AN EXCERPT
From "The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics" -- Walter Mondale's biography, written in collaboration with the Star Tribune's David Hage:
"In the past decade, the same divisive tactics that poisoned our national politics infected Minnesota. A Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, broke with the progressive tradition of his predecessors, imposing a regime of no new taxes, dismantling health and education programs built through decades of bipartisan work, and adopting the scornful anti-government rhetoric of the national Republican Party.
"Eight years of this philosophy have done nothing to make Minnesota a stronger, more competitive state. Minnesota is no longer the healthiest state, nor the best educated, nor a place whose economy routinely outperforms the national average. These indicators may recover with time, but damage has been done -- to the state's performance and, worse, to a civic culture that placed the common good above individual gain."
