Benster and D Pick Your Games -- R. Dean Taylor Edition

I'm going to be out dancing this evening, old dude!

You don't dance, do you?

Oh, I'll be rockin' it at the Sadie Hawkins Dance at school tonight. So don't come looking for me. Because I'll be showing the world my pure, true Bensterness. But first I have to kick your butt on football picks again. Are you ready, Metamucil Maven?

If you insist.

Minnesota Golden Roadkill (+21) vs. Illinois Fighting Zooks. I'm pretty sure that Illinois scored more points last week in Ann Arbor than the Gophers scored in the last month. Even though Adam Weber remains the undisputed king of Garbage Time, he can't play defense or kick field goals, to name a few other things that the Gophers don't do well. Gophers lose, enough said. Fighting Zooks 50, Roadkill 17.

I've heard that Adam Weber might give way to a little more of Marqueis Gray in this game. I must say this -- Adam Weber is probably the guy who has been messed over more than any other in the chaos at the U. If this guy had gone to a school with some stability, he'd probably be a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick for the NFL, but I'm not sure what's going to happen to him now. I hope he enjoyed the rest of his college experience, because it won't get better down in Champaign-Urbana tomorrow. Illinois 41, Gophers 20.

Indiana Wants Me, Lord I Can't Go Back There (+21 1/2) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers. Before we go any further, it must be said -- that song really stinks, old dude! No wonder Indiana never wins football games. It must be tough to overcome the outright wimpitude of that awful balladry. I'm picturing the Indiana quarterback, whose name also happens to be Ben, trying to throw a football while simultaneously trying to play the string section part of that awful song. Won't work, dude! This game is obviously not in Gary, which is really good. I've now seen Gary and I don't want to go back there, whether Indiana wants me or not. Nice slag heaps, though! Of course, the Indiana football team is a bit of a slag heap, too. And they will get run over by Montee Ball or James White or whoever else happens to show up in Madison. Badger Badger Badger 70, R. Dean Taylor 0.

Fearless Maria just wandered by and said "Like that's gonna happen." She's right. It's not gonna happen. But the Badgers should win easily, since Indiana seems to think defense is optional. Not a good way to win in the Big Ten. Wisconsin 45, Indiana 17.

Penn State Paternos (+18) vs. The Ohio State University Buckeyes. Plus 18? For Penn State? C'mon, man! JoePa's not gonna take that lyin' down. You have to wonder if Penn State is hung over from the JoePa fest last week against Northwestern, where they roared back from a 21-point deficit to score, what was it, about 900 points? Something like that. However, the Lions are like Washington -- they just can't make up their mind about who's in charge. Which quarterback will they use this week? My partner in this enterprise thinks it's going to be Chuck Fusina. I may need to check your meds, Decrepit! Knights of Columbus 50, Come to Penn State 2.

Hmmm. I don't think 18 points is realistic, either. But that's because this game is going to be closer than that. I'm really surprised at the line, since the Nittany Lions are playing much better these days. I suspect OSU wins, but it won't be easy. Ohio State 31, Penn State 24.

Minnesota Stergers (-1) vs. Bear Down Chicago da Bearz. Here's the question before America -- will Gino be happy this week, or will Mrs. D, a/k/a my Mom? I know that for my sake, it would be far better if Mrs. D is happy. Gino, sorry about that, bro! A lot of people are starting to think that the Vikings are righting the ship after beating the Arizona Cardinals last week. I say to those people, C'mon, man! The Vikings are probably going to be without Sidney Rice and could be without Percy Harvin. Also, it doesn't help that Jen Sterger has now talked to the NFL about her experiences with cell phones. It wouldn't surprise me if old Favre has to take a call on his cell phone next week from some league official. In fact, if Favre couldn't start against the Packers, that would be justice. Meanwhile, Favre's biggest problem this week is to avoid being turned into a pepper steak by Julius Peppers. Hey Julius -- save one for the Claymaker, willya? Ditka Ditka Ditka 30, Don't Text Me, Bro 27.

Mrs. D doesn't like that pick, I'm guessing. I'm worried about Julius Peppers, too. Bryant McKinnie better stay away from Rush Street on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the Bears are a mess, too. It wouldn't surprise me if this game features 15 quarterback sacks. Here's a guess -- at least one key play comes from Chester Taylor. Better hope that Harvin is ready. I'll go with the Vikings, given my vested interest in keeping Mrs. D happy. Vikings 24, Bears 20.

Motor City Kitties (+3) vs. Buffalo Wings. So let me get this straight. Buffalo hasn't won a game this season, but they're the favorite. Is that right? What's up with that? C'mon, man! It's obvious that the Bills escaped from the Mounties last week but they still lost to da Bearz. In Detroit, Matthew Stafford is again on the sidelines and the Lions are wheeling out Shaun "of the Dead" Hill, mostly because Eric Hipple won't return their calls. I gotta be honest with you, readers -- this might be the worst game in NFL history. B-Dub 0, Kitties 0.

A scoreless tie? Uh, no. I bet at least one of these sorry teams scores a safety because the other team trips in the end zone. Actually, the Lions are getting better, but losing Stafford will hurt them. As a Packer fan, I must say that having the Lions and the Bears in the division is a real treat, because no two teams have had consistently worse quarterback play in my lifetime. But I'm going to pick the Lions anyway. Lions 21, Bills 17.

West De Pere Phantoms vs. Xavier Hawks, at Kimberly H.S. That's right, Wisconsin D3 football, baby! It's Decrepit's alma mater, XHS, facing off against a school with a really cool nickname. And both teams are 12-0. This is Sparta! I honestly don't know anything about these teams, but I never miss a chance to give the old dude a ration. So I'm going to pick it this way: West De Pere 3, Xavier Key Club 0.

Hey, the Xavier Key Club was pretty tough when I was there. Much more successful than the football team, actually. But times are different now and it's been a thrill to watch the Blue and White not lose 31-0 every week like they did in my day. WDP is the best team they'll play this year and it will be tough. But I gotta go with my heart on this one. Xavier 14, West De Pere 7.

You know, you're actually an old softy, Decrepit! I think Brett Favre needs to go mamby-pamby land and get some self respect, the jackwagon! Tissue? Uh, no. Ben out!

Mysteries explained

Interesting piece on KSTP last night concerning the use and misuse of Minnesota's welfare system. It turns out that EBT cards are being used a number of places one might not expect, including liquor stores in California, unlicensed tattoo parlors and even the U.S. Virgin Islands. It's 5 minutes long and definitely worth your time.

Another interesting thing: the politicians who appear, or choose not to, on the report. A tale of two Martys:

Not surprisingly, ostentatious DFL scold John Marty cancelled a scheduled interview on the topic. Marty probably hadn't quite figured out how to square this particular circle yet.

On the GOP side, it was like seeing a ghost, as Marty Seifert offered copious commentary on the matter. I hadn't seen Marty Seifert anywhere since he lost the GOP nomination to Tom Emmer in the spring. And if you take that comment in more than one way, that's the idea.

Open thread challenge

Since we know that the Mr. Dilettante's Neighborhood readership is among the most brilliant assemblage of talent one might find anywhere, this should be easy. Write a comment that includes the following:

1. A song lyric from either The Kinks, The Yardbirds, AC/DC or The Rolling Stones;

2. A quote from either A Fish Called Wanda, Blazing Saddles or Raising Arizona; and

3. A specific event you remember from the year 1991.

Early favorite is, as always, Night Writer.

