staggering $10 million raised and nearly across-the-board support from organized labor and other party kingmakers, Franken's campaign has generally been regarded as an unstoppable political force. National pundits like the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza and the Atlantic Monthly's Mark Ambinder typically don't deem Nelson-Pallmeyer's modestly funded, grassroots candidacy worth a mention. He has been dismissed as an afterthought, a liberal gadfly with zero hope of actually securing party backing.

But as Franken's campaign has been repeatedly tripped up by controversies -- his failure to properly pay $70,000 in income taxes and penalties in 17 states, a 2000 sex fantasy article he wrote for Playboy and a proposed 1995 Saturday Night Live skit that joked about rape -- Nelson-Pallmeyer's upstart campaign has won the allegiance of many DFL delegates. With the DFL state convention taking place in Rochester this weekend, it's an open question which candidate will ultimately emerge with the party's endorsement. The recent indications that Ciresi is seriously weighing a revival of his candidacy and may run against the DFL nominee in the primary election only further undermines the once-seeming inevitability of Franken's campaign.

Nelson-Pallmeyer's supporters, while studiously avoiding any mention of Franken's troubles, are optimistic that they can pull off a stunning upset at Saturday's endorsement vote. "We're feeling very, very excited about walking into the convention this weekend in Rochester," says Chris McNellis, Nelson-Pallmeyer's campaign manager. "It's getting more and more competitive every day. We continue to pick up new delegates."

While such pie-in-the-sky optimism is a hallmark of longshot political contenders, there are indications that Nelson-Pallmeyer will be more than an afterthought at the convention. Earlier this week Franken picked up the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore, but Nelson-Pallmeyer countered with a much-lower profile vow of support that could ultimately prove more persuasive to the party's 1,400 delegates.

Ben Goldfarb, a respected political strategist who served as campaign manager for Amy Klobuchar's successful 2006 Senate run, sent out a letter to delegates laying out why he believes Nelson-Pallmeyer has a legitimate shot at unseating Coleman. Goldfarb argued that the challenger presents a stark contrast to the incumbent that will be easy to convey to voters, that Minnesotans have a long history of backing unorthodox candidates, and that as the DFL-endorsee, Nelson-Pallmeyer will ultimately be able to raise sufficient funds to run a viable campaign. "But as you make your decision on Saturday, I hope you think first about which candidate you believe in most, which candidate speaks to your hopes," Goldfarb concluded. "And with confidence that he can indeed win this fall, I hope you cast your ballot for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer for Senate."

To spring such an upset, Nelson-Pallmeyer will need to win over more voters like Terry Gydesen. A veteran photographer, Gydesen cut her teeth covering the insurgent senate run of Paul Wellstone in 1990. She initially met Franken at a Weisman Art Museum party in 2003 to celebrate the release of her book, Twelve Years and Thirteen Days: Remembering Paul and Sheila Wellstone. The comedian was in town to hawk a book and agreed to make an appearance. "It threw the event into the stratosphere," Gydesen recalls. "Every square inch of that museum was packed."

This connection with Franken led the photographer to initially believe that she'd support his campaign when she decided to become a DFL delegate for the first time. Gydesen placed a Franken bumper sticker on her car. She caucused uncommitted at her local party convention, however, hoping to stay on good terms with both candidates and document the campaign.

Watching the two candidates over a course of months, she grew increasingly uneasy with the direction of the Franken campaign, particularly the lack of a campaign manager guiding the effort. "I was horrified by that," she says.

The breaking point for Gydesen came at the 4th Congressional District convention in April. She was baffled by the Franken camp's decision to fight a proposed question-and-answer session with the two candidates. In talking with Franken, Gydesen was also distressed by how unenthusiastic the candidate seemed. "Oh my god, he looks exhausted," she recalls thinking. "I just looked at him and thought, 'If you're this tired now and we're not even in the general election yet, what's it going to be like when Norm Coleman's hammering on him?' "

In the meantime Gydesen was becoming a Nelson-Pallmeyer believer. His stark liberalism and chaotic campaign headquarters reminded her of Wellstone in 1990. "The media and really the party has told us that it's going to be a race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman," she says. "But I have to go with my heart. Who is the person that's most aligned with my values and I think has the best chance of beating Norm because of those values?"

Gydesen acknowledges that she may have drank way too much Kool-Aid, but she fully believes that Nelson-Pallmeyer will walk away from the convention as the DFL endorsee. "I'm quite certain it's going to be Jack," she says. "I've talked to a lot of people. I think people are rightfully concerned about whether Al can win."

Betty Tisel is another convert. She backed Keith Ellison over Nelson-Pallmeyer in his previous run for Congress two years ago. But she's now devoting countless hours to his Senate run, charged with keeping tabs on the allegiances of the 1,400 DFL delegates.

