I don't always jive with what happens on the editorial page of the Mesabi Daily News, but the MDN fired off a pretty good editorial last Saturday about the proposed hire of an Iron Range business recruiter for our mining-funded state agency Iron Range Resources. Like the MDN, I'm not against business recruiting, but I also agree that we need to keep track of the results that these high-priced hires produce. All of this will be determined at the next Iron Range Resources board meeting, which has been rescheduled twice because of a failed quorum since the budget debate was tabled more than a week ago. I think this business recruiter deal is a sure thing, but there might be some sparks over some of the public works projects and other spending priorities.

There hasn't been much to report about Excelsior Energy's boondoggle proposed Mesaba Energy Project, a coal gasification power plant that would be situated on the Iron Range. The state PUC has not scheduled a final decision on whether or not to force Xcel Energy to buy the high-priced theoretical electricity that would be produced if this $2.3 billion-plus white elephant ever gets off the ground. You recall that the idea we're all supposed to buy is that we're building this sure-thing power plant that will absolutely be cleaner and absolutely be reliable, no matter what, no backsies.

Well, this story from Environment and Energy News, a trade journal, provides another reason to further doubt the claims made by Excelsior's officials and political supporters (bold emphasis mine):

CLIMATE: Carbon storage technology is far from ready, utility execs warn
(06/17/2008)
Katherine Ling, E&ENews PM reporter

TORONTO -- Efforts to characterize carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology as a viable short-term "cure-all" for coal-burning power plants' greenhouse emissions have been "way overblown," the outgoing chairman of the leading utility industry group said today.

"It is a technology that [scientists] are comfortable can work," said Jeff Sterba, the Edison Electric Institute's outgoing chairman and chief executive of Albuquerque-based PNM Resources. "But is it commercially deployable in 10 years? No."

EEI incoming Chairman David Ratcliffe, CEO of Southern Co., said policymakers and stakeholders must understand that no legislative deadline will speed CCS's development.

"We undersold how complex and how difficult [sequestration on a large scale] is," Ratcliffe said at the institute's annual meeting here. "It is absolutely critical that we inform policy debate with the best reality about technological availability that we can. ... We can't plug in CCS in five years. You can have legislation that says that all day long, but it isn't going to be there."

Added Jim Rogers, Duke Energy's CEO and a former institute chairman, "CCS as a magical technology that solves the carbon problem for coal plants is oversold. ... I think there is a lot to learn, and it is going to take us a lot longer for us to figure it out than a lot of us think."

The three said coal must be a part of the energy picture and a number of technologies must be considered to control emissions.

"Under certain strategies that could be adopted, you may find yourself in a position where the CCS is not adequately developed and the retrofitting technology is too expensive, and we could find ourselves in the position of prematurely shutting down coal units," Sterba said.

"If we end up with politicians making decisions about the success or failure of a technology, we have failed."

You'll note that the people questioning CCS technology are not anti-coal extremists. These are people who openly support coal-fired electricity. If this is the reality inside the industry there is no way we should ever expect private interests to fund the Mesaba project, nor should we expect that project to work the way it's supposed to. Certainly not by 2012 as proposed by Excelsior. In short, the Mesaba Energy Project is an embarrassing mess for which no one, especially its backers, will ever willingly take the blame.

The people of the Iron Range, by virtue of decisions made by our elected leaders and Iron Range Resources, have purchased a time share on an underwater island. We could buy scuba gear and try to keep our neighbors from finding out, or we could just get smart and walk away. Other economic development projects are far more likely to succeed, so fortunately this mistake can be overcome.

This story ("Big, yellow and putting schools in the red") in today's Star Tribune details the woes of some suburban Minnesota school districts in covering the skyrocketing cost of diesel fuel for their bus fleets.

I don't have the data to compare miles and fuel use between suburban and rural northern Minnesota school districts, but my family is in the transportation business up here and I know how the costs are rising. Kids in northern Minnesota live very far away from their schools, must take the bus and, until our economy really turns around there are fewer kids and less funding each year. So while we all share the problem of rising gas prices, and must solve it, up here we must also face that problem with fewer tools at our disposal.

Who cares? Well, if rural Minnesota becomes uninhabitable to working families, say hello to more sprawl, more costs, and more poverty for everyone. Until we take a statewide approach to improving K-12 funding (in a way that accounts for rising energy and transportation costs) that's the path we're heading down.

Longtime DFL activist and AFSCME Field Representative Marsh Stenersen is running for the House of Representatives in Duluth's 7B district. We broke that story here on Saturday. Here is Stenersen's statement that he's releasing today:

PEOPLE NOT POLITICS.

That’s what this election is all about. I’m running for those people who have heard too many politicians make promises that have left them living from paycheck to paycheck..

I’m running to serve the people of my district, NOT to use them as a STEPPING STONE to future office.

I’m running to fight for health care for everyone…….

To make sure that folks in the twilight of their years can enjoy the peace they have worked for so long……..

I’m running to help our State regain its place as a leader in education……

And I’m running to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to earn a living wage……

Some might say, “Why should we vote for someone who represents Labor ?” My answer is that I’m proud of having worked to help workers try to gain their share of the American Dream. If you believe someone should not be elected because they support and fight for working people, don’t vote for me…

Finally, I’m running so that the people of my District can get a FAIR DEAL in St. Paul . Like my DFL predecessors Mike Jaros and Willard Munger, I believe in the people...

And like Mike and Willard, will put the people’s interests ahead of politics and ambition…

Politicians love to make promises about what they’ll do when elected. I will make only one promise…

I promise to work as hard as I can to be a real voice for the hard working people of this district…

Today's appearance on "This Week" cements the conventional wisdom that Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) is the frontrunner for John McCain's running mate. Pawlenty is unlikely to be able to deliver Minnesota for McCain, but I don't think the campaign cares about that. Pawlenty has proven to be an effective surrogate who makes it look like McCain is trying to compete in states that currently show a lead for Barack Obama.

Minnesota needs to be added to the Obama media buy in anticipation of this.

Nina Peterson-Perlman of the Duluth News-Tribune writes an interesting profile of former Duluth mayor Herb Bergson in today's edition. Bergson has tried to stay out of the public eye since leaving office, but notable findings in the story include the fact that he's writing a memoir due out in the fall and that he isn't ruling out a run for office in the future, including the House District 7B seat that opened recently. Why is he now spending his nights in the basement of a golf course clubhouse? In Floodwood? It's worth reading.

This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 29, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

Seven words I won’t forget
By Aaron J. Brown

When I was eight, a stroke of luck changed my life and taught me the majority of the dirty words I currently know.

That was the year I won the Weekly Reader National Invention Contest. I’m not bringing this up to brag. My invention was rather silly, never saw successful production and produced no financial security for my family then or now. But the trip I won to Washington, D.C., set the fires that still burn in me today.

We lived on a family-owned salvage yard in the southern swamps of northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. My family was hard working and my parents were smart, but life in a trailer house on the junkyard does not come with the social expectations of college, career and prestige that go to the children of the well heeled. But when this trailer house kid landed in Washington, a truth was unlocked. Most of the restrictions we encounter in our lives exist in our own minds, not in reality.

I learned this in part when I toured the halls of power in Washington as a tourist, but I also learned it late that night in the hotel room shared by my family. When I was supposedly asleep the television piped out HBO, an impossible luxury on the junkyard. This was the first time I saw George Carlin, the famous comedian who passed away last week. And yes, I was 8, and 8-year-olds, as a rule, should not watch George Carlin. Still, I’m glad I did because I could sense in Carlin’s routine the power of words.