Empowering Septuagenarians

There are a lot of reasons why the first two years of the Obama administration have not gone well, but I think one of the most important reasons is that Obama has turned out to be a frontman for a bunch of really old politicians. It's one thing for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to declare themselves progressives, but (not to put too fine a point on it), they seem old and grasping.

And they don't want to go away, either, which is beginning to frustrate younger Democrats:

A younger generation of Democrats is chafing at being asked to stand aside and let a triumvirate of elders keep their leadership positions in the wake of a catastrophic midterm election result.

Barring an unexpected shake-up, House Democrats next year will be led by a combination of Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Steny Hoyer (Md.) and James Clyburn (S.C.)
— lawmakers who are 70 or older and have served in Congress for decades.

There's a certain irony in this, since many people who lead the Democratic Party had their formative years in the 1960s, when youthful idealism drove people into politics, or so the narrative goes. I've long thought that narrative was crap, but we'll set that aside. The larger problem is this: the 60s are a long time ago. The New Frontier is now 50 years back in the rear view. In 1960, was anyone longing for the glory days of William Howard Taft? And the younger Democrats aren't getting much traction:

Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Joseph Crowley (N.Y.) and Diana DeGette (Colo.), among others, were all seen as top contenders to move up but have found themselves in limbo as Pelosi locks down the minority-leader post and Hoyer and Clyburn vie for whip. Becerra is trying to hold on to the vice chairmanship of the caucus, while Van Hollen, the campaign chief appointed by Pelosi as assistant to the Speaker, is for now on the outside looking in. He is now seeking the top Democratic position on the House Budget Committee.

None of those lawmakers has complained publicly about being shut out, but other Democrats have warned that the party risks ignoring a message from voters if they keep the same leaders in place.

“We can’t let them sit on the bench for too much longer,” one Democratic aide said, referring to the party’s younger lawmakers. “There’s a push to add in some new ideas and new faces and new energy.”

While I'm skeptical that this younger generation of Democrats will bring new ideas to the table, there's little doubt that the continuing presence of Nancy Pelosi won't help branding efforts for the Democrats.

Of course, that's the problem the Democrats face. They aren't coming up with new ideas. They spent the last two years ramming through a governmental takover of health care, an item from Harry Truman's wish list. Their party can't get past Keynes and John Rawls.

The Republican Party has troubles of its own, but at least some of its younger members are getting places at the table. Who is the Democratic Party equivalent of Paul Ryan? It would behoove the Democrats to find one.

Why you do it

Mitch Berg and a lot of other local bloggers have been digging around a little bit on the events of this most recent election day, but I was struck by the reaction he got from posting something he'd received via e-mail:

I got this email. The author asked to remain anonymous:

Mitch, in 2008 my mentally incompetent mother at an assisted living facility in St. Paul probably voted. We never had her declared incompetent, but the staff knew she was completely out of it. They also knew she was so afraid of being kicked out of a place she liked she would do whatever the staff person told her to do. She literally didn’t know what day of the week it was let alone who was running for office. I was the responsible party. I never changed her voter registration when she moved. Somehow she registered to vote at her new address. I found absentee ballot application information in her apartment as well as an I Voted sticker on her walker. I was livid, but it was after the election so there was nothing I could do. Before senile dementia had set in she adored Norm Coleman but you can bet her vote went to Franken.

I suspect a lot of this goes on. After all, SEIU represents a lot of nursing home staff.

You file that under the "interesting if true" file. Mitch's somewhat mordant summation:

I have a hunch this state could keep an army of investigators busy.

Yeah, I kinda think so, too. But what was interesting was the response he got from one of his regular commenters, a lefty who goes by Dog Gone:

Beyond that – shame on you, damn it, for spreading more slander about the legitimacy of voters. The responsibility for allowing or denying this woman her legal right to vote is NOT within the authority of health care staff at an assisted living facility.

And frankly, if someone IS involved actively with their relative at such a facility, they would be in better communication with the staff about such decisions and such care.

To promote the idea that low paid incredibly kind people who do a really difficult job in caring for these people, of the most personal and frequently unpleasant kinds of care – a job we all used to do for the elderly much more ourselves – to question their integrity in this way is just beyond vile.

But, you might ask, why would a woman with dementia vote at all? And why would she have an "I Voted" sticker? Dog Gone's reply:

Similarly, there are many occasions where bright stickers are used by the staff for the residents and patients. It is a source of continuing interaction where that contact, that interaction is decreasing daily. The presence of a sticker is so far from an indication of wrongdoing as to be laughable if it were not so nasty.

I don't doubt that many nursing homes use stickers as a visual indicator that something has been done. But they don't sell "I Voted" stickers at Staples.

The vehemence you get from asking these questions is pretty striking. And so we're clear -- even if one could prove malfeasance, there's nothing much that can be done about it once the votes are cast.

No, the reason you raise these allegations and attempt to document them is so people realize they can't get by with it going forward.

Choosing the Pro-Life Candidate

I'm late to this party, but I think it's worth highlighting something that Chad the Elder wrote last week over at Fraters Libertas:

Wait a second. You mean to tell me that social issues still matter? That people are motivated to vote for particular candidates because of their stands on these issues and that these issues can make the difference in the election's outcome? Who would have thunk it? Certainly not Tom Emmer.

Just a few short weeks ago, the Republican candidate for governor appeared on a local weekend conservative talk radio show. When the brash young host dared raise a question about one of these issues, Emmer immediately slapped the whippersnapper down by retorting, "We're not going to talk about that. We're only going to talk about jobs and the economy."

And what has all that talk about jobs and the economy gotten Emmer? A nine-thousand vote deficit and looming recount that he will almost assuredly lose. To Mark bleepin' Dayton.

There were other things that the Emmer campaign didn't address, but this one might have hurt. Consider what happened in the 8th Congressional District, where Chip Cravaack unseated the eternal incumbent, Jim Oberstar. There were a number of reasons that Oberstar lost, but one that mattered was his vote on Obamacare, which effectively ended the charade that he was somehow pro-life. Chad explains:

What was different this time around was that the voters in the Eighth were finally able to understand that when it came to abortion, Oberstar was pro-life in name only. His decision to set aside his supposedly staunch pro-life principles to vote for ObamaCare showed where he really stood when the rubber was introduced to the road. And people noticed. . . .

Had Oberstar voted against ObamaCare he almost certainly would have been reelected as his Democratic colleague Collin Peterson--who had the courage to follow his pro-life convictions in voting against it--was in Minnesota's Seventh District. Social issues did matter in the Eighth District. Tom Emmer's refusal to talk about them may help explain why while Chip Cravaack beat Oberstar by 4,402 votes, Emmer lost the Eighth District to Dayton by around 20,000 (rough estimate) and why he ran behind Cravaack in every single county in the district.

It's easy to understand why Emmer, who had established clear pro-life bona fides during his time as a state rep, didn't think he needed to talk about social issues. It's not likely that pro-life voters would have selected Dayton or Horner, who both were for abortion rights. But can you imagine that there were enough pro-life voters who didn't think it mattered because Emmer didn't make a point of mentioning his bona fides? Emmer was well-known to Capitol observers before the election season, but only the political junkies knew who he was. He had to make a more complete introduction to other voters, especially those who don't hang on every word uttered by David Schultz or Eric Black. We may never know if Emmer blew it on this issue, but I'd bet that the election results would have been a hell of a lot more to Emmer's liking if he'd made the point about his being the only pro-life candidate a few more times.