"I have watched the positions shift from strong Franken to leaning Franken to undecided to Jack," Tisel says. She's confident that Nelson-Pallmeyer will at the very least force Franken to a second ballot before he can secure support from the 60 percent of delegates needed for endorsement. "I have a giant sombrero that I'm going to have to eat if there's not two ballots," she laughs.

At Nelson-Pallmeyer's campaign headquarters in Minneapolis, there is, in Tisel's words, a "little dorky brass bell" that campaign workers ring each time the candidate has secured the commitment of another delegate. "That bell has been ringing more and more," she says. "It's like slugging down a can of one of those power drinks. It just really makes us feel confident."

U of M grain disease research threatened by U.S. ag policies

Tom Elko — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:02:00 GMT

The global impact of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cereal Disease Laboratory on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus may not be instantly recognizable, but in the midst of a global food crisis its mission is critical. "We protect small grain cereal crops from the most devastating diseases," the Cereal Disease Laboratory Web site explains.

The lab is one of three in the world. Current studies are being conducted on a new type of wheat rust that is rapidly spreading across Africa to the Middle East. The Bush administration is seeking to cut more than $300,000 in funding for the research.

The move is not only unpopular among humanitarians concerned about mass famine, but also in the agricultural community here in America, which relies on the CDL to help keep crops healthy. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., has said she'll fight for the lab as she has in years past.

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The continued push for cuts in the funding of research on plant diseases contrasts with the administration's foot-and-mouth research policy. President Bush advocates for a foot-and-mouth disease research facility to be constructed inside the United States, but congressional investigators from the General Accounting Office found that safety can not be ensured against the extremely contagious and often deadly viral disease that can affect cattle, pigs and other hoofed mammals.

Recent outbreaks in the United Kingdom, Taiwan and China have had world beef markets on high alert for the last decade, but the United States hasn't had a foot-and-mouth outbreak since 1929. A new outbreak would be a blow to the U.S. economy and devastating to small farms and a cattle industry already struggling against bovine tuberculosis. Again the administration's position puts the president at odds with farmers and leaves him besieged by congressional Democrats.

Convenient: RNC's Obama attack ignores convention planner's own Rezko baggage

Andy Birkey — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:36:46 GMT

The Republican National Committee and its chairman, Mike Duncan, launched an attack on Sen. Barack Obama Wednesday over the Democrat's past ties to an Illinois political heavyweight who was recently convicted of fraud. But Duncan and the RNC should be careful. After all, they've got Bob Kjellander on the payroll.

"On the day Barack Obama hoped to unite his party after wheezing over the finish line and claiming the Democrat nomination, a jury in his hometown of Chicago convicted his longtime friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko of multiple felonies," Duncan said in a statement Wednesday. "This is further proof that Obama's high-flying rhetoric is just that and in no way represents the kind of change our nation demands."

If anyone's rhetoric is high-flying, it's Duncan's. As he works to prepare the Republicans and St. Paul for his party's September convention, Duncan is working side by side with RNC Vice Chairman Kjellander (pictured), a committee member from Illinois whose cozy dealings with Rezko have been scrutinized.

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Rezko's conviction centers on defrauding businesses working with the Illinois Teachers Retirement System Board and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. Kjellander represented the much-criticized Carlyle Group in a deal to secure that group the ITRSB pension fund. That deal netted Kjellander $4.5 million from the Carlyle Group, a payment that raised eyebrows in Illinois, resulting in both an investigation and legislation targeting the type of deal Kjellander made.

In the Rezko trial, Kjellander was named as having "received $809,000 in consulting fees for the 2003 sale of state bonds, much of which prosecutors believe was funneled through a Rezko associate to Rezko assignees." And those assignees seem to have given the funds back to Rezko. Prosecutors say he then gave $600,000 to Rezko associate Joseph Aramanda, who in turn handed $450,000 of it to four people, many of whom reportedly gave much of the money back to Rezko.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve called the scheme an "unnecessary diversion," adding it could itself become a "mini-trial."

Kjellander has asserted for years that he has done nothing wrong, and no charges have been filed against him. But the appearance of impropriety has led to numerous calls for his resignation by the Illinois Republican Party, including recent gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis and 70 percent of the vote at the Illinois Republican state committee.

For Obama's part, he's made amends for picking the wrong friends. Rezko was once a fund-raiser for Illinois Democrats, including Obama, who had donated most of the funds to charity. Rezko also raised millions for President Bush as well as former Illinois Govs. Jim Edgar and George Ryan, both Republicans. Also among the criticisms leveled against Obama was a land deal involving Rezko's wife, a deal that involved more coincidence than impropriety.

