New masthead, new times at PIM and The Capitol Report
Yes, indeed. Regular Politics in Minnesota readers will note we've changed our masthead.
The change reflects the beginning of a ton of change as we, along with our sister publication, the Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report, retool for the changing information needs of our readers. Please keep me and Capitol Report Managing Editor Bill Clements posted on what you like -- and what you don't like -- about what we're doing.
We're excited about providing our own unique blend of news coverage for theRepublican National Convention. Some of us are credentialed for theconvention. Some of us will be running all over town. And some of uswill be set up at the New Media Space nearby the Xcel, hosted by TheUptake.org. PIM's team of Dan Feidt, Peter Bartz-Gallagher and Andy French, along with publisher Sarah Janecek, will join Capitol Report managing editor Clements, reporters Betsy Sundquist and Charley Shaw, photographer Bill Klotz, and Web Editor Adam Johnson. We'll be posting at PoliticsInMinnesota.com (RSS feed is also available). We're also beefing up our team with free-lancers Kevin Featherly and Frank Jossi.
And, we're proud to announce that prominent Minnesota Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb of MinnesotaDemocratsExposed will blog for us, as well. Brodkorb is an elected delegate and we hope to have him blogging live from the convention floor.
We plan on posting news stories and our observations 24/7 as soon asthings start heating up, probably mid-to-late next week. For the bestinsider Minnesota political coverage, be sure to make www.politicsinminnesota.com part of your surfing routine.
Meanwhile, here are some news tidbits about the RNC. At Politics in Minnesota, we call them "Bits & Pieces" in our Weekly Reports.
Bits & Pieces: RNC Edition
As preparations downtown are in full swing for the RNC, we decided togo to the front lines and see how St. Paul is coping. At the very edgeof the vehicles-prohibited zone lies the world-famous Mickey's Diner.Over a Lil' Jill (grilled cheese with tomato and bacon, side of chili—it's a must) PIMstaff learned that Mickey's has been suffering a decline in businessover the past few weeks due to the closing of the Xcel Center—nolate-night concertgoers to fill the seats. Up by the grill, we talkedto rapid-fire chef David Steien, who said it would bebusiness as usual for the Convention, except he'd have to leave hismotorcycle a few yards east of its normal parking place to respect thevehicle ban. Otherwise, Mickey's wasn't sure what to expect. Businessshould be brisk during the day, but Steien thought the no-drive zonemight put a damper on evening traffic downtown.
Outside the Xcel, transformations are obvious. Fenced areas with blackhybrid Chevy SUVs seem to be sprouting everywhere. We saw crewsadjusting a huge bundle of cables coming from the X; the venue waschosen partly because of its cutting edge data connectivity. Finally,the most obvious modification to the cityscape is the addition of anincredible number of surveillance cameras, attached to streetlights andbuildings.
Bob Collins at MPR's News Cut has an interesting post about who's on the other end of the cameras. He highlights an online forum's debate that calls the cameras "creepy and unwelcoming." Interesting media play: KSTP reported August 11ththat the cameras would be connected to a public website during the RNC,so all could view the Big Brother perspective as webcams. "This is justanother way to confirm with people of the level of trust with the St.Paul Police Department," said Sgt. Jack Serier. Interestingly, Serier told the Pioneer Press in an August 13th story that the camera feeds would not be rigged to the Web until after the RNC. [We'd bet the city lawyers didn't like the idea!]
Amusing billboards are popping up: Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has the priceless message, "Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs!"on I-494, as visitors leave the international airport. The Daily Showwill be broadcasting from the History Theatre at McNally Smith Collegeof Music; theoretically you could get tickets here.Taping time is 5 p.m., show up at 3 p.m. or else keep an eye out forroaming correspondents of "the best campaign team in the universeever," now nearly the most trusted source of news in America, the NY Times noted. A 2007 Pew poll showed Jon Stewart tied for fourth most-trusted, alongside Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Anderson Cooper. [Unlike most news sources, they can process both irony and public relations spin that saturates mainstream coverage now days.]