Carlin was one of the most influential stand up comedians and writers of the late 20th century. Many people viewed him as controversial or crass because of the salty nature of his routines, but there was a deeper truth to his act. The lines drawn in society are arbitrary. People have the power to cross them when they are wrong or unnecessary. One such line was the one laid before a working class 8-year-old from the Iron Range, biting his pillow to keep from laughing too hard at what he was hearing on HBO.

Jump ahead. I’m in high school. My friend Dusty and I went down to Duluth to see Carlin at the DECC. The high school years are nothing but crossing, or not crossing, lines. Among other things, including romantic prospects, these lines separate the life teenagers believe possible and the life they believe beyond reach. Thanks to my trip to Washington, I never doubted that college and then anything were possible if I worked at it.

I spent my first night away from home, the first night I knew I was only coming back as a visitor, in a college dorm room in Dubuque, Iowa. My Puerto Rican roommate was due the next day so I was left in limbo, a space between the comfort of home and the sense of what was to come next. I was on the line. That night, I strolled down to the pop machine in my bathrobe (in any decade beyond the early ‘60s, I was the only guy on most college campuses who still wore a bathrobe) and bought a Country Time lemonade. I still remember exactly what I drank that night, a sense that would leave me in the years to come. I lit a cigarette and wondered what to do.

That night I put on the headphones to my Sony Discman (remember CDs?) and listened to George Carlin explain the seven words you can’t say on TV. If you know me, you know that I seldom say these words in the company of others. But it was these words, first when I was 8 and later, that showed me the power of words. What matters more than words are the people who use them and why they use them. George Carlin used his words, many of them deeply offensive if observed in a vacuum, to break down lines that didn’t need to exist. And he was really funny. I’ll always remember that.

I archive my columns at my writing site.

For those who are getting ahead of themselves, John Fund from the Wall Street Journal presents a frank, fairly reasonable argument this week showing that, while Barack Obama enjoys an advantage right now, this election is far from over. Both Obama and John McCain have plausible paths to victory depending on the events of the campaign. Republicans may take this as a sign for hope. I would simply remind my fellow Democrats that we must pursue this great opportunity with as much vigor as we've shown in the past. For as much excitement as the primary season brought, I sense a great lull as the more traditional political season arrives. Remember, folks. This is when regular folks START tuning into the presidential race.

Oh yeah.

Today is the Hibbing Mines and Pines Jubilee Parade and Street Dance. Come on down (or up) to Hibbing for some good times. I hit it off with my wife Christina at this event 10 years ago. If you attend, you'll see just how improbable that was. We'll be in town tonight but we've learned that the street dance never quite seems as good as that first one so we'll probably be taking in a movie.

There is no even that exposes the true nature of Iron Range culture quite like our parade/street dance combos that occur all summer long. Come for the bold sociological experiment, stay for the legal consumption of alcohol in the streets. (Actually, those are the same thing).

A little birdie tells me that the Minnesota House K-12 Finance committee is scheduling a hearing on the Iron Range this summer. This will be a great opportunity to explain to leaders from around the state the importance of the "Minnesota Miracle" model of education funding. Every student in Minnesota deserves access to a quality education, regardless of where they live. This is the cornerstone of any actual solution to social problems like poverty.

I'll post more when I get details. It sounds like it will be a west Range venue in honor of the committee's only Iron Range member, Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township).

It's the last Polkafest ever on the Iron Range! I can't believe I forgot to post this yesterday.

Today is the headline day for Polkafest at Ironworld in Chisholm. The Iron Range has hosted Polkafest since the 1980s, but this year it was announced that the event would be moving to Carlton next year.

Polka and the Iron Range have enjoyed a long relationship, but as the fan base has aged it's been harder to get people to drive up north to attend. So today brings a bittersweet celebration of a long tradition that is slowly fading away. If you're looking for a classic Range experience, drive out to Chisholm and check this out. If you're a single lady who likes older, vaguely ethnic men, you will have your pick of dance partners.

By the by, the headline is a throwback to one I actually wrote for the Hibbing Daily Tribune in 2002 based on my interpretation of how polka songs sound. The headline was widely misunderstood, but it remains one of my favorites. OOM PA PA, indeed!

I got a call last night. You know people are reading the blog when they start using THE PHONE.

On Monday, Marsh Stenersen will announce his candidacy for State Representative in House District 7B, which encompasses Duluth's west side and downtown. This is the seat being vacated by retiring State Rep. Mike Jaros. Stenersen is an AFSCME field representative in Duluth and has been a longtime DFL activist.

I would expect Stenersen to make a vigorous play for labor endorsements. He becomes another credible candidate for the DFL nomination for this seat. Duluth Council President Roger Reinert announced his candidacy last week. The only other announced candidate is Brandon Clokey. Filing opens next week. We could see a lot of activity.

More on Stenersen will be posted Monday.

The legislative elections on the Iron Range are usually only competitive if there is a DFL primary. That's not to say that the Iron Range is excessively liberal or that there aren't any Republicans around, it's just that the DFL party structure dominates state politics around here, and has for half a century. Now, I'm been a part of that structure a long time but I'll step out of my own politics and preferences to take a look at things from a Republican perspective.

What's always baffled me about the Republican party on the Iron Range is that they fail to build on the limited advantages they have. Yes, it's harder to recruit candidates if they are likely to lose, but the local GOP has completely failed to make even a small foothold in northern Minnesota when maybe they could have kept things closer around here.

For one thing, looking at this regionally, the best GOP candidate I've seen this upcoming cycle is John Larson, who is challenging State Rep. and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm). Sertich is the highest ranking DFL rep in the area, the youngest, and the best with the media. Of all the Iron Range DFLers, he is the least likely to be picked off. But the Republicans are sending up their most legitimate challenger in this race. Larson runs Palmer's bar in Hibbing, a popular spot for working class folks. (And, amusingly, his website does not include one single use of the word "Republican").

Now, Larson lives in Hibbing and is running on his own merits in his own district, but the fact that no one in the GOP has made an overarching plan to gain footholds in the rural swing areas around the Iron Range is perplexing, as is the fact that they seem oblivious to which incumbent DFLers are vulnerable and which aren't. It is further perplexing that Range Republicans have yet to figure out how to run labor moderates instead of social issues candidates. A pro-labor Republican who is socially conservative and business focused would probably improve the GOP index by 15-20 points (you know, from 80-20 to 60-40; not great, but a start). Many of my Republican friends vote DFL on local races just because the GOP candidates aren't credible.

I am a student of history, demography, political science and sociology. I look over to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I see a dwindling mining economy propped up by tourism and various hail mary job-creation projects. The UP is running about 20 years ahead of us on the boom and bust cycle. There are four state senate seats in Michigan's UP. Two are held by Democrats and two are held by Republicans. The UP voted with Clinton through the 1990s and with Bush in the 2000s. It is a classic rural swing area.

So, for Republicans, why haven't you figured out how to turn this place into the U.P.?

And, for Democrats, what are you doing to defend the enormous advantages you've held since World War II? Some DFLers have no idea how they got into power in the first place.

Where is the party building? The party that builds on the Range in the next ten years owns it for the next 50.

My new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" continues to move through its final stages of print preparation. Today we shot the cover photograph up at the Hull Rust mine view in Hibbing. Unlike Bill O'Reilly, I am not the dominant element of of my book's cover photo. My oldest son Henry, age 3, will play a prominent role, however. Naturally, this week's good weather was punctuated by a late morning downpour as we were working on the shots, but we adapted.

The book will be officially released in October, but stay tuned here for sneak previews and your chance to get an early copy. You can also keep your eyes on my publisher's website.

Originally, "Between You and Me" on 91.7 KAXE was going to take a hiatus for Saturday, June 28, but the independent public station's summer fund raiser has been extended through Saturday so they are scrambling to put together a new show. The new topic is "cycles of life," based in part on my column of June 22. That column will be featured as my weekly contribution to this call-in/music program hosted by my friend Heidi Holtan.