Duncan, who works closely with Kjellander, surely knows much of the controversy surrounding Kjellander. They partnered to plan the convention in New York in 2004, and Duncan worked as the RNC's general counsel while Kjellander was the committee's treasurer. And while anyone even remotely attached to the name Rezko carries a whiff of corruption's stench, Kjellander was so closely involved with Rezko that Kjellander invited him to a White House party in 2003 at the urging of longtime friend Karl Rove. As Duncan no doubt knows, his colleague is much more intimate with Rezko than Obama ever was.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass made the hypocrisy crystal clear on Thursday. "[E]ven as the Republican National Committee uses Rezko to thwack Obama, the RNC has a Rezko problem of its own," he wrote. "And they forgot to mention it on Wednesday. It's a big Rezko problem. A big fat one known as Big Bob Kjellander."

And he's in charge of managing and planning John McCain's big party in St. Paul.

Photo: McHenry County Blog.

Religious rights or classroom disruption? Student sues over anti-abortion shirts

Andy Birkey — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:56:05 GMT

A 12-year-old student in Hutchinson, Minn., is suing his school after officials asked him not to wear controversial anti-choice T-shirts. He has gotten legal help from the Thomas More Law Center, a group that bills itself as "Christianity's answer to the ACLU."

The Minnesota school is in the midst of a showdown between free speech advocates who are right-wing Christians and school administrators who want disruption-free classrooms. Court systems nationwide have seen heightened caseloads in recent years as religious right groups fight for students to wear anti-gay and anti-abortion messaging under the mantra of religious freedom.

The student, known only as K.B. in the lawsuit, planned to wear an anti-abortion shirt every school day in the month of April, but school officials repeatedly asked him to turn the shirts inside out and to refrain from wearing them at school. The shirts were purchased from the American Life League, which calls itself a Roman Catholic pro-life group.

K.B.'s shirts read, "Abortion… growing, growing, gone," "What part of abortion don't you understand?" and "Never Known - Not Forgotten: 47,000,000 babies aborted 1973-2008." Other shirts available from American Life League include "The Pill Kills," "America's Hidden Holocaust" and "Planned Parenthood Kills Babies" -- certainly controversial and potentially classroom disruptive.

K.B.'s mother, Jeanne Ibbitson, is a single parent who describes herself as a devout Christian.

"He shouldn't have lost his reputation as a good kid," Ibbitson told the Pioneer Press. "He shouldn't be known as the kid who is constantly going to the office. They look at him as defiant now. I applaud him. He is really shy. And it's scary to stand up to people in authority, unless you're a defiant kid, which he's not. It was hard for him to get up every day and put the T-shirt on and go to school to try and carry on his mission for the month."

The family is seeking "unspecified compensatory and punitive damages" for "irreparable damages" caused by school officials' actions. The suit has been filed in U. S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

The courts have set a precedent in cases involving Christian students wearing T-shirts that could potentially incite classroom disruption. Positive messaging is preferred. Last year, a suburban Chicago school won a court case when a student wore a T-shirt that read "Be Happy, Not Gay." The student sued on the basis of free speech and religious expression but lost. The school said it would have allowed positive messages such as "Be Happy, Be Straight," and the court agreed that positive speech wouldn't construed as disruptive.

Campaign songs: The good, the bad, and the ABBA

Molly Priesmeyer — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:13:07 GMT

Choosing a campaign song isn't an easy task. Just look at all the difficulty the McCain camp has had in trying to find a theme song. McCain first swiped John Mellencamp's "Our Country" from the John Edwards campaign, and immediately had to surrender it when Mellencamp objected to the song's use in the McCain campaign. Then he tried to snag a song by Swedish supergroup ABBA (pictured) -- with little luck.

If Republican candidates haven't learned their lesson yet, artists don't like when you steal their material and manipulate it to make it your own: Bruce Springsteen demanded Reagan quit using "Born in the U.S.A." in 1984. George W. Bush got into his own trouble in 2000: Tom Petty forced George W. to quit playing "I Won't Back Down"; then Sting forced him to stop playing "Brand New Day." The group Orleans made him quit using their song "Still the One" in 2004. And don't forget the "Dole Man," who caught heat for using Sam and Dave's "Soul Man" tune...the list goes on and on.

So what does a song say about a candidate? We look at the best and worst campaign songs over the last few elections and declare a winner and loser.

Continued: Click "Read more

1992: Al Gore for VP
Song: "You Can Call me Al," by Paul Simon
Sample lyrics: "A man walks down the street, he says why am I soft in the middle now? Why am I soft in the middle? The rest of my life is so hard. I need a photo-opportunity. I want a shot at redemption."
What it says about the candidate: "Al's my name; don't wear it out. Also, I got a big mid-section."
Verdict: A prescient and unfortunate tune, no? Call me "bored." Inspiration factor: 0.