CNN's decidedly irony-free Wolf Blitzer, along with Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper and the rest will be at the Eagle Grill, and they are even going to bring John King's favorite device, the famed "magic wall" touchscreen famously deployed during the primaries. They will be filming in HD.
Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine's Brian Lambert plans to park at and blog from the bar at The Liffey, just across the street from the X. Do check out "Lambert to the Slaughter."
MSNBC will be broadcasting from Rice Park, and reportedly the St. Paul Library system director Melanie Huggins' office in the adjacent Central Library has been turned into MSNBC's green room for talent. How many anti-GOP slams will MSNBC pack into their broadcasts?!
FOX News will be offering "The FOX Experience"from the large media tent across from the Xcel Center. Will they beable to set a new record for most onscreen American flag graphics?!
Chino Latino has a billboard on Hennepin Avenue in Uptown saying"Delegates, Try Our Capitalist Pig Roast." Parasole founder and partnerPhil Roberts issued a clarification press release this morning,saying "Some callers find the billboard in bad taste, even after theydiscover that the Pig Roast is an offering that might be of interest TOdelegates, not one we prepare WITH delegates. Others call with creditcard in hand, wanting to book a party of 20, then end up accusing us offalse advertising."
More than 40 localmakeup artists applied to be the RNC makeup artist. Don't have a cluewho made the decision at the RNC, but whoever did sure made the rightcall: KARE 11's Bonnie Ericksongot the job. Bonnie is simply the best. [Publisher's note: On occasion,Erickson has performed makeup miracles on your publisher. No smallfeat, that.]
Keegan's Irish Pub hasdeclared itself the "Official Blogger Headquarters" with free wi-fi andTVs tuned to coverage. "Bloggers who enjoy face to face interactionwith follow bloggers are invited to meet at the pub. Bloggers who wishto work quietly and on their own are also invited," they say. Theypoint out that the Northeast Minneapolis locale will have less trafficcongestion than elsewhere.
The Pioneer Press has launched a sub-site organized in blog form at rnc2008.twincities.com. The PiPress has put forth consistently good blogging (especially "Political Animal," from the dynamic duo Rachel Stassen-Berger and Bill Salisbury)but the paper does need to make blogs much easier to find on the site.Currently the link to the new site is hidden away on the lower-right ofthe front page, and in fact that link doesn't even go to the newrnc2008 sub-domain - it goes here instead.
The American Cancer Society is running an ad campaign dubbed "Harry andLouise" directed at the the convention audiences, under the aegis ofthe Cancer Action Network. They're running spots on national cablenetworks and the Sunday morning news programs during the conventions;the ads will also run about 40 times on local network affiliates. OnSeptember 4th they're throwing a fundraiser with former U.S. HouseSpeaker Newt Gingrich, who has started up the Center for Health Transformation. Check out the Gingrich event and an interview with their national president.
The National Journal has a free 2008 Convention Alerts service, which will include analysis from National Journal, Hotline and CongressDaily. Material from Charlie Cook, Ron Brownstein, Amy Walter and Jim Barnes will be highlighted.
There will be 1,000 bikes provided to the public by Humana and Bikes Belong, in a program dubbed the "Freewheelin bike-sharing experience." Here are the locations (pdf) to get them. Pre-register here.
Google, a tech sponsor of the RNC, is offering a press center at the Minneapolis Convention Center, "next to media row." YouTube has a special splash page for convention coverage. Wired adds a bit of snark, saying Google "coyly continues to eschew the notion that it is a media company." Motley Fool calls them media moguls.
The change reflects the beginning of a ton of change as we, along with our sister publication, the Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report, retool for the changing information needs of our readers. Please keep me and Capitol Report Managing Editor Bill Clements posted on what you like -- and what you don't like -- about what we're doing.