It's always fun to consider the cycles (or, for Lion King fans, circle) of life: where we are, where we're going and whether or not we'll be back here again. It's also important to consider the cycles of media. Commercial newspaper, TV and radio are suffering. The Internet is surging, but volatile. Only community nonprofit stations like KAXE can whether the storm -- both on the air and online -- but KAXE depends on you. Be a member! You can listen from anywhere in the world and you'll be glad you did.

Meantime, tune in to "Between You and Me" between 10 a.m. and noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or streaming online at www.kaxe.org.

Grace Kelly over at MNBlue is discussing the possibility of former moderate Republican Gov. Arne Carlson jumping into Minnesota's U.S. Senate race either as an independent or as a DFLer. What a world! What a world! The theory is based on some push polling that was done that included Arne's name as a DFL candidate. We don't know if his name was used because of legitimate buzz about a campaign or if it was used as a "baseline" because of his large, but dispassionate, popularity in the state.

It's hard to see any scenario where Coleman gets less than 35-40 percent of the vote, which is roughly equal to Al Franken's base as well. The reason Coleman has the advantage is his lead among moderate GOPers and right-leaning independents who crossed over for Amy Klobuchar and might cross over for Barack Obama, but who have yet to warm to Franken. It's hard to say whether Carlson would help or hurt Franken's cause or eat into the GOP base. And Jesse Ventura is still mulling a run, too, which would probably hurt Franken more than Coleman.

I still like Al Franken, but his road to the Senate will be very unlike that of traditional Democratic challengers this cycle.

Jeff Rosenberg at Minnesota Campaign Report wrote what I was thinking this morning. I honestly believed that Obama vs. McCain would be a dramatically different kind of political campaign. But it really isn't. Part of the blame can be placed on Obama and McCain, but I think a good deal more of it belongs with the media and the way ideas are discussed (or ignored) in modern politics. Fact is, a lot of people on both sides have strong opinions about this campaign without really knowing why.

One of the challenges of being a Democrat in a rural place is that you are often trying to convince your neighbors to join your cause for economic reasons (Democrats have, historically, reduced the national debt and grown jobs while Republicans have, historically, tightened the job market and driven up the national debt). But, while you're saying all that, your neighbors are concerned about gun control. They genuinely fear that Democratic policies will cause them to lose their rights to own guns and use them legally.

Guns are a huge part of the culture in northern Minnesota and many other parts of the country. It's not that our people are specifically worried about violent crime, black helicopters and brutal government oppression (though some are), it's that guns are emblematic of our culture, the concept of freedom and independence. Guns are an important part of my friends' and family's identity as hunters and independent-minded northern folks.

So today is a very important day for Democrats in rural areas. The Supreme Court has ruled that Washington D.C.'s landmark law banning handguns is unconstitutional. The Court's decision affirms a law abiding American citizen's right to own guns.

What this means is that the federal and state governments can no longer pass gun laws that don't meet this new Constitutional standard. This further means that Republicans can no longer accuse Democrats of seeking -- in the open or in secret -- new laws to restrict gun ownership as a way to drum up votes from rural people. The Second Amendment is now defined quite clearly. Barack Obama, when pushed on his negative rating from the National Rifle Association, can (and should) say that legal gun ownership is an established right, we need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and focus on reducing violent crime in our cities. Political analyst Taegan Goddard says this Supreme Court decision takes gun control out of the national debate.

Which leaves voters to ask other questions. Whose got the best ideas for the economy? Who's got the most effective foreign policy for the 21st century. Who's going to fix my damn road?

These are all Democratic issues, or at least they should be, so today is a big victory for rural Democrats.

A healthy economic recovery on the Iron Range must include vast improvements to our technological infrastructure (or, in deference to my friends in the broadband business ... the means of delivering our tech infrastructure). It's one way to use our region's mineral resources to lay out a non-specific red carpet for a huge number of non-mineral industries, including many of the creative services that propel a healthy local economy.

And, though I sometimes feel alone in this call, I'm not alone. Today Timothy Karr blogs about a national push for broadband across the social spectrum on the Huffington Post. He says that what I'm talking about can only happen if the industry, the government and people like us, on the ground in underrepresented internet areas, get together. This is part of a wider movement. And people are most important of all because they elect the government, which can push the industry.

Karr writes:

Closing the broadband digital divide should have been a real national priority for the past eight years. We can't afford NOT to make it a priority for the next eight. While our status as world technology leader went into free fall, Congress sat on the sidelines and the White House ducked and dodged.

There's a reason for that. Getting everyone connected is a political issue at its core. The policy process has been dominated thus far by the broadband incumbents and their well-heeled lobbyists. These companies prefer our lagging Internet status quo to public involvement, choice and real innovation.

And the community that uses the Internet is only now beginning to get organized to guide the debates that will shape its future. We clearly need to do more organizing with the tens of millions of people in communities that can't access the Web.

Getting us back on top will require a national broadband framework that is supported by those beyond the Beltway - who stand to gain the most from a national broadband agenda that promotes access, choice, openness and innovation. And we need bold leadership willing to reject the conventional political wisdom and explore real solutions.

So, where's our bold leadership? I'm just a simple country blogger. I can't do this by myself.

Boom times a' comin' to the Iron Range. That's the story and I mostly believe it. There will be jobs created here in the next few years, mostly because steel is selling high and our local iron mining operations are much more competitive in the global economy.

If big new plants like the ones proposed for Minnesota Steel near Nashwauk or Polymet over on the East Range are built, there will be thousands of permanent and temporary jobs created and a demand for housing. From Tuesday's Duluth News Tribune:

The Iron Range will need an additional 722 to 2,712 housing units by the end of 2013 to accommodate growth specifically caused by proposed or pending development projects, according to a study released Tuesday.

“Iron Range Housing: Planning for Growth” was prepared by the St. Paul-based engineering and planning firm Bonestroo for the Range Readiness Initiative’s housing team.

“We’re taking the first important step of looking at the condition of our existing housing stock and what we might need for new housing,” housing team chairwoman Mary Ives said. “It’s going to give us the hard data we need in making critical decisions.”

The hard data does not tell leaders how to address the needs. The tone of the quotes in the story implies that we can either try to retrofit and update our current aging housing stock or encourage the building of new developments. This brings me to an important point, one that everyone involved in Range government or politics should note.

We must not let developers run the show at this point in Iron Range history. Developers will tell us that we need to build vast housing tracts on the edges of our towns or massive new apartment buildings. Those are the things that developers suggest because they make the most money for developers, especially when they get subsidies from cities, counties and other units of government. We must address the aging housing stock and infrastructure of our Range towns FIRST or we never will. Our towns will age in the middle and overbuild on the edges, causing all kinds of financial problems for our local governments, citizens and overall economy. Suburbs have gotten away with this kind of development (even though it's unsustainable and bad) because they have raw population growth and massive amounts of money moving through the real estate markets. We don't have either of those things on the Iron Range. We need to be smart with our big shot at stabilizing our famously unstable economy by addressing the very unsexy problem of old, unsellable homes in downtown Name of Range Town. This will mean spending money on repairs and restoration instead of hot, sexy new developments with soap opera names like "Misty Meadows" and "Lilies Dancing on the Fields of Freaking Huge Mortgages."

You know that developers get the same Google Alerts I get. They see stories like this and smell an opportunity. I see news like this and see the responsibility of Iron Range leaders to do what's right in the long run. Don't be fooled by fancy talk.

OMG! Hibbing is getting a Peebles!

A what now?

