Almanac: At the Capitol

I'm a Democrat. This means that I should be incensed right now at the results of the recently-concluded legislative session, right?

Not so much.
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Governor Pawlenty has now vetoed several pieces of legislation sent to him by the DFL-controlled Legislature, much to the dismay of organizations and groups that supported those bills. Press conferences and releases have decried the Governor's action, and rightfully so, given electoral reality in Minnesota.
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Are taxes completely good, completely bad, or somewhere in between? If you listen to the radio ads and billboards being published around the state attacking DFL state legislators, you might think the first two were being espoused. Reality, however, is a bit different.
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There are reasonable economic arguments to be made against a statewide smoking ban for public places — not necessarily correct arguments, but reasonable.

And then there's the argument State Sen. Tom Neuville (R-Northfield) tried to make in the Mankato Free Press — lo and behold, second-hand smoke isn't all that bad!
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In a recent column, I discussed Governor Pawlenty's impending veto of a domestic partner benefit bill affecting state employees in same-sex relationships and its effect on Pawlenty's national aspirations. In response, Eric Ostermeier of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute has imparted some very good, and very debatable, points. Let's have at it.
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But fear not, political watchers — all is not lost!

As the 2007 legislative session moves inexorably onward, Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and his DFL colleagues in the Legislature find themselves at loggerheads on an increase in the gas tax to fund transit projects as well as a bill to allow domestic partnership benefits for state employees in same-sex relationships.
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After Governor Pawlenty's recent photo-op trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, those of us back home in Minnesota are being forced to ask whether he intends to fulfill his commitment, made before the 2006 elections, to serve a full four-year term in St. Paul.
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It's not just a cottage industry anymore — being outraged at something, all the time, has become a way of life for many of us political junkies and professionals.
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By now, many Democrats and some Republicans have read George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant, in which he outlines the concept of framing — that is, defining the terms of an issue or debate in a way that, no matter what is actually said, listeners are struck at a subconscious level with the power of your position (more or less).
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In the 2006 elections, DFLers extended their majority in the State Senate, and took back the majority in the House by a decisive margin. After similar successes in 2004, there are now literally dozens of freshman or second-term DFLers in the Legislature.
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