C.J.: Ear bling won't hold up Remington's mayoral run

Loyalty to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak prompted City Council member Ralph Remington to suppress an itch to run for mayor.

Now that Rybak sounds like he's going to try to replace Gov. Tim Pawlenty (who's apparently out researching a personality interesting enough for a presidential run), Remington is eyeballing a mayoral race, earrings and all. "I wish I had known R.T. was going to be interested in running for governor," said Remington. "I might have decided to run for mayor. I still might."

We talked while waiting for a flight back to Minneapolis at D.C.'s National Airport, after Remington wrapped up an animated chat with political pundit Wy Spano. Remington was in D.C. to take part in a panel discussion held by the National Endowment for the Arts.

At a political event a few months ago, I was told that Remington had been advised to lose the earrings if he was contemplating running for mayor. So? "Naw. That's not a serious question," said Remington, after a few seconds of hearty laughter.

My source, a political consultant among other things, told me that he personally gave Remington the earrings advice. "Nobody ever said anything to me about that," Remington said. "When I first ran for council I asked some trusted friends what they think about that. I've worn those earrings since I was at Howard University, as a freshman. All the advice I got was, Yeah, that's who you are. I had a persona before running so it would be like I was trying to switch up or something."

Would voters across Minneapolis elect a black guy who has one-upped Mr. Clean by having two earrings? More laughter. "I think so," said Remington.

Is it fair, right about here, to note that Detroit elected a guy who wore a big old diamond earring? Of course the demographics are different and we wouldn't want to compare Remington to Detroit's former "hip-hop mayor" Kwame Kilpatrick, who let the power go to his head and other body parts and ended up in jail. But does Minneapolis really need this?

Changing gears, I said I know a dentist who finds Remington's flared-toothed smile "joyous" even though he's clearly somebody who could have used braces as a child. "Do we have the same dentist?" laughed Remington. "That's nice. I don't have anything bad to say about you. I try to keep it real."

Me too. "That's very clear," Remington said, laughing again.

One 'clown' to another Sen.-elect Al Franken, please, please, please please do me this favor. Walk up to that senator from Oklahoma, extend your arm for a civilized handshake and say, Hello, Sen. Inhofe, I'm the clown from Minnesota.

Jim Inhofe's reaction to the Minnesota Supreme Court's ruling that Franken defeated Sen. Norm Coleman in November was this: "... it looks like things are going to be over and we are going to get the clown from Minnesota." Inhofe probably won't have the nerve to be so rude to your face.

Minnesota-born comedian Lizz Winstead has joked that Coleman is the only politician in history to have been defeated by a rassler, Jesse Ventura, for guv, and a comedian, Franken, once of "Saturday Night Live."

A taste for local cider Wine Enthusiast magazine has taken a liking to Crispin.

Cider has become a favorite summer thirst quencher for the mag's assistant tasting director, Lauren Buzzeo, and Crispin is at the top of her list: "One of my favorite ciders at the moment is called Crispin Natural Hard Apple Cider from Minnesota." Her compliments can be found at tinyurl.com/mmc6s4.