Former Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg (at right on the phone) was endorsed Thursday by the Minnesota AFL-CIO in his race for the U.S. House from the Sixth District. If he wins the nomination, Tinklenberg will challenge first-term Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Stillwater.
Tinklenberg, who is also a former mayor of Blaine, and banker Bob […]

Venerable New York Times sport columnist Murray Chass reports that Twin owners Carl Pohlad (estimated net worth: $3.1 billion) is the richest of all baseball team owners. I knew, of course, that Pohlad (at right) was wealthy, but I didn’t know that he was three times richer than Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
This stuff usually drives […]

Good Wednesday morning Fellow Seekers,
Four DFLers seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman debated Tuesday evening before an audience of several hundred that filled the Roosevelt High School auditorium in South Minneapolis.
The four — comedian Al Franken, attorney Mike Ciresi, attorney Jim Cohen and Professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer — agreed in general […]

MSNBC’s “First Read” has bare bones of new poll numbers out of Iowa. Details of the poll, by Strategic Vision (a firm that polls mostly for Republican clients) are due out tonight, but here are the top numbers:
On the Dem. side:
Clinton: 29%
Obama: 29%
Edwards: 23%.
On the Repub. side:
Romney: 26%
Huckabee: 24%
Giuliani: 14%
Thompson: 10%
McCain: 7%.
The thing that impresses […]

Good Tuesday morning Fellow Seekers,
Did the Minnesota Historical Society decline to host the local premiere of an important new film about the Rape of Nanking because MHS was concerned about offending Japanese-Americans?
The top MHS official who decided to decline that opportunity says concern about offending Japanese sensibilities had nothing whatsoever to do with the decision. […]

Good Monday afternoon and best post-Thanksgiving wishes. I’m back but off to a slow start. Luckily, my friend Pasquino is still using the paper to kindle his fire. After reading an op-ed in today’s Strib about phony diplomas, Pasquino, who must not have enjoyed his turkey, burst into flames over the idea that the invisible […]

Much as I prefer writing boring historical backgrounders, there’s no use denying that Black Ink’s coverage of the Rachel Paulose saga brought a lot of eyeballs to your humble ink-stained blog that would otherwise never have landed here.
As far as I can tell, the links from around the blogosphere continue to send people here looking […]

I’ll be interviewed shortly on the KFAI Evening News program around 6:15 p.m. about the Paulose story. KFAI is tuneable innable at 90.3 FM in Minneapolis and at 106.7 in St. Paul.
I never tire of quoting a Brookings media maven named Stephen Hess on what he modestly called Hess’ Media Law Number One “which is […]

In case you wondered, the presentation by Rachel Paulose on human trafficking that had been scheduled for noon today at the Humphrey Institute has been postponed. The word released from Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, which was sponsoring the event, said: Rachel Paulose and Larry Jacobs […]

At 3:13 p.m., the attorneys in the Minnesota Office of the U.S. Attorney received the following email message:
Subject: A message to my colleagues
Dear Colleagues:
I have accepted a new position in Washington, D.C. I will be serving as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. I am excited […]

At least two more high-ranking officials of the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office resigned (or are on the verge of resigning) their supervisory positions today to protest the leadership of U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose.
Developing. Will report details as I confirm them.
Cross-posted at Minnesota Monitor.

Good Monday morning Fellow Seekers of Wisdom and Truth,
The campaign to save Rachel Paulose’s job as U.S. attorney for Minnesota shifted into high gear last week. Perhaps she and her supporters believe that the decision will be made in the days ahead and want to rally some counterpressure. But the tactics and arguments employed make […]

According to a famous saying, usually attributed to Bismarck, you never really want to see how sausage or legislation is made.
This piece, from Time magazine, about federal farm subsidies is brilliant, brutally honest and features Minnesota’s own Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Ag Committee, in a not-so-heroic role (that’s Rep. Peterson at right).
The […]