For the last several years people in the Iron Range's largest city of Hibbing have been anticipating the coming of a new retailer after the big Wal-Mart came in and precipitated the closure of our Kmart and Pamida while the local mall saw most of its tenants leave. We've seen some new strip malls go up, but no big stores. But one was coming, we heard. And it was huge!

Big Lots! We heard

Target! We heard.

Gander Mountain! We heard, and the menfolk rejoiced.

Well, yesterday the Irongate Plaza (that's the mall) announced it had signed Peebles. The Hibbing Daily Tribune has the story. Peeples is a clothing/department store. Kind of like Old Navy but, you know, Peebles.

Discuss.

My "hometown" paper is the Hibbing Daily Tribune (in as much as I live in a very rural township with no paper and this one is somewhat close and runs my weekly column). The Tribune, like most small town dailies, doesn't run nearly as many syndicated columnists as it used to for budget reasons. One they do run is the venerable Gene Lyons based out of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, who backed the Clintons through many of their 1990s controversies.

Now, I get that a lot of people aren't on board with Barack Obama. Polls say about 35-40 percent are currently planning to vote for the other guy and another 10-15 percent don't know what to make of Obama. But Lyons has become like that loud relative you have who sends out that famous slanderous e-mail forward about Obama and then sends it again with exclamation points when you refute the content. It seems every column of his that's run in our paper includes rambling diatribes against Obama using talking points that are from the Clinton campaign circa late February. I don't dislike all of what Lyons does, but here's a guy who is taking the Clinton loss a little too hard and a little too personally. I realize that his perspective represents a genuine portion of the electorate, but his columns shouldn't be the only point of view available to people in the western and central Mesabi Iron Range.

Frankly, Obama's story of being raised by a single mom and grandparents and improbably rising up the political ladder through talent and sheer will would normally be a badge of honor on the Range. We're a blue collar Democratic stronghold that rewards hard work and smarts. But the people here aren't hearing the story. The only letters to the editor I've seen have had to do with marginal cable news issues (the "bitter" story, feminists should vote for McCain, etc.) instead of the big issues (war, economy, health care, etc.). And then the steady drumbeat of Gene Lyons. For as big as this election has been in the national news, there is an absolute vacuum of public discourse about it in my area. Obama's decision not to run his introductory ads in this state probably presumes a margin of victory up here that is not yet secure.

The good news is that people around here really don't like Tim Pawlenty. If McCain picks him, we can count on everyone coming home fast.

So tonight I'm watching ABC World News and their cutesy tag story at the end is about the cult obsession with this Animal Planet show called "Meerkat Manor." It's a reality show about a community of meerkats. I've got to admit, I've never seen it before. Never even heard of it. But the news shows all these people geeking out over the meerkats. They're having house parties, decorating meerkat cakes, playing meerkat trivia games, the whole thing. Apparently last year one of the really important meerkats died from a snake bite and there were all these You Tube videos commemorating this apparently famous meerkat ("I will remember you, will you remember me?" and so on).

So I'm watching this thing and I'm yelling at the TV like Elvis used to. What is this? Who are these people? What's the big deal with these rat/cat things?

And then I realized. This is what John McCain feels like when he watches TV. Or when he hears stories about the tubes these kids are playing with.

I tell you, that can't be easy. I felt a little out of place right then. A little like I wanted a prolonged military occupation of a hot, politically unstable region. Just so that this crazy world could make more sense.

Man, I've got to keep up on these meerkats.

I didn't post anything about George Carlin's passing yesterday. I am working on a column for next Sunday. Most who know me know that I hardly every use Carlin's famous "seven words you can't say on television," but I realized after some contemplation that these words have been a tremendous influence in my life. And that's what I'm working on for Sunday.

Blake Chaffee, a Duluth DFLer and campaign manager for Congressman Jim Oberstar, has opted not to enter the race for State Representative in District 7B. This comes on the day when Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert officially announced his campaign and leaves Reinert with uncontested frontrunner status.

Chaffee issues the following statement this afternoon:

"After careful consideration I have decided I will not be a candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives.

"I am absolutely humbled by the support I have received from my friends in the DFL community, and I look forward to future opportunities to serve. Two years ago I made a commitment to Congressman Oberstar and feel that I am in a position to best serve my party, and my community, by working to elect a Democratic ticket this November.

"I am confident that we will emerge with a strong Democratic candidate who will be a voice for progressive issues, and working class families here in Duluth."

According to Duluth sources, Chaffee remains a rising star in northern Minnesota's DFL party and with his high profile job working for Jim Oberstar he may well have another shot at elective office in the future.

Meanwhile, this leaves Reinert with a clear path to the DFL endorsement and, possibly, nomination. The only other announced DFL candidate is political newcomer Brandon Stokey, who continues to remain silent despite the rising profile of this election. Others may enter, but Reinert is unrolling what appears to be a top notch legislative campaign. Frankly, the only person in West Duluth who can cause trouble for Reinert now is businessman and former mayoral candidate Charlie Bell. Bell beat Mayor Don Ness in the West Duluth precincts and could be very competitive as a moderate DFLer in a District 7B primary. I'd really like to know his plans.

So, who else is out there?

Yesterday I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," a novel about a man and his son searching for food and shelter in a post-apocalyptic America. They survive through sheer will, try to maintain hope despite absolutely no evidence that hope exists. Roving gangs of cannibals rule the landscape.

And, with no intent to cheapen McCarthy's great work, something about this book reminds me of today's newspaper industry.

Today, Jim Heffernan writes his last column for the Duluth News-Tribune. Management is moving in a different direction. He and I are, or were, part of a very, very small collection of writers paid specifically to maintain a column in a northern Minnesota daily newspaper. (I am a paid columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune). This is different than a reporter or editor writing a column as part of his or her job duties or from syndicated columnists who sell their work to multiple papers. Independent columnists provide a point of view that can and should be refreshingly different than the views inside the news room. Heffernan's day of reckoning came today. I know mine will come eventually. But still, we move down the road toward a hope that hope exists somewhere, in some time, in some medium.

Raise your glasses for Jim Heffernan, dean of northern Minnesota letters!

I had already reported that he was planning a run, but Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert is officially announcing his candidacy for the House District 7B DFL nomination today at the Duluth Zoo.

Reinert to Announce 7B Intentions

Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert to Announce Candidacy for State House of Representatives

Duluth, Minnesota – Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert will announce his candidacy for the Minnesota House of Representatives at noon on Monday, June 23, 2008 at the Lake Superior Zoo.

President Reinert is seeking the 7B State House of Representatives seat being vacated by retiring legislator Mike Jaros.

Please direct all media inquiries and questions to Campaign Manager, Kris Ridgewell.

So he's running. He's got a campaign manager. He knows how to send out press releases. He has the word "President" in front of his name. Sounds like a front runner to me. I think we'll get a good sense of who our 7B candidates will be this upcoming week. Feel free to use the comments to make sarcastic remarks about announcing a campaign at the zoo. I can't settle on just one. But don't worry, I'm sure Roger is making some kind of point out of his selection of venues.

Where is House District 7B? Here is a PDF. As you'll see it includes West Duluth and downtown, the heart of the city. 7A includes the high-fallutin' east side and UM-Duluth. Duluth's growing "suburbs" are represented by 6A, 6B, and even Tony Sertich's Iron Range-centered 5B. I live in 3A, which includes the Western Mesabi Iron Range, the wooded northern portion of Itasca County, Koochiching and Lake of the Woods counties and most of Manitoba and the Northwest Terrritories. I am writing about 7B because that's where my local TV comes from and I loves the TV.

Rolf Westgard, who comments occasionally here at MinnesotaBrown, poses an interesting commentary in today's Duluth News-Tribune, connecting human population growth, the use of natural resources and northern Minnesota's economy. He even gets in a plug for high speed rail, which makes my recommendation even easier to give.