We're excited about providing our own unique blend of news coverage for theRepublican National Convention. Some of us are credentialed for theconvention. Some of us will be running all over town. And some of uswill be set up at the New Media Space nearby the Xcel, hosted by TheUptake.org. PIM's team of Dan Feidt, Peter Bartz-Gallagher and Andy French, along with publisher Sarah Janecek, will join Capitol Report managing editor Clements, reporters Betsy Sundquist and Charley Shaw, photographer Bill Klotz, and Web Editor Adam Johnson. We'll be posting at PoliticsInMinnesota.com (RSS feed is also available). We're also beefing up our team with free-lancers Kevin Featherly and Frank Jossi.
And, we're proud to announce that prominent Minnesota Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb of MinnesotaDemocratsExposed will blog for us, as well. Brodkorb is an elected delegate and we hope to have him blogging live from the convention floor.
We plan on posting news stories and our observations 24/7 as soon asthings start heating up, probably mid-to-late next week. For the bestinsider Minnesota political coverage, be sure to make www.politicsinminnesota.com part of your surfing routine.
Meanwhile, here are some news tidbits about the RNC. At Politics in Minnesota, we call them "Bits & Pieces" in our Weekly Reports.
Bits & Pieces: RNC Edition
As preparations downtown are in full swing for the RNC, we decided togo to the front lines and see how St. Paul is coping. At the very edgeof the vehicles-prohibited zone lies the world-famous Mickey's Diner.Over a Lil' Jill (grilled cheese with tomato and bacon, side of chili—it's a must) PIMstaff learned that Mickey's has been suffering a decline in businessover the past few weeks due to the closing of the Xcel Center—nolate-night concertgoers to fill the seats. Up by the grill, we talkedto rapid-fire chef David Steien, who said it would bebusiness as usual for the Convention, except he'd have to leave hismotorcycle a few yards east of its normal parking place to respect thevehicle ban. Otherwise, Mickey's wasn't sure what to expect. Businessshould be brisk during the day, but Steien thought the no-drive zonemight put a damper on evening traffic downtown.
Outside the Xcel, transformations are obvious. Fenced areas with blackhybrid Chevy SUVs seem to be sprouting everywhere. We saw crewsadjusting a huge bundle of cables coming from the X; the venue waschosen partly because of its cutting edge data connectivity. Finally,the most obvious modification to the cityscape is the addition of anincredible number of surveillance cameras, attached to streetlights andbuildings.
Bob Collins at MPR's News Cut has an interesting post about who's on the other end of the cameras. He highlights an online forum's debate that calls the cameras "creepy and unwelcoming." Interesting media play: KSTP reported August 11ththat the cameras would be connected to a public website during the RNC,so all could view the Big Brother perspective as webcams. "This is justanother way to confirm with people of the level of trust with the St.Paul Police Department," said Sgt. Jack Serier. Interestingly, Serier told the Pioneer Press in an August 13th story that the camera feeds would not be rigged to the Web until after the RNC. [We'd bet the city lawyers didn't like the idea!]
Amusing billboards are popping up: Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has the priceless message, "Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs!"on I-494, as visitors leave the international airport. The Daily Showwill be broadcasting from the History Theatre at McNally Smith Collegeof Music; theoretically you could get tickets here.Taping time is 5 p.m., show up at 3 p.m. or else keep an eye out forroaming correspondents of "the best campaign team in the universeever," now nearly the most trusted source of news in America, the NY Times noted. A 2007 Pew poll showed Jon Stewart tied for fourth most-trusted, alongside Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Anderson Cooper. [Unlike most news sources, they can process both irony and public relations spin that saturates mainstream coverage now days.]
CNN's decidedly irony-free Wolf Blitzer, along with Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper and the rest will be at the Eagle Grill, and they are even going to bring John King's favorite device, the famed "magic wall" touchscreen famously deployed during the primaries. They will be filming in HD.
Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine's Brian Lambert plans to park at and blog from the bar at The Liffey, just across the street from the X. Do check out "Lambert to the Slaughter."
