Almanac: At the Capitol

It's never invigorating to give a big speech to a lot of empty chairs, but that's what Gov. Pawlenty was faced with today. Then we have a shot of Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau appearing to be, as my Dad would say, "resting her eyes" during the governor's State of the State Address. Even Republican legislative leaders admitted afterwards there weren't a lot of new ideas; it forced Minority Leader Marty Seifert to say "a lot we already knew, but it was good to hear again."

Republicans are excited about what may be the one new idea, the 21st Century Tax Reform Commission. Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller shot that down saying he'd rather do something about taxes rather than study them again, adding "it's not a new idea." Now Dems didn't do too much better in their reaction, it took about 10 minutes into their press conference to even mention the governor when they were supposed to be reacting to the governor's address. Gold star to Tony Sertich who recognized by the end of the press conference that reporters still needed a good quote and said "I'll take one more swing at it" and criticized Pawlenty for failing to turn State of the State initiatives into legislation saying "it's a lot of words and not a lot of action."