politics

Forget the gawkers. It's politicians, above all, who rush headlong to the site of every bridge collapse and flash flood. And no wonder.

The potent politics of disaster have damaged many a political career. Former Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic saw his prospects unravel when underfunded snowplow operations left the city paralyzed by a winter storm.

Rudy Giuliani parlayed his disaster management into a presidential bid, using the calm, resolute air he projected in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to transform the sharp-tongued, sometimes abrasive New Yorker into "America's Mayor."

Similar perils and potential have lately been at work in Minnesota, where an unprecedented string of disasters has left politicians with a delicate task: They must appear effective and responsive, but not opportunistic; bipartisan, but not excessively compromising.

The stakes are high even at the presidential level: Federal officials have scrambled to assure the public that Minnesota's bridge collapse and floods would not lead to another Hurricane Katrina-like morass of bureaucracy, red tape and incompetence.

Scheduled to come to town last week as a rainmaker for Sen. Norm Coleman, President Bush neglected to visit the site of floods that had swept through southeastern Minnesota. That was quickly rectified with a thorough briefing of the president before the fundraiser and moving up Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's visit to personally review recovery efforts on Thursday.

Chertoff surprised nearly everyone by announcing that Bush had agreed to expedited federal disaster relief for the flood zone less than 48 hours after Gov. Tim Pawlenty made the request.

Politics?

Yes, says national political analyst Larry Sabato. And that's a good thing.

"The system actually works better when there is politics involved," said Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "It encourages responsiveness. What's politics about? Getting votes and winning elections. You have to be responsive for that. What do you need after a disaster? Responsiveness."

How officials score so far on the Response-O-Meter:

GOV. TIM PAWLENTY

Ever adaptable, Pawlenty has been a gubernatorial whirlwind of responsiveness, taking heat from his own party for a turn-around on the gas tax, saying he will now consider an increase. He has also been encouraging about a special session and has even leaned on the feds to hustle up disaster relief.

His hazard: Still has to answer for the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, oversee a smooth rebuilding in Minneapolis and recovery in southeastern Minnesota and prevent a special session from getting out of hand.

LT. GOV. CAROL MOLNAU

Pressure to resign her second job as transportation commissioner is bound to intensify, particularly in the wake of the health commissioner's abrupt departure and Molnau's continued opposition to light rail, signaling a growing philosophical divide with her boss. Molnau also has been slow to get in line on a gas tax increase.

Her hazard: The Senate has never reconfirmed Molnau. If they vote her down in the next session, she's gone.

SEN. NORM COLEMAN