You think you're so illustrious, you call yourself intense

I remember watching Keith Olbermann back in his ESPN days and he was amusing, especially when paired on SportsCenter with the affable Dan Patrick. He's long since left what is known in the biz as the "toy department" and has long been a very strange presence on MSNBC.

What I've never been able to figure out is this: how much of what he says is real and how much of it is shtick. I think this piece by Ed Driscoll is spot on. Driscoll quotes a reader on Instapundit who described Olbermann thus:

The act is not at all what Olbermann says it is. It’s a very old act: The fire and brimstone preacher.

The left has become horrifically sanctimonious. They have become what they hated in the right back in the 60s.

Every issue for the left is a moral issue on the level of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. So, their opponents are always wicked devils consumed with sin.

And, it’s their job to save us from eternal damnation.

Olbermann is just the secular version of the fire and brimstone preacher.

Just nowhere near as attractive or moving.

You do get a sense that had Olbermann been born 350 years earlier, he'd have been fully capable of being Jonathan Edwards. Although I'd say Edwards is a lot more fair-minded.

An instructive difference

I don't know if Brad Childress saved his job yesterday, but I'd bet that Wade Phillips lost his.

The Vikings were getting their butts kicked and looked terrible yesterday -- in fact, they looked so bad that I turned the game off and went out to do some yard work. By the time I got back in from cleaning up leaves in the back yard, the score was tied and they went on to stuff Arizona in overtime and score a winning field goal. With all the soap opera elements at Winter Park, it would have been easy for the Vikings to lay down and die. They didn't.

Then last night I watched my beloved Packers kick Dallas to the curb. Not that it was that difficult to do. The Cowboys put on a shameful performance in Green Bay yesterday and it was obvious that they had quit as a team. It's tough to win without your quarterback but the way Dallas was playing it wouldn't have mattered if Tony Romo were out there.

As much as I enjoyed seeing the Packers play very well yesterday, it's difficult to really gauge how good a team they actually are. It's much easier to tell that the Cowboys are terrible.

Home Truth

Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post:

Nor should Republicans overinterpret their Tuesday mandate. They received none. They were merely rewarded for acting as the people's proxy in saying no to Obama's overreaching liberalism. As one wag put it, this wasn't an election so much as a restraining order.

The Republicans won by default. And their prize is nothing more than a two-year lease on the House. The building was available because the previous occupant had been evicted for arrogant misbehavior and, by rule, alas, the House cannot be left vacant.

Same thing goes in St. Paul -- every legislative office will again be contested in 2012. All the Republican Party really got on Tuesday was an opportunity. If they blow it this time, they probably won't get another. That's why the smart Republicans aren't celebrating.

Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Noooooo! Edition

Look, we have to do this, people! You know that Packer fans are feeling the HYYYYYYYPPPPE!

Yep. And even if they weren't, you wouldn't let that persist, now would you Youngblood?

In the words of Rupert Murdoch, NO! But now we need to pick some games, or maybe I should say it's time to kick your butt again, Decrepit?

Unfortunately, you could say that. Roll that beautiful bean footage:

Minnesota Golden Roadkill (+24) vs. Sparty the Spartan. I bet somewhere a Gopher fan is poking holes in a Tim Brewster voodoo doll. What a mess this goofball left behind! I bet Jeff Horton feels like the maid cleaning up after Led Zeppelin came through the hotel, but I don't want to see him wearing a maid uniform. Are we clear on that? Good. As for the game, Michigan State is angry after getting Rickrolled (or should I say RickyStanziRolled?) in Iowa City last week. The Gophers have less career prospects than Rick Astley does right now, although Adam Weber should get his obligatory garbage time touchdown pass after the Gophers are down by a bazillion or so. This is Sparta 300, Gophers 7.

That score won't happen, but I'm guessing you knew that and just couldn't resist the joke. Unfortunately, the Gophers are a pretty bad joke, too. The Spartans will be angry and it won't go well for our unfortunate locals. Michigan State 42, Gophers 17.

Beloved Wisconsin Badgers (-20) vs. Purdon't Boilermakers. The Boilermakers are a long ways away from Drew Brees. They're on their fourth quarterback, who might be Nancy Drew for all I know. Even Carmen Sandiego might be enough if they can find her. Or maybe we should get Waldo involved? ¿Dónde está Waldo? No matter what, the Boilermakers are feeling lost, even at home. Badger Badger Badger 50, Purdon't 0.

The Badgers have played well recently, but I'm shocked to see a 20 point line in their favor for a Big Ten road game. The Boilers are hurting, but I don't think the Badgers are going to win by 20. Maybe 17? Wisconsin 34, Purdue 17.

TCU Horned Frogs (-4 1/2) vs. Utah Utes. I may have mentioned that I really hate the BCS. Here are two teams that are outside the BCS. Both are undefeated. Both would kick a lot of BCS-eligible schools where it hurts. And yet one of these teams will be out of the BCS bowls after this game is over. My theory is that Oregon will be the only BCS school that is undefeated at the end of the year and Boise State will win out. So maybe both of these schools are out of luck. Do we need a playoff? You kiddin' me? Of course we need a playoff, ya jackwagon! Utes 28, TCU 27.

I have no idea how to pick this game. Utah joins the Pac-10 next year so they'll get to sit at the adult table going forward. So for no other reason than to disagree with the Benster, I'll go with the Horned Frogs, who always deserve mention just for being the Horned Frogs. TCU 31, Utah 24.

Arizona Iced Tea (+8 1/2) vs. Minnesota Rolling Stones. Why Rolling Stones, you ask? Well, they gather no Moss, of course! What a spectacle this team is! I'm reminded of what happened a few years back, at the very end of the 2003 season. Say it with me, kids -- NOOOOOOOO! Wow, that never gets old! Anyway, this year P.A. is probably wondering why his favorite quarterback still has a cell phone contract. The Vikings will have to readjust to life without Randy, who has been exiled to Nashville, where he's likely spending most of his time annoying people at the Grand Ole Opry. If that's not bad enough, Percy Harvin might not be able to go, which means we might get our first look at the immortal Hank Baskett. The Vikings will win because they are a desperate team at home. And a weird one, too. Don't Text Me, Bro 20, Nate Poole Nation 17.

Moss had better watch it -- if he washes out in Nashville that means his next stop is Branson. Maybe he can be the opening act for Jim Stafford or something. Anyway, as for the game, I really have no idea what the Vikings are going to do. The Cardinals are using Derek Anderson as their quarterback, which is essentially a form of surrender. I think the Vikes play well this week and win easily, although it would hardly surprise me if they cough up another hairball. Vikings 34, Cardinals 14.

Dallas How 'Bout Them Cowboahs (+8) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers. So if the Packers have a bunch of guys in St. Vincent Hospital, do you think that the Cowboys have Tony Romo staying in St. Landry's? That's right, Tony Romo is out, which means the Cowboys come to town with Jon Kitna as their quarterback. That's a lot like going to Vegas and seeing Frank Sinatra Jr. I do expect Wade Phillips to get fired pretty soon and the Cowboys can go after some fast-talking southern coach like Mack Brown or something like that. Meanwhile, the Packers are getting better and that's not good news for the boys from Big D, especially considering the Packers were able to shut out the Jets in New Jersey last week, with guys they picked up off the street. Green Bay 49, Fire Wade Phillips 0.

One problem with your theory, Benster -- the Pack did pitch a shutout last week, but they only scored 9 points themselves. Of course, that's enough to beat the point spread. So what the heck. Packers 9, Cowboys 0.

