Almanac: At the Capitol

I've now had it confirmed from several sources, including senators, that the Senate plans to take up the confirmation of Lt. Gov./Transportation Commissioner this Thursday on the Senate floor. The floor session is scheduled for 11:00am, the same time the budget forecast is going to be released. One has to wonder if this is a strategy to take attention away from a budget deficit that most Capitol insiders say will be about a billion dollars. Sen. Pogemiller was apparently going to call the governor sometime today to talk to him about Molnau's confirmation. She will be rejected and lose her job as MnDOT commissioner. This will be another kick in the teeth to Gov. Pawlenty who was overidden for the first time this week.

Speaking of Gov. Pawlenty, boy was he mad yesterday. Angry. Ticked off. He doesn't get that way often and politically he had to show some steam to regain some credibility in Republican ranks. Republican lawmakers were annoyed Pawlenty was gone in D.C. for days during the critical override. Sure, he worked the phones. But on those phone calls the recipients say it was a pretty soft sell, telling them to just "vote their conscience." Then there's the now famous comment in caucus that if some Republicans did decide to override to do it on the first attempt. With a fierce tone the governor made it clear he didn't mean that to let Republicans off the hook. Republican lawmakers felt otherwise. So the big angry press conference standing side-by-side with Republican legislative leaders was a show of force, but there was some show there.