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Pawlenty's learning how to backtrack
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty created a one-man Snowe-storm last week.
Pawlenty, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, was asked Tuesday on MSNBC whether he wanted Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican from Maine, "in your Republican Party."
Pawlenty scrupulously avoided giving a yes or no but did say, "She can't say she's a Republican and then vote against the Republican position much of the time. ... If she disagrees with everything, that's a problem."
The chattering classes claimed that Pawlenty was issuing a "litmus test," while Snowe suggested that Republicans had a thing or two to learn from her success.
Turns out, it was Pawlenty who had a thing to learn -- about picking his words carefully.
"I didn't say it artfully," he said last week. "Ronald Reagan said it best -- if you agree with us most of the time you are our friend, not our enemy. That certainly applies to Sen. Snowe. She has been involved in the party for a long time. I respect her and of course she is welcome and admired in the party."
RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
RNC pays some billsLong after the last barricade was lifted from the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, the nonprofit organization that hosted it has given big-time Twin Cities Republican activist Jeff Larson $400,000 for his help in staging the show.
The committee's latest quarterly reports to the Federal Election Commission, filed last month, show it cut Larson two checks in August for $320,000 and $80,000 for "executive consulting."
Larson, who was also the purse strings behind the wardrobe shopping spree for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, said the committee waited nearly a year to pay him because it "just wanted to get through all the audits."
The host committee is still paying off other bills and facing a lawsuit accusing it of failing to pay a fundraising firm $761,000 for raising $36 million to finance the convention. The committee denies that claim.
The last quarter FEC report showed the nonprofit has $7 million cash on hand.
PAT DOYLE
Focus on flyingEven before a pair of Northwest pilots overshot Minneapolis-St. Paul because they were cruising their laptops at high altitudes, Congress knew it had to do something about distracted drivers.
It's just that until now they thought the legislation would be directed at automobile drivers.
Instead, last week Minnesota's Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken teamed up to sponsor a bill prohibiting the use of personal wireless communication devices by flight crews while operating a commercial aircraft.
"Passengers should not have to worry about whether the pilots are flying the plane or checking their laptops," Klobuchar said. "We don't need distracted driving at 37,000 feet."
KEVIN DIAZ
Quote of the weekDemocratic Rep. Barney Frank took a dig Friday at the Minnesota Republican colleague who last week organized a conservative protest against the health care plan.
"Some of the people [at the rally] that wanted to engage me in conversation appear to have been the losers in the 'Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest,'" Frank, a Massachusetts liberal, told an audience.
Rep. Bachmann's spokesperson did not respond to requests for a comment. Frank, who recently compared arguing with an angry voter to conversing with a dining room table, said last week's protest was like being trapped inside a furniture warehouse.
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Current state office holders
Governor: Tim Pawlenty
One of only a few prominent Republicans to win a competitive re-election contest in the Democratic sweep of 2006, Tim Pawlenty is widely seen as politically shrewd and naturally likable.
- Lt. Governor: Carol Molnau
- Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie
- Attorney General: Lori Swanson
- State Auditor: Rebecca Otto
Minnesota's political giants: Learn more about the men and women who have shaped Minnesota's political history.
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