An honors graduate in mathematics from Cambridge, [Thomas Robert] Malthus argued that the human sex drive can produce geometric increases in population per the series 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. At the same time, the Earth can, at best, provide increased resources at an arithmetic rate, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

With that in mind, let’s reflect on the motives behind Essar Global’s acquisition of Minnesota Steel Industries (“Indian firm will build steel plant,” Oct. 23). Was it to build a high-cost steel plant on the Iron Range? Or was it to obtain a billion tons of precious taconite ore to feed the steel plants Essar already owns in Canada, Ohio, and West Virginia?

Read the whole op/ed.

This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 22, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune.

The things we learn in a decade
By Aaron J. Brown

I’m finally starting to pick up on the patterns of nature out where I live. I grew up in the country around the edges of the Mesabi Iron Range, but I was a kid more interested in books than deer or fish. Then I went to college and got a job in the big(ish) city. About three years ago we moved from Hibbing back out to the rural fringe. When you live in a place where the power goes out every time it’s windy, you realize that you’re really a part of a natural rhythm. Robins arrive. Loons nest on the lakeshore. Leaves bud. The smell rolls from the cold, woody scent of February to the stinky musk of April and then the hot, sweet odor of late June. Then, this past weekend, the turtles arrived.

Turtles are everywhere. You don’t see turtles in town, even small towns (especially since five and dime stores stopped selling turtles, and then stopped existing altogether). We’ve got turtles dragging across our country road at all times these days. I thought I was finally settling into my country ways when I decided to greet a turtle in a cartoonish way.

“Hello, Mr. Turtle!” I declared.

The turtle peed all over the driveway and ran, RAN, as fast as a turtle can run away from an idiot who thinks he’s Dr. Doolittle because he finally knows that pine trees aren’t all the same.

“Hey, Mr. Turtle, I mean you no harm.”

Mr. Turtle pees again, and runs faster.

Growing up in rural northern Minnesota, I have always been surrounded by experts. They know the names of the animals, may have even been here when God told the people to name them. They knew when the ice was out early, or late, and when it was safe to put out the lawn chairs. I know a little, but not what they know. But, thankfully, I still have the power to change all this.

Speaking of natural cycles, last weekend brought my high school class reunion. The matters of turtles, foliage and nature’s cycle were not discussed at the reunion, but the fact that we were all part of a pattern of life was on bold display. It’s been 10 years, a decade (to enhance the drama) since we had all marched through the Cherry High School gym/auditorium/tornado shelter to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.” On this day, however, we were all just regular people, many of us married and raising kids, worrying about our siding, shingles and our youthful ambitions that, while still possible, have become much less assured than back when we were invincible. There was karaoke, beer, conversation, additional beer, and then someone would ask, “What have you been doing these last 10 years?”

Ten years? That’s serious.

Most people who read this are over 28 and, thus, know that the 10-year reunion is the first stop of many along life’s journey. Some who read this probably know that turtles pee when you try to say hello. But that’s the glory of this time of life. You’re old enough to know that you’re fallible but young enough to learn new things, perhaps even to change course if you want. Perhaps this changes with age or maybe it is and always has been a personal choice. I don’t know. I’m still working on figuring out turtles, because I do know that they show up every June, crossing highways, moving toward something that is very, very important to turtles.

I archive my columns at my writing site. My new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" will be released in October by Red Step Press.

It's repeated often around the Iron Range, certainly here, that our wealth of natural resources in northern Minnesota will keep us alive in some form well into the future. One of those resources (and a renewable one at that) got some mixed news this week, though probably a net positive

According to a story in the Duluth News Tribune and another at Minnesota Public Radio, a study shows that northern Minnesota's forests can sustain biomass harvest for energy production. This means we really can maintain healthy forestry practices while powering smaller power plants with something cleaner than coal or gas. However, the study also shows that the profits in collecting the necessary forest material would be small to none, an economic factor that will slow the development of large scale energy production from wood. If we can figure out how to sustain biomass energy, it would mean that we could create a self-sustaining energy loop in northern Minnesota, providing our own electricity for our own industry. (Right now, most of northern Minnesota's energy comes from coal-fired plants run by Minnesota Power or city utilities, with outside electricity coming from carbon-free hydroelectric plants in Manitoba).

Once that biomass energy grid is up we can leverage our control of the vast amounts of fresh water and minerals up here to force any number of posh suburbs into submission. Pretty cool, eh? Oh yeah, there is space available at our malls. LOTS AND LOTS of it.

Things are going to change, I can feel it.

Norm Coleman's latest TV ad has made it all the way to the heart of U.S. political snark at Wonkette. The fact that it's "real" no longer matters. (Though it still looks incredibly fake).

We have not yet plumbed the depth of weirdness we will see in this high-profile race.

Our sympathies go out to Rep. Tom Rukavina and his family after the news of his mother's death arrived during last night's budget meeting at Iron Range Resources. The meeting was adjourned and the budget issues will be resolved at a future meeting.

During the meeting, Rukavina had just proposed cuts to the commissioner's proposed budget and some criticism of spending priorities was starting to percolate among board members. Today's Mesabi Daily News has the story.

EVELETH — Iron Range Resources Board members were waiting Thursday night for the details of a proposed amendment to the Fiscal Year 2009 $31.7 million budget to be composed by agency staff.

The two-hour meeting was in recess with adoption of the budget pending. Then real life became much more important than a budget or an amendment or a meeting.

“The meeting will be adjourned,” said Board Chairman Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, who said Board Member and Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, had just gotten word that his mother had died. She had been ill for some time and was a resident of the Virginia Convalescent Center. It was Rukavina who had proposed the amendment to adopt the budget with the exception of several line items that totaled about $ 2 million. Those items included funds in the marketing and communications, development strategies, commissioner projects and renewable energy areas of the budget.

...

Board Member and state Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, said he, too, was concerned about the lack of detail on some of the budget items. “These are all public dollars,” he said of the agency’s money that is derived from taconite production taxes paid by mining companies in lieu of property taxes, adding it wasn’t like a chamber of commerce budget based on membership fees. “It seems like you’re running a giant chamber of commerce on steroids” rather than an economic development agency, he said, his remarks directed toward Commissioner Sandy Layman.

The board did approve grants and loans for an iron magnetization project near Keewatin. I hadn't realized how few full time jobs were associated with this project, which extracts iron from piles of overburden. It's exciting that we can make use of our mining waste here on the Iron Range, but this particular project is really just a salvage operation. Not a bad thing, but let's not overstate the implications.

And we'll see where the discussion goes on the budget. The commissioner's plan does include $5.6 million for public works, but there will be continued debate over these $2 million in other projects and programs.

Tune in tomorrow, Saturday, June 21, to 91.7 KAXE for "Between You and Me" featuring, among many other things, my weekly commentary. This week's topic is "camping," which is also the theme of station's summer fund raiser. If you've never heard a KAXE on-air fund raiser, check it out. They provide elaborate thematic adventures that often create highly amusing radio memories. Way better than Garrison Keillor shaking you down for change on MPR. And, for that matter, join KAXE. They are the thin green line protecting the People from broadcasting mediocrity.

"Between You and Me" airs Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota and streaming online at www.kaxe.org. Check it out!

PS: For out of area readers, seriously, KAXE pipes out at 100,000 watts and is a totally for-real independent public station that seeks to represent northern Minnesota's unique culture.

Minnesota 20/20, a progressive think tank, is touting an increase in Minnesota's unemployment rate from April (4.8 percent) to May (5.4 percent) as a sign of deep trouble in the Minnesota economy.

