Almanac: At the Capitol

Almanac has the last two weeks of the year off, so I'm trying to take my last bit of vacation before I get locked down at the Capitol for about the next six months. Before I go, some parting thoughts about 2006. We thought it was going to be one of the biggest elections in a long time, but I don't know if anyone anticipated so much would change in our local and national political landscape. The Capitol is going to look and feel very different this upcoming session and that could be fun. It could also take all the new leaders and committee chairs a while to get up to speed so the first few weeks of session could be slow and confusing. I'm quite sure we'll hear from plenty of interest groups again in early January eager to gobble up part of the $2 billion surplus. The groundswell for the DFL is certainly one of stories of the year. I've been covering politics for more than a decade and it's the first time I can clearly tell you what the DFL stands for and ran on: education, health care and property taxes. Look for those themes to continue this session since it worked so well on the campaign trail. The other big story of the year is the survival and ascendance of Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Being a Republican who won in a blue state gets a guy noticed. He's got some of the right stuff for higher office. He's a governor, his past is clean, his record includes things to please conservatives, populists and moderates. He's tall, young and likable. Let's see how amiable he can remain dealing with his first DFL legislature.