Bear Down Chicago da Bearz (-3) vs. Buffalo Bills, in Toronto. The way the Bills have been playing, maybe they can be the opening act for Randy Moss in Branson. They evidently meet the standards for substandard performance. Oh, Canada indeed -- if the NFL keeps sending games this bad to Canada, don't be surprised if Ottawa breaks off diplomatic relations sometime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills are turned back by Customs. The good news for da Bearz is that Buffalo doesn't have anyone who can rush the passer, although the way da Bearz block, it's possible that anyone in the stands in Rogers Centre will be able to sack Jay Cutler. Ditka, Ditka! 70, On the run from the Mounties 0.

Can't argue with you, this isn't the most attractive way to feature the NFL across the border. The Bears are a mess right now and while Buffalo has improved recently, they are 0-7 on merit. And after the Bears are done with them, I'm thinking 0-8. Bears 17, Bills 10.

I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff Horton gets kicked into a random pit in East Lansing. Some people would argue that East Lansing itself is a random pit, but not me. But I could be persuaded to think so. I would also add that C. J. Spiller shouldn't be thrown into a Mountie prison, because he's on my fantasy football team. Ben out!

il miglior fabbro

I tried to explain this a few posts back, but Kevin Ecker does a better job. In the previous legislative session, the DFL inadvertently screwed themselves. As part of a much longer election post-mortem, Ecker lays out Mark Dayton's dilemma:

The Governor’s seats is still up for grabs. If it’s Emmer than Republicans control all three legs and they get run of the board. But even if it’s Dayton, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, his agenda is a dead stick. But it gets worse for DFL and they have only themselves to blame.

Last session we had the opposite situation, a DFL legislature with a GOP Governor. When the DFL couldn’t come up with a budget they simply passed an unreasonable one and adjourned and made it Pawlenty’s problem. Pawlenty in turn used unallotment. Well the DFL collectively wet themselves and through the courts made sure that couldn’t be done ever again. So now facing a $6 billion deficit, what are Dayton’s options?? Either he agrees to the Republican’s version of a budget, thereby pissing off his base and making the right happy. Or he shuts down the government and calls the legislature into a special session, thereby pissing off his base and mildly annoying the right. The Legislature in turn, if they really want to play hardball can just keep passing the same budget until Dayton relents. After all, what is Dayton’s recourse??? Bitch to the media that the legislature won’t raise taxes??? Yeah, that’ll get sympathy from the public.

That's really perfect. Tim Pawlenty did a lot of things that gave conservatives indigestion, but using unallotment in 2009 was a genius move. And now a potential DFL governor has very few options in dealing with the lege.

Kevin explains a whole lot of other things in his excellent election post-mortem. Read the whole thing.

Speaking of Tea. . . .

The invaluable Sheila Kihne points us to a very good blog post from a local blogger named Crystal Kelley, who is doing the work that perhaps Pat Kessler or John Croman or Rachel Stassen-Berger ought to have done. An excerpt:

I ran across an article from the StarTribune, published July 4 2010, which lead me down a path that questions Mark Dayton’s sobriety. The article was titled, "Mark Dayton: a topsy-turvey ride." In the second paragraph article, something caught my eye. It said, "Sipping from a bottle of kombucha, a fermented tea that has become a campaign trail staple, this former U.S. senator is trying to revive an up-and-down political career at age 63."

Fermented tea? Doesn't "fermented" usually mean something has turned to alcohol? There began my research on kombucha, the official drink of the Dayton campaign.

What I found was a treasure trove of reasons why an alcoholic shouldn't be downing kombucha tea, and if he is, he is no longer sober according to the sobriety requirements of Alcoholics Anonymous. Here's an article on Relapse Prevention, which may apply to this situation, because this tea is well known for its varying alcohol content.

There's more:

Kombucha, in fact, may contain much more alcohol than mentioned above. On June 28, 2010, the New York Times reported Whole Foods pulled the product from their shelves because, "the alcohol content might be high enough to attract the attention of the federal government."

Well, they were right.

Two days later, the Treasury Department issued a warning stating kombucha may be subject to the same taxes and regulations as other beverages containing alcohol. The agency said it “is coordinating with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure kombucha products currently on the market comply with Federal laws..."

Analysts said some kombucha teas sold under brand names like Synergy can
ferment after shipment, raising the alcohol content from a legal 0.5 percent or less to as high as 3 percent, similar to some beers.

Mark Dayton got north of 900,000 votes. Do you suppose that it might have made a difference if someone with a larger megaphone than Crystal Kelley would have brought it to the attention of the public? Kelley makes a somewhat, ahem, astringent point at the end of her piece:

There is a saying made famous by the movie, "28 Days," starring Sandra Bullock. It addresses when an addict should try to have a serious relationship. It is, in a nutshell, after an addict has become sober he should buy a potted plant. If after one year the plant is still alive, he should buy a pet. If after the second year the pet is alive, then in the third year the addict may begin to consider having a serious relationship with another person.

We don’t know exactly where Dayton falls on that sobriety spectrum. But either way it’s too soon for him to be entering into the very important relationship of governor of an entire state with responsibility for roughly five million souls. I just think it's unwise.

I'd have to agree with that. But now it's too late. Read the whole thing.

More Tea Leaves -- Things That Make You Go Hmmm.

You really shouldn't conduct an autopsy before the corpse actually arrives, but that hasn't stopped some of the long knives from coming out for Tom Emmer's campaign. It's premature, since the election results won't be confirmed for a month or more. But in thinking about the campaign, one thing has been bugging me and I'd love to get an answer to this question:

Why didn't anyone go after Mark Dayton's problems with the bottle?

Clearly, Dayton's struggles were fair game. He'd aired out a highly selective version of his dirty laundry before he formally launched the campaign, so there were plenty of trails for his opponents to use. But nothing came of it, really.

During the primary, I was convinced that Matt Entenza, who spent millions of his wife's money for a campaign that went essentially nowhere, would take a shot at Dayton's problems, but Entenza never did. That was puzzling, as Entenza was sharp-elbowed enough to go dirt-mongering against Mike Hatch in a previous cycle.

So I figured that the Emmer campaign, knowing that its man had a few long-ago scratches on his record, would shell Dayton like a pistachio.

I especially thought that Emmer would drop the Marquess of Queensbury approach after Dayton's henchmen/family at the helm of "Alliance for a Better Minnesota" starting running a despicable drunk driving ad, in which a visibly angry woman who had lost her son to a drunk driver spat out imprecations at Tom Emmer as though Emmer were somehow personally responsible. The barely controlled rage with which she spat out "Tom EMMurrh!", in a manner that suggested she'd swallowed a box elder bug, made the ad memorable and devastating. What made it worse is that every scripted assertion this woman made in the ad was either misleading or flat-out wrong. But we'll leave that aside.

There was an obvious rejoinder available to that ad -- we're sorry about your loss, ma'am, but avenging your loss by supporting the political campaign of a recidivist alcoholic is probably not the best course you might take. But neither the Emmer campaign nor any of its allies ever made that point. Nor did the Emmer campaign make the entirely reasonable followup, which would be to ask how Dayton would be able to handle the pressures of executive leadership, given his documented battle with the bottle. But the entire campaign passed and the matter never really came up.

There was a reason for this, but I don't know what it is. I'd like to know the reason. Wouldn't you?