On one hand I want to say that half a point isn't too bad and that even 5.4 percent is on the low end of unemployment rates, historically. On the other, my experience with labor statistics tells me that we should not have that kind of spike going into summer. Usually, the bad spike happens in the winter. And I further wonder how many of those unemployed are teachers. (That's a biased statement not based on any evidence, but I've got friends in the business who are having a hell of a time).

UPDATE: Coleman campaign releases statement insisting green screen rumors are false.

This is old news to blogger types, but all over Minnesota's blogsphere -- especially among my friends at MNBlue and MNPublius -- observers are chattering about Sen. Norm Coleman's latest ad featuring his wife Laurie.

If you didn't know, one of the rumors that the Colemans have been unable to shake is that Laurie and Norm live apart: she in California and he in St. Paul and Washington and that their marriage is not what they portray it to be. I've got no confirmation on any of that; that's just the unshakable rumor that has dogged them for a decade. That's kind of an troublesome load to have rattling around in the back seat when you're trying to paint the stably married Al Franken as being out of touch with family values. This ad was clearly, clearly, designed to counter that rumor.

The only problem is that, if you look close, it appears that the ad was shot with the use of a "green screen" so that Laurie's part could be recorded in one place and Norm's part edited in later ... to make it look like they were in the same room. It would appear, and I would welcome evidence to the contrary, that the Coleman "We're Happily Married" ad was shot without the two spouses in the same room, which has to be some kind of political first. Check it out and judge for yourself. I could be wrong, but right before Norm gets up to take the garbage out it sure looks like a high school AV club run amok.

Even if they really were in the same room, the ad features Laurie saying "they'll say he's in the pocket of big oil" and Norm smiling by the garbage can at the end, which makes it a little politically misguided on its own. The wacky music is all that keeps it from spiraling into some kind of sad Russian drama.

UPDATE: Even if the Colemans were in the same room that doesn't change the odd angles and lighting in the ad. The Coleman campaign had to release a statement insisting that the candidate and his wife were, in fact, in the same room during the campaign's least controversial TV commercial. Most campaigns don't have to do that.

A source familiar with Duluth DFL politics says Blake Chaffee, Jim Oberstar's campaign manager, is strongly mulling a run for State Representative in District 7B, the West Duluth seat being vacated by the retiring DFL Rep. Mike Jaros.

I haven't met Chaffee since he succeeded current Duluth Mayor Don Ness in the job of Oberstar's campaign chief, but he's appeared on several lists of potential candidates when Jaros announced his retirement a few days ago. I am trying to confirm this with Chaffee and will let you know when I do.

If true, Chaffee would join City Councilor Roger Reinert and relatively unknown Brandon Clokey in the DFL pool of candidates, a list that seems like it could get very long and very competitive. There's a lot of hungry political types waiting for retirements down there.

UPDATE: Blake e-mailed me and gave me a brief statement.

I am considering running and am looking to make a final decision in the coming days. At any rate, we have big shoes to fill. Mike is a true progressive who has been an advocate for working families in our Duluth community and for all of Minnesota.

That said, Minnesotan's are hurting right now, Governor Pawlenty and Republicans in the legislature have taken this state down the wrong path. To say they are out of touch is an understatement. Now more than ever we need to invest in the health and well being of our people and our communities.

Duluth continues to shrink and export our young people. It is time to create new opportunities to grow our economy and create jobs in Duluth. We need to make sure that every Minnesotan has health care, fix our crumbling infrastructure, and provide the opportunity everyone with the desire to afford a college education or a trade school.

The Governor doesnt seem to know or care about the struggles facing Minnesotans. I think folks just want a fair shake, an opportunity to succeed. Democrats understand that, and they understand that government will be the driving force of our renewal by creating those opportunities.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura may likely run for the U.S. Senate this year, according to longtime adviser and briefly appointed U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley.

If Ventura does run, take all your conventional wisdom about the Franken vs. Coleman race and throw it out. I don't know that Ventura has a chance to actually win (it depends on how Coleman and Franken react to his candidacy). But he will take in a large number of disaffected Republicans, Democrats and independents in the disgruntled nooks and crannies of the political spectrum. He pulls 15 percent easy, with a ceiling around 40 (which could win).

But I'm betting that some lessons were learned after Ventura's surprise election as governor in 1998. Coleman and Franken will do a better job in keeping their bases than Coleman and Humphrey did that year. If it's all about the base, then Franken has a good chance. Polls show more self-identified Democrats in Minnesota than Republicans. And a lot of the veneer has worn off Ventura's act since 1998. He has shown some capability in politics, but has also taken far too many opportunities to make a buck when the cameras are pointed at him. And there is just no way I can see this guy stomaching six whole years in the United States Senate ... not without some kind of high profile incident.

Still, as this whole discussions shows, Minnesota remains an independent-minded state.

A story in yesterday's Hibbing Daily Tribune explained that tonight's Iron Range Resources board meeting will explore the proposed $31 million budget for this unique state agency funded by taconite mining taxes.

My friends Tony Sertich and Tom Anzelc explain the agency's purpose in the Mike Jennings story:

Two other IRRB members, Reps. Tony Sertich and Tom Anzelc, stressed the linkage between the agency’s spending and the main ongoing source of the agency’s funding, taconite production taxes.

Given that mining companies pay the taconite tax in lieu of property taxes, and given that those companies require the same sewer, water and other services as the rest of the community, it’s appropriate that the IRRB use its funding to improve the region’s “crumbling and aging infrastructure,” said Sertich, DFL-Chisholm.

Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, said he frequently reminds his constituents “that this is their money — that this is money that our major industry contributes to the local economy.”

Wise use of the taconite taxes is “the reason why our infrastructure is adequate,” he said. “It can always be better. .... But we’re able to manage the future off these resources, off these dollars, paid by the mining companies.”

The big showdown tonight will probably come over IRR commissioner Sandy Layman's budget proposals. In recent years the agency has come to adopt a model that makes it sort of like a giant chamber of commerce: highly business focused and quick to spend on marketing packets and consultants. Many on the board, and yours truly (who is probably banned for life from the board after starting this blog), would like to see the board take a more comprehensive approach to the spending of its resources. This is the people's money, funds that in other regions would be spent on schools, streets and services, and the people need to see a tangible return on their investment.

We'll see what happens.

UPDATE (6-19 at 12:18 p.m.): Iron Range Resources has contacted me (OMG, they read this blog!) with some updated figures on the agency's public works spending over the past three years and what's proposed for the 2009 budget. Essentially, about $13 million was spent on public infrastructure projects on the Iron Range over the past three years, including about $5 million this year. The agency proposes slightly more than $5 million more in public works projects for this upcoming year, roughly equal to the amount spent on business development projects.

I certainly was well aware of public works spending by the agency, but my original argument remains largely the same. Where are we going with this other spending? What's the mission? Since even routine IRR board meetings that have no agenda items sometimes end in fisticuffs, I'm sure tonight might provide some sparks.

UPDATE 2: An abridged report from the meeting indicated that the final budget was not yet approved because of a hang-up on how to reword an amendment and because of a family emergency for a board member. Not too many fireworks, I heard, and we'll be revisiting the budget once again in coming days.

The DNT has a nice story about the retirement of State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth) today. I don't know Jaros, and I've learned that I didn't know much about his very interesting background, either. I always hear he's a good guy.

In the story, Duluth city councilor Roger Reinert, after acknowledging Jaros in the story, says he's "seriously considering" a run for the 7B seat as a DFLer. But from the tone of his comments he seems to be "super duper seriously considering it." He sounds like a candidate.

Meantime, one person mentioned as a candidate in DFL circles has sent me a press release saying he is not running: state DFL committeeman and Duluth native Kendall Killian. Killian says he is going to focus on the his job with the MAPE union and the important Presidential and U.S. Senate races for this year. He also offered the best reason for not running that I have yet to hear:

“Simply put, I cannot sacrifice the time away from my bachelor lifestyle to pursue this office,” Killian said.

