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Hot Dish 3.15.24

Vice President Harris does a Tour de St. Paul

By Rochelle Olson

The Minnesota Star Tribune

March 15, 2024 at 1:52PM

St. Paul, SROs, Straws and Softball

By Rochelle Olson

Settle down St. Paulites - both permanent and sessionistas - because even though it’s Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is back in D.C. and St. Patrick’s Day isn’t until Sunday. Harris did a Tour de St. Paul on Thursday and I was there for some of it. Read on to the end for my solipsistic view of covering the VP that I won’t bore you with up front.

Harris went where no sitting VP or president has gone before: a clinic that provides abortions. She described the nation as facing a health-care crisis in reproductive care because of the Supreme Court’s dissolution of Roe v. Wade. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sarah Traxler affirmed the increase in visits to the Minnesota clinics by desperate patients who live in states that now have abortion bans. Expect Harris and President Joe Biden to emphasize from now through November that they will protect women’s care while former President Donald Trump appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices who who overturned the 50-year-old law, sending states scrambling to either protect (Minnesota) or ban (the Dakotas) abortion care.

In addition to chanting “four more years” for Biden-Harris at Coven (on Selby and Western) during a private campaign event directed at women for Biden-Harris, Gov. Tim Walz signed the school resource officer fix bill allowing officers to put kids in prone holds within limits, Eder Campuzano reports.

Late in the day, Walz was on CNN talking about how old white men need to learn how to talk about reproductive care. And he ripped Trump: “He did not create jobs. He’s not a scratch golfer. He’s not in great shape,” Walz said. “But he did rip Roe out. He did appoint judges who are taking that away. And he will do it again.”

My favorite Harris stop - and I wasn’t there - came after that when the VP alighted at the Jimmy Lee/Oxford Rec Center for a surprise visit with the girls softball teams from St. Paul Central. St. Paul Parks staff were on hand and the girls were agog. Check out the submitted photo I posted on social media. The visit is not insignificant when you consider what the rec center has endured in the past year. Side note: The lap pool at Jimmy Lee is perfection.

I love typing VP because it reminds me of VEEP, one of the great shows of all time. My favorite line involves a croissant or any nickname for Jonah. What is yours? DM me: rochelle.olson@startribune.com

FOLLOWING PHILLIPS: Josie Albertson-Grove wrote about a GOP debate for the Third District seat being vacated by DFLer Dean Phillips. State Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, is the presumptive nominee from her party, but Republicans think they have a chance at taking back the seat that was held by the GOP for more than a generation. Read all about their discussion here. Retired Washington County Judge Tad Jude says he’s the most electable and qualified.

STRAW PURCHASE: The girlfriend of the man who killed three first responders in Burnsville bought him the high-powered guns, the feds allege in an indictment. Ashley Anne Dyrdahl faces 11 counts related to the purchase of firearms for her boyfriend in the weeks before the shooting. He was not allowed to buy the guns himself. House Republicans forced a vote on banning straw purchases Thursday. It failed. Expect the issue to come up again. But first read the full story, including the horrifying text messages between Dyrdahl and her deceased partner. And this: According to the indictment, a law enforcement search of the bedroom the shooter and Dyrdahl shared found a “stockpile of fully loaded magazines as well as boxes with hundreds of additional rounds of ammunition and additional firearms.”

MPLS OVERRIDE: This issue will be here for a while. The Minneapolis City Council overrode Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto on the Uber/Lyft pay bill. Uber says it plans to leave the Twin Cities and Lyft will leave Minneapolis. Read Dave Orrick’s full report because this will be back at the Capitol soon in some form, I suspect.

TONIGHT, TONIGHT: It’s the DFL’s Humphrey-Mondale dinner. The guest: Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

WHERE’S WALZ:

10 a.m.: After a full day of squiring the Veep around, he’s back on his own schedule. He will attend the ceremony for the Upper Sioux Community / Yellow Medicine Dakota Land Transfer.

READING LIST

Colleague Briana Bierschbach explores the significance of the 19% uncommitted vote in the DFL presidential primary and what it means for November. I asked Harris about it, but she pivoted and didn’t answer.
The AP asked why voters are so frustrated by the economy. It’s home prices.
Kate the Great. If you don’t adore author Kate DiCamillo, you’re missing a sensitivity chip. Get on the bandwagon with this generational author. Start by reading Chris Hewitt’s Q&A then watch this new video. She’s brilliant, humble and unfailingly kind.
As for Harris, this is what happens when you cover a visit by a president or veep. You submit your name days in advance. You’re told to arrive between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m. for a 1 p.m. press conference. But at 10:50 a.m., your colleague and staff photographer calls to say, “You better get over here sooner rather than later.” You get your act together and drive over and get in line for the sweep of your vehicle which entails driving up to a Secret Service agent until your front bumper basically kisses his knees. For some reason, he wants you this close. Then you get out of the car, following instructions to open all doors the trunk and the hood. Step aside, far aside. The agents and a big dog scour your car. One shines a flashlight in the engine, checking for - one can only imagine. This is not a good time to attempt small talk. The agents are not interested nor amused by your cleverness. Then you park where they tell you to park and you walk into the building where another gang of agents and a dog look you over and ask who the hell you are (even though you submitted your info days in advance and have been a bonafide news reporter for a couple years in this town). They wand you. They pat you down. You want to pet that gorgeous German shepherd, but under no circumstances should you even joke about petting the dog. The agents eye you suspiciously as if you’ve done something wrong even though you followed all their advance instructions and even arrived a half hour early. You check out and go stand in a hallway to nowhere with a dozen or so other reporters for an hour after which security leads you to a reception area about 20 feet away and tells you all to stand against the wall and make way for the travelling press that will stand in front of you when they arrive in about 45 minutes. It’s hot. It’s cramped. You beg for a chair. Some people sit on the floor. Eventually, the VP arrives and a few people are called on for questions. It’s maybe 15 minutes then she’s gone. Loaded up in her caravan of black SUVS with two white vans carrying media and two ambulances trailing. You, the local media, are left standing there, thirsty for ice water and wondering about the choices that led you here.
President Jimmy Carter is still alive. That’s that. Enjoy your weekend.

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