Lunchtime Observations

Two things:

• I don't write about Michele Bachmann much here because (a) she's not my representative and (b) I'm not always fond of the way she does things. One thing I will say, though -- she has all the right enemies and she the way Bachmann drives her enemies around the bend is deeply useful. The amount of money that the Left spent on the campaign of the hapless Tarryl Clark was nothing short of astonishing. It was an incredible fool's errand to support Clark, given the demographics of MN-06. Bachmann won easily, of course. If you want to know why, Luke Hellier over at MDE has the reason. Angry lefties from all over the country poured their money into a completely lost cause and they didn't get even a microgram of catharsis out of the deal. I don't care who you are, that's funny.
• "lsm" is an excellent local blogger and she has written the first long analysis/post-mortem I've read concerning Tom Emmer's campaign, posted over at True North. I'm going to write more about Emmer in the coming days, but lsm's take is well worth your time, even though I don't agree with some of her conclusions.
  

A question for the audience

2010 is pretty much in the books now. So of course that means it's already time to talk about 2012, right?

I know, you don't want to do that yet. But just for the sake of argument, let's think about two races.

In Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, who like Mark Dayton trades primarily on the value of a family brand name, is up for reelection.

In Wisconsin, Herb Kohl, whose family name is a brand name of some repute, is also up for reelection.

Who should be the opponents of these two, ahem, worthies?

More Tea Leaves

There's still a lot to think about in this election cycle, but I've come to a few tentative conclusions about what may lie ahead. First, three thoughts about the man who will likely be the next governor, Mark Dayton.

• Mark Dayton wanted to be governor in the worst way and he's getting his wish. By presumably winning election while his party simultaneously managed to lose control of both houses of the Minnesota legislature, he now finds himself in a tough place. The lege has the power of the purse and they will start cutting things that Dayton and the DFL holds dear. They'll have a rationale to do so, of course -- there's that $6 billion budget deficit that has to be solved, after all. Unless I miss my guess, the Republicans will use some of the same sorts of dilatory tactics that the DFL has used in previous sessions and present a budget to the governor at the last possible minute, putting Dayton in a position where he'll either have eat the cuts that the legislature provides, or he'll end up vetoing the bill and shutting down the government. He can call the legislature back into special session, but the GOP leadership won't have any incentive to save his bacon. And because Dayton went around the DFL apparat to get the nomination, he'll have to watch his back.
• Worse, Dayton has no place to hide. He, like Barack Obama, was previously a senator and I don't believe that being a senator provides the proper skill set for what is very much an executive job. Even though many senators tend to be voluble strutting peacocks a la Chuck Schumer, Dayton isn't really like that. He spent a lot of his time in Washington in the shadows. He would sometimes bluster a bit in a committee hearing, but by and large he was a backbencher and had little or no influence on events during his term. He's going to have to be at the center of things now and I doubt that he's going to do well at it. You can package a candidate and vilify an opponent, especially with a compliant media, and you might be able to make the sale to a portion of the electorate. Can he make sale as governor? I'm skeptical.
• One of the more interesting questions that will come up in the next year or two is the matter of a new Vikings stadium. There's going to be little support for public funding and the DFL, long beholden to casino money from Native American tribes, is unlikely to look at alieanting a key funding source by championing a racino. The Vikings are tapping their feet pretty loudly right now and stadium advocates will need a champion to carry the matter to completion. You have to wonder who will take on this task right now. The Wilfs aren't going to wait much longer for a solution and Dayton certainly doesn't want to be the guy who has the Purple leave on his watch.

Very early reading of tea leaves

A lot to process, of course. A few thoughts on what we know at this point:

• We are looking at another recount in the governor's race, but I don't see that Dayton's 10,000 vote lead is going to switch. If things stand, Tom Emmer is really going to be kicking himself for not going after Dayton a little harder -- Emmer decided to run a Marquess of Queensbury campaign and that looks to have bitten him in the butt. If Emmer had gone after Dayton's pecadilloes with half the ferocity that Dayton went after Emmer's, I think the race goes the other way.
• Chip Cravaack pulls it off and knocks Jim Oberstar out of Congress. Oberstar had been there for nearly 40 years. That's way too long and Oberstar's persona in this election was more "get off my lawn" than elder statesman. Cravaack was a very good candidate and I suspect he'll do a good job representing the 8th.
• Even though it looks like Dayton pulled it off, the other really big story of the night is that control of the legislature goes back to the Republicans. My greatest fear was a DFL governor and a DFL legislature, working together for Tom Dooher's wish fulfillment. Instead, we may have a recipe for a different sort of gridlock, in which narrow Republican majorities wear the green eyeshade and Dayton tries to goad the Republicans into spending money that doesn't exist. It could be very interesting, especially since my guess is that Dayton won't be able to hack the pressure of being governor any better than he handled being Senator.
• To that end, there's been a lot of speculation about who will be Dayton's chief of staff, because that individual will be the power behind the throne. Most observers have thought it would be Mike Hatch, but I wonder about that. Just a hunch on this -- don't rule out Matt Entenza. Dayton still owes Entenza big time for drawing enough votes away from Margaret Anderson Kelliher to deliver the primary to Dayton.
• Nationally, it was a very good night for Republicans but there were a few disappointments. I really think California is beyond saving -- if you have the fiscal problems that state faces and the voters still decide to return Jerry Brown to the governor's mansion, there's no way to reconcile it. Kevin Williamson at NRO makes the correct observation, to wit: This election means two things for California: 1. It is now more likely to end up needing a federal bailout, and 2. It is less likely to find Congress receptive to that idea.

Much more to say as learn more, of course.

Midnight Thoughts

Very brief -- gotta go to bed. Will find out what happened in the morning, but here are a few thoughts:

• At this hour, the governor's race has tightened from disheartening to very close, but I'm thinking that Dayton may win in a very close race -- there are still a lot of votes up on the Range left to count and I don't think they'll go Emmer's way. It's getting very interesting, though. If Dayton wins, we'll have a lot more to say about it tomorrow, but I would suggest that a Dayton governorship would set up a very interesting experiment, since the DFL would have effective control of the entire state government, while all the neighboring states would be under the control of the Republicans, including Wisconsin.
• Speaking of Wisconsin, two races make me very happy tonight -- seeing Ron Johnson knock Russ Feingold out of the Senate and, most of all, watching Reid Ribble knock out Steve Kagen in WI-8. Feingold was a poor Senator, but at least he was sincere in his beliefs. Kagen, on the other hand, is one of the more odious members of Congress. Johnson and Ribble are the sort of candidate we need -- guys who aren't career politicians but who bring necessary skill sets to Washington. We need a lot less Steve Kagens.
• Too bad that Harry Reid won, but it's going to be a Pyrrhic victory for him. He'll have a much smaller majority and he's not likely to get much smarter over the next two years.

More in the morning!

The die is cast

Whatever is going to happen today won't be affected by any amateur punditry I offer in this space, so I'd like to take a break from politics and talk sports. Three things caught my eye yesterday:

• Sad news from the basketball world as Maurice Lucas, who was one of the best players in the Al McGuire era at Marquette and who also had a distinguished professional career in both the ABA and NBA, died on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. Lucas had the reputation of being a tough guy and an enforcer, but he was a very generous and decent man and was well-respected by his peers. This column by Steve Kelley in the Seattle Times does a nice job of explaining why Maurice Lucas is someone to be missed.
• What more can you say about the Vikings? Suffice it to say I am amused. Brad Childress has perhaps the most boring persona of any coach in the National Football League, yet his team is pure Peyton Place these days. I understand that Randy Moss really needed to go after his bizarre media appearance on Sunday, but you really have to wonder -- what did the Vikings expect? My guess is this -- Moss, for all his pecadilloes, is the sort who doesn't suffer fools gladly. It would appear he sized up the situation and saw a lot of them in Winter Park and decided to force Chilly's hand.
• It's odd, but the World Series has almost been an afterthought for a lot of people this year. It's too bad, because the new champions, the San Francisco Giants, are a pretty nice story. They have a team full of crusty old veterans who were able to get it together for a playoff run. They also have some amazingly good pitching -- Tim Lincecum looks like a member of Mott the Hoople, but he's a fantastic pitcher. The Giants had never won a championship in all their years in San Francisco. It's hard to believe that the last time this franchise had won a championship was when Willie Mays was patrolling the Polo Grounds. So good for the Giants.