Not only did Killian send me a press release saying he's not running, but he included a bio.

Kendal Killian is a native of Duluth and member of the DFL State Executive Committee. He has worked for numerous DFL campaigns and progressive causes around the state and once earned second place in the Land of the Loon loon-calling contest. Killian currently lives in the Seward neighborhood Minneapolis with no children, dogs or cats. He enjoys playing softball, biking and drinking cheap beer.

We haven't heard the last of him, me thinks.

A full 24 hours after Jaros' announcement, we have only one serious DFLer, Roger Reinert, publicly talking about running. Brandon Clokey still says he's a candidate, but has yet to file a campaign committee after announcing his candidacy six months ago. If he didn't use a six month jump on his competition to raise money and campaign, I don't see how he can win a competitive primary. In any case, we'll see what comes next.

St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic announced they were ending their annual New Year's Eve Ball, according to today's Duluth News-Tribune. With a price tag of $125,000, the event has become too spendy, SMDC officials say. Also, WDIO Channels 10/13 had announced they would not telecast the Ball as they had in previous years, eliminating a valuable public relations benefit.

Most people subject to the Duluth TV market might not be bothered by this, but I'll miss the New Year's broadcast. Living in the woods as we do, attending drunken New Year's parties is out of the question. But we always enjoyed the awkward revelry of watching local people dance in low light. All the national networks celebrate New Year's at 11 p.m. CST, so this was the only show in town for nerds like us.

Another reason cited by SMDC from today's story:

A final reason is that Duluth nightlife has changed since SDMC started organizing New Year’s parties 23 years ago. With a lot more going on, Bode said SMDC doesn’t want to compete with local businesses that offer entertainment that night.

Meantime, the nightlife in my neighborhood remains the same: night rides with a rifle and a 12-pack. You don't need a holiday; you just need ammo.

Right now we hear plenty about the problem of rising food and gas prices. Indeed, these prices matter greatly in the lives of everyday Americans, but they're explainable. Food prices are rising with global demand. Gas prices are actually just readjusting to inflation after years of relative American underpricing (and, again, rising global demand).

But the rising cost of health care services facing everyday Americans remains in many ways more troubling. The reason for these price increases might be explainable, but remains much more complicated and outrageous when compared with the health care systems of other nations. Republicans blame trial lawyers and lawsuits for increasing insurance costs for doctors, which are passed on to patients. Democrats blame insurance and drug companies for jacking up costs. Who's right? Both, and more. The old days of people paying doctors for actual services rendered are long gone. We've passed the point where we can easily adopt a single-payer universal system. Basically, the United States -- and Minnesota -- are stuck trying to figure out an improved system on the fly while hundreds of millions in special interest dollars cloud the debate.

Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) visited Hibbing with his House health care committee last year. Unlike most of the politicians who call me to get in my column or blog, he actually followed up a year later. (A true gentleman). So I'm going to share what Rep. Thissen told me with you.

I thought you might be interested in a report on the state of health care and health coverage in Minnesota issued last week by Families USA: Failing Grades: State Consumer Protections in the Individual Health Insurance Market ( http://familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/failing-grades.html). The report reconfirms the two concerns that I hear most from around the state: health care is unaffordable even for those with insurance and people cannot get coverage due to a preexisting medical condition.

The bottom line is that Minnesota's current system discriminates against our sickest neighbors and friends. Those who need regular health care most are forced to pay more for coverage (if they can get it). I was also shocked that insurance companies have broad latitude to revoke coverage after the fact if a serious medical condition exists. That is a health care system turned on its head.

I should also point out that Minnesota ranks very well on other measures. That is not just a pat on our collective back. John McCain and Republicans in the Minnesota legislature propose to simply open the door to any insurer who wants to sell its product in the state regardless of whether the product complies with state law consumer protections. The Failing Grades report makes clear the danger of that approach. Minnesotans do and should expect that certain standards be met when it comes to health care and health insurance. States play a critical role in making sure expectations are met.

Thissen and some allies have put together a website to explore Minnesota's health care options. Come for the creepy computerized talking doctor, stay for the worthy discussion of an important issue.

OK, not really. But I'll want to.

Maybe you care (I hope you don't) but our Minnesota blogosphere is freaking out over SUSA's latest poll on the state's Presidential and Senate elections.

The poll shows Barack Obama only up by one point (most other polls have him up by up by 8-12 points) and Norm Coleman leading Al Franken by 12 in the Senate race (others show Coleman up by 2-6 points).

Then, nationally, I watched "Good Morning America" lead with their ABC/Washington Post poll as the TOP STORY today. (Obama up by 6 nationally, a "virtual dead heat" according to their all-important news ticker).

I'm starting to understand the phenomenon. (Seth Colter Walls blogs about the idea of super charged poll reading at the Huffington Post after interviewing prominent pollster John Zogby). Whether this race is a dead heat or not, it will be reported as one. If a poll shows a statistically significant lead for any candidate (usually 5-6 points or more) it will be followed by some sign of "trouble" in a particular demographic ("He's not holding the Mongolian-American yak importers!") The networks and cable need this to be close or else they're going to have nothing to talk about. More important, they'll lose LOTS of money.

As far as SUSA's Minnesota poll goes, maybe it's an outlier and maybe it isn't. So far, it looks like one (their northeastern Minnesota cross tabs are dead wrong ... I just don't buy it). The next few will prove that definitively. But if we're going to talk about every one of these polls like they were our blood pressure numbers then gradually they WILL BECOME our blood pressure numbers.

Let's start talking about policy proposals. Poll numbers will move where they'll move, but at least people will know what the heck is actually going on.

Duluth city council president Roger Reinert will announce his intention to run for the House 7B seat being vacated by longtime State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth), according to a political ally. Reinert will seek the DFL endorsement next month, according to fellow city councilor and DFLer Jeff Anderson.

The only other announced candidate for the DFL nomination is Brandon Clokey, who had intended to run against Jaros in the primary. Clokey is new to elected politics and has been incredibly quiet since his announcement in January and Jaros's announcement yesterday. Until he organizes a public presence he faces an uphill fight.

Though Reinert seems to be the frontrunner based on his experience and strong political skill, there will be other candidates for the endorsement and primary. I just haven't confirmed any of them. I am getting a list of people who live in 7B and might be considered potential candidates. One informant told me there may be some non-elected union people looking at the race. Another reminded me that former mayor Herb Bergson and mayoral candidate and businessman Charlie Bell (assuming he's still DFL) live in that district. These guys are not popular with DFL activists but would be formidable primary candidates. I also heard the name Kerry Gauthier (former 8th CD DFL chair) and a host of other active party types who I don't know very well. I need to find out more about them.

A DFL primary between an endorsed Roger Reinert and Herb Bergson or Charlie Bell in West Duluth is a true September smack down that you could sell tickets for. To nerds, anyway. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll probably see half a dozen names seeking that 7B DFL endorsement and two or three more for the primary.

Meantime, Allan Kehr is running for the GOP nomination. The DFL index in this district runs 3-1, though, so Kehr has his work cut out for him. He has shown the political instinct (or possesses the dumb luck) to get his name out there the same day as the Jaros retirement announcement, though. Reinert will have a huge advantage if he gets his name out as the first high profile DFL candidate.

Duluth's beloved Grandma's Marathon is this upcoming weekend, which has prompted a series of preview stories in the Duluth News-Tribune. I doubt any stories will hold the clickability of this one from Monday, June 16. Janna Goerdt writes about the issue of runners urinating on the property of people near the starting line every year.