2000: George W. Bush for President
Song: "I Won't Back Down," by Tom Petty
Sample lyrics: "Well, I won't back down, no I won't back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down."
What it says about the candidate: "I'm a real stubborn muttonhead."
Verdict: Wow, this guy's just like Mussolini! Fear factor: 10.

2004: John Kerry for President
Song: "Fortunate Son," by John Fogerty
Sample lyrics: "It ain't me, it ain't me. I ain't no millionaire's son. It ain't me, it ain't me. I ain't no fortunate one."
What it says about the candidate: "I was born into the Forbes family. I summered in France. I went to Yale. I married into the Heinz fortune. I windsurf. Millionaires: They're just like you!"
Verdict: Dude's way too defensive. Denial factor: 10.

2008: Barack Obama for President
Song:"The Rising," by Bruce Springsteen
Sample lyrics: "Come on up for the rising. Come on up, lay your hands in mine. Come on up for the rising. Come on up for the rising tonight."
What it says about the candidate: "I tread lightly. I'm all about you and giving you the power to rise up with me."
Verdict: I admit that every time I hear this song Steve Miller Band's awful "Jet Airliner" chorus gets stuck in my head. That said, it's a great tune. Empowerment factor: 10.

2008: John McCain for President
Song: "Take a Chance on Me," by ABBA
Sample lyrics: "Take a chance on me. Come on, give me a break will you? Take a chance on me."
What it says about the candidate: "I'm not so sure about myself either. But they've been grooming me for years for this and I've had it up the here with all if it, and come on, can't you just cut me some slack? Really. Why can't you please just this once..."
Verdict: Seriously? That's all you got? A milquetoast Swedish disco band begging for a chance? Desperation factor: 10

Winner: Springsteen's "Rising." It's working-class without being Ford tough. It's inspirational without being "Happy Days are Here Again." And it's Bruce.

Loser: Abba's "Take a Chance on Me." No one likes it when you beg for it. Especially via Europop.

VP or not VP: Pawlenty raises his national profile

Paul Demko — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:43:23 GMT

Publicly Gov. Tim Pawlenty always demurs when asked about whether he is seeking the VP slot on the Republican ticket. But the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza points out that Pawlenty has quietly been making all the right moves to build buzz for his prospects.

Last week T-Paw was in North Carolina to raise money for U.S. Reps. Robin Hayes and Patrick McHenry. Yesterday he keynoted a Republican Governors Association event, helping the organization raise $700,000.

Later this month Pawlenty will travel to Connecticut to headline the Prescott Bush Awards Dinner, an annual event that attracts many Republican bigwigs. Previous speakers at the fundraiser: John McCain, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Bob Dole, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney. Cillizza is duly impressed by the Governor's political acumen:

Pawlenty's biggest problem in the veepstakes is that he remains something of a regional figure, not widely known even in Republican circles outside of his home state. His activities over the last few weeks is a recognition by Pawlenty that he needs to raise his profile with major donors and grassroots party activists.
Buzz is not the only factor on which a presidential candidate chooses a running-mate, but it surely matters. Picking the "hot" guy or gal who has the grassroots and/or donor world buzzing helps drive excitement and, as importantly, money to the national ticket.
Making the finals of the veepstakes means playing the game on any number of different levels -- both in terms of policy and political calculations. Pawlenty is showing he knows how to play the three-dimensional chess game that is the vice presidential picking process.

Central Corridor rail: Traffic, parking a game of inches

Chris Steller — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:09:58 GMT

The titanic shoving match between the University of Minnesota and the Metropolitan Council over the route of the Central Corridor light-rail line appears settled: the trains will run down Washington Avenue through the U of M's East Bank campus. Now push is coming to shove over design details of the route along University Avenue.

At one of a series of public comment hearings on Wednesday, the Pioneer Press reports, St. Paul City Council Member Russ Stark argued for sacrificing traffic lanes along University Avenue instead of erasing on-street parking lanes, as proposed.

It's a game of inches that's been played -- perhaps by necessity -- with more finesse along the much shorter but also narrower stretch of University Avenue that the light-rail train will take through Minneapolis.

There, blessed by having slimmer sidewalks than along St. Paul's stretch, planners and neighbors settled on sacrificing a boulevard on one side of the street and a parking lane on the other to make room for two sets of train tracks down the middle of University.

On either side of the tracks, traffic lanes will weave past protruding turn lanes and bump-outs of grass and trees. But keeping trees on the south side means shifting the entire right-of-way's contents 4 feet toward commercial property on the north.

That prospect prompted Prospect Park Business Center owner Dave Barnhart to declare, as reported in The Bridge: "I do feel like I'm scheduled for a root canal."