On the Eve of the Butt-Kicking

So, what are your predictions for how it's going to come out tomorrow? Here are my guesses:

Minnesota Governor: It's going to go late into the night. If Chip Cravaack's campaign is successful, and I think it will be, he'll drag Tom Emmer across the finish line. Barely. Emmer wins in a real close one, by 1.5. For all the good will the Dayton name has in this state, enough people are worried about him that he won't get there.

Minnesota Attorney General: Swanson wins, but not by more than 2-3. Barden hasn't received much attention, but he's done a very good job of laying out the issues.

Minnesota Sec. of State: Severson by 2. Although it's been quiet, there are a lot of people who've been waiting to vote against Mark Ritchie. They'll be heard from tomorrow.

Minnesota Auditor: Anderson by 5. Rebecca Otto was a fluke winner in a bad Republican year.

Congressional Races: As follows:

MN1: Walz by 2. Demmer ran a good campaign, but it won't quite happen.
MN2: Kline by 30. No contest.
MN3: Paulsen by 12. No contest.
MN4: McCollum by 11. In a sane district, Teresa Collett would win by 30. And without her protector Nancy Pelosi, McCollum is going to have a very difficult time in the next two years. Don't be surprised if she gets a credible primary challenger next time.
MN5: Ellison by 15. Ditto for Joel Demos. It amazes me that with all the ambitious DFL politicians who operate out of the Twin Cities, the two urban districts have such ridiculous incumbents.
MN6: Bachmann by 11. The best part is that Tarryl Clark spent millions for nothing.
MN7: Peterson by 8. Watch him closely -- Peterson might cross the aisle after getting a scare from Lee Byberg, who has run a pretty good campaign.
MN8: Cravaack by 3. And Tom Emmer is going to owe him big time.

Wisconsin Governor: Walker wins by 5. He's not the strongest candidate, but he's strong enough to beat Barrett.

Wisconsin Senate: Ron Johnson wins by 6. It's a tough year for Democrats in Wisconsin, but Ron Johnson would be a hell of a candidate in any year. Very impressive.

WI3: Kapanke by 1. Just a hunch on this one.
WI7: Duffy by 8. Strong campaign by a guy with a future.
WI8: Ribble by 7. And this one will be especially sweet. Steve Kagen is odious.

Overall number of House seats gained for the Republicans: 66
Overall number of Senate seats gained for the Republicans: 9. And again, watch for potential aisle-crossers -- the R's will approach Lieberman, but the ones to watch will be Jon Tester, Jim Webb and maybe even Kent Conrad. All see the writing on the wall.

Let's hear your predictions in the comments section.

More Real DFL of Genius

A few things worth mentioning today:

• If you haven't seen any of the videotape of Betty McCollum's debate against Teresa Collett, you really ought to go over to Mitch's place and watch what he's posted. McCollum has to read her talking points from a piece of paper. If I were a DFL pol living in the 4th CD and knew that this woman had the job, I'd be embarrassed as hell about it. There are dozens of DFL mayors, state reps and senators who live in the 4th -- really, this is the best you guys can do?
• King Banaian might be the single most impressive candidate running for the state House this year. He's a highly regarded economist and professor at St. Cloud State, who has been able to provide advice to a number of foreign governments. He's also of Armenian descent. The diversity lovers over at DFL central in St. Paul chose to portray the guy as the Other. Luke Hellier at MDE has the pix.
• Oddly, this stance from DFL central seems to contradict the views of my rep Kate Knuth, who has been very quiet in her re-election campaign this year. Kate seems to welcome diversity, even though she hasn't exactly thought it through, as Boots On's Force50 points out. Kate apparently wants some sort of guest worker program to make up for the demographic problems that her cherished DFL welfare state apparatus might entail. Here's a question for Kate: do you assume that the immigrants you hope to attract are going to be willing to just pay for your proposals? Or might they have other views on the matter?
• One more point on Kate Knuth's genius: Force50 does catch the funniest part of what Knuth believes. Quoting our young genius representative: "Societies may also choose to abandon GDP as the sole measure of economic success, instead focusing on measures of public or environmental health, education, equity, or happiness." Uh, Kate? You can't buy a loaf of bread with a better measure of environmental health. The reason we look at GDP is because it relates to economic activity. I don't doubt that your regulatory activity would go up substantially if you were given a chance, but it won't help your constituents. Voting for Russ Bertsch, who actually lives in the real world, would help a lot, though.

Pulling a Train

From the Stewart/Colbert rally:

The ‘pro-sanity” part of the rally (lead by Jon Stewart) introduced Mr. Islam who sang “Peace Train,” only to be interrupted by Stephen Colbert (the ‘pro-fear’ part of the rally) who proceeded to introduce a surprisingly lucid Mr. Osbourne who sang “Crazy Train.” The battle was effectively a draw, only to be resolved by a surprise appearance by the O’Jays who sang “Love Train.” And the world began to heal.

Somewhere, Blackfoot is sitting by the phone, waiting for the call that never came.

Ah, diversity!

Here's the crowd at the Stewart/Colbert rally today in Washington. Since we've long seen Tea Parties denigrated as "overwhelmingly white," it seems appropriate to get a look at real diversity.

Thank God I'm Not Like Them

So the sane people are going to be on the Capitol Mall today, led by Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Tunku Varadarajan lays it out quite succintly:

For all their iconoclasm, Stewart and his sidekick-in-sanity, Stephen Colbert, calculate to honor mainstream liberal pieties. Daily, Stewart shores up caustically the conventional wisdom of a moderate-left orthodoxy, scolding what are perceived to be the extremes, almost invariably of the right, in a fiesta of self-congratulation.

That phrase, "a fiesta of self-congratulation," is spot-on. I'm not a regular Stewart watcher, but I've seen his act enough times to know how he operates. He's a professional smart-ass and he's generally pretty good at it. And America needs its jesters.

You can't build a political movement out of mockery, though. I remain convinced that much of what drives opposition to Obama and the Democrats is how they just ooze condescension. It doesn't much anger me, because I've spent much of my life dealing with people who look down their noses at the "great unwashed," as Katie Couric put it recently. Couric's defenders have insisted that she didn't mean the term as a put-down. And I believe these defenders, because they honestly don't see it that way. They don't understand why treating the Tea Party as a matter of cultural anthropology might rankle.

The Gospel of Luke features what Jesus said about the matter:

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

There are a lot of Pharisees in Stewart's audience, who thank God they are not like NASCAR fans or bitter clingers or Glenn Beck fans. And there's never been any doubt that Stewart encourages his audience to think in those terms. The whole purpose of today's events in Washington is to mock the backward ways of those who gathered in Washington a few months back.