MSNBC will be broadcasting from Rice Park, and reportedly the St. Paul Library system director Melanie Huggins' office in the adjacent Central Library has been turned into MSNBC's green room for talent. How many anti-GOP slams will MSNBC pack into their broadcasts?!
FOX News will be offering "The FOX Experience"from the large media tent across from the Xcel Center. Will they beable to set a new record for most onscreen American flag graphics?!
Chino Latino has a billboard on Hennepin Avenue in Uptown saying"Delegates, Try Our Capitalist Pig Roast." Parasole founder and partnerPhil Roberts issued a clarification press release this morning,saying "Some callers find the billboard in bad taste, even after theydiscover that the Pig Roast is an offering that might be of interest TOdelegates, not one we prepare WITH delegates. Others call with creditcard in hand, wanting to book a party of 20, then end up accusing us offalse advertising."
More than 40 localmakeup artists applied to be the RNC makeup artist. Don't have a cluewho made the decision at the RNC, but whoever did sure made the rightcall: KARE 11's Bonnie Ericksongot the job. Bonnie is simply the best. [Publisher's note: On occasion,Erickson has performed makeup miracles on your publisher. No smallfeat, that.]
Keegan's Irish Pub hasdeclared itself the "Official Blogger Headquarters" with free wi-fi andTVs tuned to coverage. "Bloggers who enjoy face to face interactionwith follow bloggers are invited to meet at the pub. Bloggers who wishto work quietly and on their own are also invited," they say. Theypoint out that the Northeast Minneapolis locale will have less trafficcongestion than elsewhere.
The Pioneer Press has launched a sub-site organized in blog form at rnc2008.twincities.com. The PiPress has put forth consistently good blogging (especially "Political Animal," from the dynamic duo Rachel Stassen-Berger and Bill Salisbury)but the paper does need to make blogs much easier to find on the site.Currently the link to the new site is hidden away on the lower-right ofthe front page, and in fact that link doesn't even go to the newrnc2008 sub-domain - it goes here instead.
The American Cancer Society is running an ad campaign dubbed "Harry andLouise" directed at the the convention audiences, under the aegis ofthe Cancer Action Network. They're running spots on national cablenetworks and the Sunday morning news programs during the conventions;the ads will also run about 40 times on local network affiliates. OnSeptember 4th they're throwing a fundraiser with former U.S. HouseSpeaker Newt Gingrich, who has started up the Center for Health Transformation. Check out the Gingrich event and an interview with their national president.
The National Journal has a free 2008 Convention Alerts service, which will include analysis from National Journal, Hotline and CongressDaily. Material from Charlie Cook, Ron Brownstein, Amy Walter and Jim Barnes will be highlighted.
There will be 1,000 bikes provided to the public by Humana and Bikes Belong, in a program dubbed the "Freewheelin bike-sharing experience." Here are the locations (pdf) to get them. Pre-register here.
Google, a tech sponsor of the RNC, is offering a press center at the Minneapolis Convention Center, "next to media row." YouTube has a special splash page for convention coverage. Wired adds a bit of snark, saying Google "coyly continues to eschew the notion that it is a media company." Motley Fool calls them media moguls.
Microsoft is also a RNC tech sponsor and will help out with"collaborative virtual workspaces," volunteer management and venuescheduling. "Digital concierges" will be available via the spiffy newMicrosoft Surface touchscreen computers, with transportation, hotels,restaurants and entertainment. They also sponsored an essay contestabout the American flag - winners Victoria Blackstone of Roseville and Mark Rugnetta of Savage (15 and 13 respectively) won Xboxes and laptops from Qwest. More here.
The Mall of America will have a variety of events going on, and themost promising looks like "Kids Stump the Delegate Game Show" onSeptember 3rd at 10 a.m. In "a contest of wills," six local fifth andsixth-graders will take on six RNC delegates in an "exciting,action-packed game show."
Morning Reports
