I think he’d be of more use in Colorado … but Tom Scheck of MPR says: “Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee for Vice President, will campaign in Minnesota on Sunday. The Romney campaign is sending out an e-mail about the event to supporters. It was also confirmed by a top Republican official in Minnesota who has knowledge of the event. Ryan will hold a campaign rally at the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon. … Ryan isn't the only one campaigning for Minnesota votes. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to campaign in Superior, WI, on Friday. An event that will be covered by reporters in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.” I hope Joe stops by the Anchor Bar to, you know, mix with real Superior-eans.
Scheck also has a story about GOP Senate candidate Kurt Bills. He writes: “Lacking campaign cash, Bills relies on gatherings, like a recent brief meeting with college Republicans at the University of Minnesota. No more than 10 students attended the informal meeting — the first of several meet and greets the candidate held on college campuses that day. He encouraged students to keep working to get out the vote.” He gets points for playing until the final buzzer.
Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon is playing financial adviser to her constituents.John Lundy of the Duluth News Tribune says: “Prettner Solon is spearheading the state’s “Own Your Future Minnesota” campaign, using everything from the U.S. mail to a website to urge residents to plan ahead for their long-term-care needs. Most of us will experience those needs: The evidence shows that 70 percent of people who reach the age of 65 will need long-term care, Prettner Solon said, citing the National Clearing House for Long-Term Care Information. That’s a human problem, but it’s also a problem for federal and state governments, she said, because of the high cost of long-term care.”
Also at MPR, Euen Kerr interviewsJoel Hodgson on the 25th anniversary of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”: “His act was so bizarre and funny he rode it all the way to the national circuit, even appearing on Saturday Night Live. But he burned out on stand-up, and just quit. Going through all his stuff for the show has been instructive for Hodgson. It's allowed him to understand the origins of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Just after he quit his stand-up act he met Jerry Seinfeld who asked him to help him write his HBO Special. Hodgson enjoyed the experience, and wanted to do more. ‘In fact, my first idea of a show after I did Jerry's show was a show for Jerry which was about him in outer space,’ Hodgson laughs. ‘As stupid as that sounds. And I pitched that to him and he goes 'Yeah — no!' Hodgson quickly realized he had really come up with a show he wanted to do himself, and a year later MST 3000 was on the air on channel 23.”
MPR staged a Thursday debate on the marriage amendment. The Strib’s Baird Helgeson writes: “The Rev. Jerry McAfee, a Baptist minister in Minneapolis who has worked to mobilize the black community in support of the amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman, said he worries that failure to pass the measure could soon lead to legalization of same-sex marriage in the state.‘If you add to the definition of marriage, you change my belief system,’ McAfee said.” You may need a stronger belief system, Reverend.
Go to their website to make online contributions … The AP reports:“Delta Air Lines says Superstorm Sandy cut its revenue by $45 million last month as it was forced to cancel more than 3,500 flights. That's only a fraction of the $8.4 billion in revenue it reported in last year's fourth-quarter. It won't report full results for the current quarter until January. The Atlanta company, the world's second-largest airline after United, said its October profit was reduced by about $20 million.”
Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Strib looks at DFL fundraising powerhouses:“The newest nerve center of Democratic fundraising power in Minnesota resides in a dingy St. Paul office filled with mismatched furniture and a whiff of an animal hospital that shares the building. Inside, a web of independent groups is busy spending enough money in this election to make Republicans quake. The group's public face is known as Alliance for a Better Minnesota, backed by its fundraising arms, WIN Minnesota and the 2012 Fund. Together, they have hauled in $3 million this year and $8 million over the past four, all for a single goal: winning back a Democratic Legislature on Tuesday.… House Speaker Kurt Zellers, a GOP leader whose state party is trying to keep control of the Legislature after a year beset by controversy, sees that mission differently. ‘It is very concerning that one group would just be able to buy the Legislature for the governor,’ said Zellers, R-Maple Grove. ‘I also think that's why it won't work.’ ”
Yeah, this is “crazy love” … Ed Treleven of The Wisconsin State Journal reports: “A man obsessed with a young woman allegedly broke into her parents' apartment early Sunday and demanded bras and panties that belong to the subject of his desire, prosecutors charged in a criminal complaint filed Thursday, Nov. 1. Jose Hernandez-Ordonez, 22, of Madison told Fitchburg police he was drunk and high on cocaine when he broke into the apartment, where the young woman lives with her sister and their parents, according to the complaint. He told police he was ‘crazy in love’ with the woman and had gone to the apartment to tell her that. But because he was so high, he told police, he wasn't thinking straight and had no self-control, the complaint states.” What guy hasn’t been in that situation?
FoxNews’ “Fox and Friends” is such a regular butt of Jon Stewart’s jokes you almost think he writes their material. But as Aaron Rupar of City Pages notes, you really can’t make up their ham-fisted partisanship: “Yesterday morning, Fox News decided to check in with a local political expert for some analysis of the hot races here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. You might think they'd turn to a political science professor, or perhaps one of our esteemed political scribes. But no. They turned to Minnesota Majority's Jeff Davis, a representative of the pro-voter ID group … . But the worst part is, Minnesota Majority's ideological affiliation was never mentioned by [Anoka woman] Fox's Gretchen Carlson at any point during the segment, leaving viewers with the false impression they just received some non-partisan political analysis. … Carlson also revealed her intimate knowledge of Minnesota politics by calling Jim Graves ‘Tom Graves’ (Davis didn't correct her). She got it right only after a graphic with his name popped up.” Other than that, a solid report.