It cuts both ways -- conservatives sneer at liberals, too. And both sides imagine that the Other Guys are the Pharisees. I'll cop to it, since I do that pretty much every day on this blog. It's been a lifelong challenge for me, because I like to sneer and it's very easy to be cynical about human nature. But you aren't likely to build much of anything that lasts while you swim in currents of bile.

It's the paradox of politics -- we need politicians who are humble enough to understand their own limitations, but it takes a little bit of hubris to even contemplate running for office. The test for those Tea Party-endorsed candidates that break through on Tuesday is this -- will you remember why you were sent to office?

A lot of Democratic Party officeholders are likely to lose their jobs on Tuesday. As they ponder why they are out of a job, I would hope that they pay more attention to the Gospel of Luke than the Daily Show.

Betty McCollum's Extra Special Constituent Outreach

The first lesson of a scandal is this: the coverup is always worse than the crime.

So do we have a scandal concerning Betty McCollum? Maybe not yet, but the way she has handled the widespread dissemination of a video highlighting her 2002 omission of "under God" while leading the Pledge of Allegiance, is within shouting distance of scandal. You might recall that I wrote about my Congresswoman's behavior a few times this week, here and here. The first post concerned McCollum's performance in 2002. I didn't think it was a big deal and said as much. Later that day, someone posted a comment under the name "MN04" on my blog, directing me to a rather venomous press release that McCollum had posted on her official website. To refresh your memory, here were the kind words of my representative:

Conservatives are using an eight year old video clip to incite hate, racism, and intolerance among Tea Party Republicans. This right-wing effort to call into question Congresswoman McCollum's Christian faith, her belief in God, and her patriotism is blatantly anti-American and all too similar to the extremists who earlier this year mailed a soiled American flag to her Congressional office and threatened the Congresswoman with violence.

Congresswoman McCollum rejects this radical agenda and condemns the extremist tactics behind this poisonous political exploitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'm reasonably certain that Congresswoman McCollum also believes that conservatives are responsible for the heartbreak of psoriasis, but we'll leave that aside. Here's the interesting part -- it turns out the this "MN04" person was busy that day. I found this passage on the NorCal blog. NorCal is the blog that found the original McCollum video and posted it. Check this out:

Then today I was given some information about a certain individual who has been making the rounds on the internet and spamming the blogs that have carried the video and written about Betty's disrespect for the pledge. This individual is using the name MN04, but the email address is (District4.Minnesota@mail.house.gov) a government address. So now we have a United States Congresswoman's campaign staff using official government equipment to attack citizens while doing damage control. Below is the comment that has been left on thousands of sites that posted the video of her disrespecting the Pledge of Allegiance on the floor of the Peoples House.

"Congresswoman McCollum has led the Pledge of Allegiance on the House floor several times before. Check out http://mccollum.house.gov/pledge. It's all there."

That is the exact comment I got on my original post. "Gate," the blogger at NorCal who wrote the story, follows the trail:

For any tech savvy individuals out there, here is the IP address { 143.231.249.141 } from the computer that sent the damage control comment. It seems to have come straight from her Washington DC House of Representative office. Below are just a few of the places I found that are being hit with her damage control comment.

Examiner.com

US Message Board

FriendFeed

True North

MNCD4 Needs Change (I highly recommend that you read this guys letter to the editor of the St Paul Pioneer Press about McCollum.)

When I first attempted to check out the damage control site that was posted with her comment, I was first unable to get. Then I decided to drop the word "pledge" from the end of the URL they are passing out and I was able to get in to McCollum's official government financed web site. It's my guess they were attempting to throw me off with the wrong URL in hopes that I would just shrug my shoulders and forget about it. It is the same URL they have been using on all sites they are spamming with the message.

(Emphasis in the original. By the way, the True North piece was mine, as it was cross-posted at both Mr. Dilettante's Neighborhood and True North.)

Isn't that nice? So let's recap how Congresswoman McCollum has handled the revelation. She has:

• Published an intemperate press release that suggests that anyone who criticizes her is "anti-American," "extremist" and "poisonous";
• Posted that press release on her official government website, not her campaign website; and
• Has someone in her office who decided it was a good idea to spam blogs, with government equipment, during office hours. And yes, it was during office hours, because the comment I received came in at 12:45 p.m. CDT.

Classy, huh? Now, it's possible that MN04 did these things on his/her own time, which wouldn't run afoul of the Hatch Act. Out of an abundance of caution, we'll assume that to be the case. It certainly would have been a lot better if they'd done this "work" outside of the office, though. And it would have been a lot smarter for McCollum to have ignored the video entirely. She didn't though. So it's a story now. And we'll keep following this story all the way to election day.

Cross-posted at True North

Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Jack Webb and Jackwagons Edition

Brett Favre might have to take a seat against the Patriots. Can you feel the HYYYYPPPPEEEE?!

No, I'm not feeling it, youngblood. Then again, neither is Brett.

Unlike Brett Favre, estoy en fuego, baybee! Did you catch that I was 6-0 last week? Well, did you, punk?

Yeah, I did notice that. Nice picking, Benster. But it's a new week and now you have to do it again.

Bring it on and watch me work.

The Ohio State University Buckeyes (-25 1/2) vs. Minnesota Golden Roadkill. So the Gophers are a 25 1/2 point underdog in their home stadium? What is up with that? C'mon, man! You would assume that the Gophers would come out tomorrow and play their hearts out, right? You thought wrong. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Ohio State is going to pass go, repeatedly. But don't worry, Adam Weber will throw a few touchdown passes in garbage time. Buckeyes 90, Roadkill 20.

I like Adam Weber. But I gotta admit he is the king of garbage time. And the problem is that Ohio State will still be in a foul mood and looking to mete out some damage this week. They need to start pounding on teams to rise up in the BCS. And the Gophers are a prime poundee. Ohio State 38, Minnesota 14.

Sparty the Spartan (+6 1/2) vs. Herky the Hawkeye. Man, they got some lame nicknames for these mascots 'round here, don't they? C'mon, man! Why not Trixie the Hawkeye, or Sparkles the Spartan? If you're going to go all wimpy, let's do it right, guys! Anyway, back to the game. I can understand why Iowa is favored. They are still angry about last week's loss to Bucky the Badger (and that's not a wimpy nickname, by the way -- write that down, kids) and because Iowa is a desperate team at home. If my theory about how the season will end is true, there will be only one undefeated team from the so-called power conferences. But it won't be the Michigan State Spartans. Hayden Fry Nation 20, Spartacus 17.

This one is tough. Based on what I've seen, Michigan State is the better team, but I agree with the youthful one that Iowa has to have this game, because they really don't want to go to the Champs Sports Bowl. And an Iowa win will set up a really interesting mess in the Big Ten standings. So let's set up that 4-way tie for first. Iowa 27, Michigan State 20

Oregon Quack Quack (-7) vs. USC Probation Nation. Remember how I was talking earlier about there being only one undefeated BCS team at the end of the year? Well, that team is Oregon. Oops, I just gave away my pick, didn't I? Well, back to the analysis. Oregon is just way too fast and you just can't stop them. Even though USC fans will remember losing last year, it won't matter. Even though the game is in Los Angeles, the Duck will prevail. Quack Quack 77, Probation Nation 0.

Uh, no. I shake my head in your general direction on that pick. Don't get me wrong -- I think Oregon is the better team and will win the game. They just won't win by 77, that's all. Oregon 31, USC 20.