While many Duluthians celebrate and welcome the marathoners who sweep into town each June, some who live along the race course dread the event.

Despite the rows of portable restrooms set up near the starting line, “the runners are everywhere, peeing right before the race,” said Renee Igo. “It’s really a disgusting, disrespectful experience. In any other context, it would not be OK.”

Race organizers say it’s not OK with them, either, but other than asking runners to please respect private and public property, there’s not a lot they can do about it.

It's funny, but I've actually written about this "marathon pee" situation in the past. Apparently people along the warmup routes of major marathons always have to deal with the problem, some even using their garden hoses to spray perpetrators in the act. For serious runners, having an empty bladder -- and empty everything else (I'm getting to that) -- is very important at the start of a marathon. I talked to some people I know who run marathons, one of whom is very, very serious, and she says she knows people who rub Vaseline down the insides and backs of their legs to keep, you know, stuff, from sticking to them when said stuff comes a' tumblin' down. You might train all year to run a particular marathon or might be on the edge of a qualifying average time for a higher level of competition and, so, stopping at the Biffy just won't fly.

No one talks about this side of the marathon world. I think it belongs right here on the Internet, don't you? Any stories out there? Google will haunt your world if you start searching on this topic.

Longtime State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth) will not seek re-election in 2008. He told fellow DFLers and the Duluth News Tribune he was retiring from his seat in solidly working class DFL West Duluth this afternoon.

I need to do some research to see who the potential candidates might be in this race. Political novice Brandon Clokey announced his intention to run in the DFL primary last January, but I don't know much about him. Republican Allan Kehr announced today he would seek the GOP nomination for District 7B. I expect many DFLers to consider running for the Jaros seat, but must admit that most of the obvious names of Duluth DFLers are based on the city's east side. I'll see what I can find.

Duluth friends, any tips to help this Iron Ranger break this one down?

UPDATE: OK, there are some bigger potential candidates on that side than I thought. Developing ...

UPDATE 2: I'm getting lots of names now from all sorts of unsubstantiated rumor mills. The big one in my mind is Duluth City Council President Roger Reinert. Some say he might be interested and he lives on the West Side. He's impressed me when I've seen him do interviews and he seems to be a hard working guy. But there will almost certainly be an endorsement fight and a primary in this race. I'm still checking on some of the other city councilors and political types down in Duluth.

Jason Baker of the Star Tribune has a must read piece for anyone who uses the Internet (and if you're reading this, that means you). When I talk about building a fast, reliable public/private high speed internet network on the Iron Range this is what I mean and this is why it matters so very much.

Unless Internet providers invest up to $55 billion in new infrastructure, the report warns, consumer and corporate use of the Internet could exceed capacity in as little as two years, potentially leading to brownouts and slowing the pace of e-commerce.

This report is not the harbinger of digital doom that many in the Twin Cities technology community fear. The Internet will not crash, and your employees still will be able to waste time watching Will Ferrell videos on YouTube. But our ability to profit from future Internet innovations could suffer, and that's why Minnesotans need to be aware of this impending crisis -- and demand concrete solutions from Internet carriers like Qwest and Comcast, and the legislators who can ensure that all Minnesotans enjoy the benefits of high-speed Internet access.

Just think, Iron Range Resources could invest in shoring up the Internet infrastructure on the Iron Range (indeed, preferably WITH the help of Qwest, Mediacom and other private companies) using it's unique revenue stream from a currently flush mining economy. Then, when this statewide internet crisis hits WE are prepared, WE attract e-commerce business and telecommuters and WE diversify our natural resources economy. It's called planning. And if our local and state officials could get past their personal relationships with those lobbying for the status quo, we could really do something.

I'm not advocating unfair business practices or unwise use of taxpayer dollars; only that we will need to address this anyway. Private and public interests working together can change this area for the better. This is not the kind of issue that voters will petition for, but it's the kind of decision that our great-grandchildren will look back upon and regard as wise.

Charlie Quimby from Growth and Justice wrote an interesting analysis on the problems facing Warroad, Minn., in far northwestern Minnesota as the town's big employer, Marvin Windows, expands to North Dakota instead of in its hometown. Though not identical to the problems the Iron Range and other rural towns face in coming years, there are parallels.

People and infrastructure are far more important than tax gimmicks or more and better consultants. To grow an economy you need creative, hard working people and the infrastructure to do business competitively. Yes, tax policy and incentives matter, but without people and infrastructure you can spend vast amounts of money, cut vast amounts of taxes and still get the shaft.

This is my weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, June 15, 2008. I went a little crazy this week. This is the result of living in the deep woods of northern Minnesota and watching too much political news on cable.

The parasite debate
By Aaron J. Brown

Good evening and welcome to Nature’s Hall at the University of Northern Minnesota for this, the first of a series of important debates. We all know the stakes. The economy is sputtering. We are at war. But this summer, people here are struggling with something worse. Bugs that bite. We are joined by two candidates who both think they are the most effective parasite. First, we bring the opening statements. Mr. Tick?

TICK: My friends, we all know that there is nothing creepier than me, crawling up your leg, then your torso, then your neck, gradually your face and then into your hair where I will attach and gorge myself on your blood before detaching and reproducing at a vast rate.

And you, Mr. Mosquito?

MOSQUITO: My fellow northern Minnesotans, it is time for a change. It is time for a parasite that tells the truth. Every day, I make a soft but consistent buzzing noise that lets you know I am in the room. I fly erratically around your head, giving you warning of my arrival. And then I work hard, with the help of an organization of tens of thousands of everyday mosquitoes, to extract a small amount of blood from you that will be used to build our network of 21st century parasites.

MODERATOR: You are both well known in northern Minnesota. Every year, you and your kind emerge like buds on the trees. But what makes you the most effective early summer parasite? Mr. Mosquito, then Mr. Tick.

MOSQUITO: Everybody knows the unyielding strength of the American mosquitoes. You may swat me down, but there will be five more that rise up in my place. Swat them and 25 more will emerge from the bird bath in your back yard that you should have emptied out. But even if you do empty your bird bath, buy a bug zapper, burn citronella candles and spray yourself with bug dope, you’ll suddenly realize there’s a big itchy bump on your forearm. And somewhere, probably in that puddle behind your shed, I will lay 10,000 eggs to pave a path to the future.

MODERATOR: Mr. Tick, your response.

TICK: My friends, have you ever been sleeping safely in your bed, at night, when it’s dark, and felt a tick crawling on you? You probably brought that tick over to the toilet and flushed it down, or maybe you lit it on fire with a lighter. But then you went back to bed and it felt like there were a thousand ticks crawling on you, even though there probably weren’t thousands. Probably, it was just me. Crawling on you. At night. In the dark. Looking for a warm crevice in which to insert my mandibles.

MOSQUITO: While no one doubts my opponent’s record as a sneaky, blood-sucking parasite, I contend that effective parasitic activity requires full participation in the food chain. Mosquitoes are not only everywhere in northern Minnesota, they provide valuable food to frogs and dragonflies while ticks like you simply spread disease and creep people out. I mean, there’s a reason people just swat me and burn you with a lighter. That’s why …

(Dragonfly enters hall, eats mosquito).

TICK: My friends, that just proves my point. What good is a tasty parasite? Besides, it’s misleading to say that nothing eats a tick because we ticks actually have numerous natural predators, including some species of wasps and several kinds of bir …

(Bird flies into hall, eats dragonfly, then eats tick).

BIRD (to moderator): The feeder’s not going to fill itself, Hoss.

Seriously. A little seed here? (Pause). I’m sorry, did I interrupt something? Oh. Cameras.

Tweet, Tweet. Right, well, I’ll be going. (Flaps away).

I archive my columns at my writing site.