Minnesota Stergers (+6) vs. New England Belichecks. It's tough to keep track of all the body parts of Brett Favre on the internet these days, although there are a lot of helpful websites that are keeping inventory. But it seems like his ankle is the problem in this game. Why, you ask? Because of the Glorious Green Bay Packers, of course! They tackled Brett and tried to keep his ankle in Green Bay as a souvenir. Clay Matthews needed a chew toy, apparently. Meanwhile, the Vikings spent the week trying to get Favre in playing shape without using any text messages. I've heard a lot of Vikings fans saying that Joe Webb should start. Not. Gonna. Happen. Maybe they should start this guy. Twice a year the Patriots have to deal with Revis Island. With Lito Sheppard coming to town, they have to deal with Gilligan's Island. Watch your head, Lito! New England 30, Don't Text Me, Bro 7.

Well, that was a tidy summation, wasn't it? I'm speechless, really. Better just make the pick. By the way, I assume Favre won't play, so that gives me a chance to wrong twice in one pick. Patriots 27, Vikings 17.

Glorious Green Bay Packers (+6) vs. J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS. Now that the annoying Ghost of Favre is in the Packers' rear view mirror, it's time to go to Revis Island. Watch your head, Darelle! You would have to wonder if the Packers have a hangover from last week. You would also have to wonder if they have enough guys left on defense to actually field a team. They had to bring in guys off the street this week to play. That means it's Zombo Time! However, it also means that the Packers have a problem, because the Jets are good. However, Revis can't cover every single receiver. Green Bay 17, Gang Green 10.

I should trust you on this one, because you are picking my favorite team. But I just don't see it. The Jets are overrated, no doubt about it -- they reek of New York hype and I don't think Mark Sanchez is ready for prime time. But he won't have to win this game. Jets 24, Packers 21.

Pittsburgh Stillers (+1) vs. New Orleans Who Dat Brees. Who are dem Saints, anyway? They are only 4-3 and haven't been scaring anyone. C'mon, man! Meanwhile, the Steelers have been managing to get through the season with a lot of good luck. They should have lost last week (attention Vikings fans: that's how an official can screw up a game, so stop complaining already!) and they somehow won with Dennis Dixon, who almost was your next Heisman Trophy winner a few years ago but had the bad luck to bust up his knee. I think Saints fans will need to scare some little kids after seeing their team go down in flames on Halloween. Stillers 30, Who Dat? 0.

You must be down on Brees, considering he's your fantasy league quarterback. Just a little bitter there, Benster?

He's channeling his inner Marc Bulger! He needs to get out of mamby-pamby land and get some touchdown passes, the jackwagon!

Okay, thanks for sharing that. Anyway, back to the pick. The Saints gotta have this game. Atlanta might be the best team in the NFC and the Saints can't afford to fall any further behind them. So they won't. New Orleans 24, Pittsburgh 19.

Brett Favre could go as himself for Halloween. After all, it's not like he's going to try and play, right? Ben out!

Where is the race, really?

So, is the Humphrey Institute correct and Mark Dayton has it in the bag? Or is Survey USA correct and it's essentially a dead heat?

My guess is this: Dayton is leading, but his lead is soft. Very soft. The people who want to vote for Emmer really, really, really want to vote for Emmer. Aside from those who would directly benefit from a Dayton victory (AFSCME and Education Minnesota), there's only tepid support for Brave Sir Mark.

As is often the case, it comes down to the ground game.

The best thing Dayton has going for him right now is the timing of the election. Most people haven't received their insurance premium information for 2011 yet and don't really understand how much of a hit they are going to take because of the new Obamacare mandates. If they knew that, a big taxer like Dayton wouldn't get much more than 30% of the vote.

So if you are inclined to mark your ballot for Dayton, remember: we did warn you.

Radio Free Dilettante — November 2 Approaches Edition

iTunes makes its predictions:

Last Five:

I Zimbra, Talking Heads
Rock Around the Clock, Bill Haley & the Comets
The Ice of Boston, Dismemberment Plan
If This World Were Mine, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Stubborn Kind of Fellow, Marvin Gaye

Next Five:

Lies, The Knickerbockers
Commotion, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Guns Guns Guns, The Guess Who
Hotel California, The Eagles
Had to Cry Today, Blind Faith

Real Minnesota Congresswoman of Genius

So the other day I mentioned the kerfuffle about Betty McCollum's leaving out "under God" when she led Congress in the Pledge of Allegiance, mostly in passing. I wrote:

There's been some outrage about the 8-year old video circulating on the web that features Betty McCollum purposely leaving out the words "under God" when she led a reading of the Pledge of Allegiance in Congress. I can think of a dozen reasons why Betty should be retired, but this isn't one of them. What is valuable about this kerfuffle is this: Betty has largely been invisible during her decade in Washington -- she's a one-woman echo chamber for Nancy Pelosi -- but the rest of the world now understands what a dunderhead we have representing us the 4th District.

In other words, I didn't think the Pledge thing was that big a deal. Someone named MN04 then pointed out this link, which appears on Congresswoman McCollum's official website. Feel the love, y'all:

Conservatives are using an eight year old video clip to incite hate, racism, and intolerance among Tea Party Republicans. This right-wing effort to call into question Congresswoman McCollum's Christian faith, her belief in God, and her patriotism is blatantly anti-American and all too similar to the extremists who earlier this year mailed a soiled American flag to her Congressional office and threatened the Congresswoman with violence.

Congresswoman McCollum rejects this radical agenda and condemns the extremist tactics behind this poisonous political exploitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Oy. A few comments:

• Some people wave the bloody shirt. McCollum waves the soiled American flag. To question McCollum, or show her in a bad light, apparently makes you "blatantly anti-American," and "all too similar to the extremists who earlier this year mailed a soiled American flag to her Congressional office and threatened the Congresswoman with violence." Oh, and also "extremist" and "poisonous." Would it be extremist of me to suggest that maybe McCollum ought to try the decaf?
• Riddle me this: why are these statements on her official Congressional website? I had always been under the impression that campaigning should be on a campaign website.
• The guilt by association gambit is always a nice touch, too. Unless McCollum has evidence that the bloggers who ran with this story, including the respected Ed Morrissey, are the sort who send soiled American flags to congressional offices, she's out of line here.
• One thing that is encouraging -- below the screed are three videos that show McCollum leading the Pledge and saying "under God." All the examples took place after 2002, which means that apparently McCollum is capable of learning, which many of us who observe McCollum from addresses north of Larpenteur Avenue had reason to doubt.

The 4th CD can do better, much better, than Betty McCollum. Vote for Teresa Collett.

Real DFLers of Genius

In the 18 years I've lived in Minnesota, it's been my experience that the DFL tends to be combative, nasty and sometimes dishonest, but almost never lazy or dumb. That seems to be changing this cycle.

By now you've likely heard about the mailers that the DFL State Committee, one of the many worker bee organizations that are part of the DFL hive, sent out to attack a non-denominational Protestant minister named Dan Hall. In the first, they depict a minister wearing a Roman Catholic-style collar who wears a button proclaiming: "Ignore the Poor." In the second, they've used the image of a high altar with a statue of St. Anthony, with large "VOTE" banners flanking the statue and a message attacking candidate Hall. I've posted two images above.

The problem is that in attacking a Protestant minister, they've used Catholic imagery. And there are a lot of Catholics who are unhappy about it. Derek Brigham has compiled quite a list of links at True North.

As it happens, DFL spokesman Donald McFarland is well pleased with the DFL's handiwork. Joe Kimball at MinnPost has the quote:

“I understand that some Republican bloggers have taken one image from the first piece, and claimed that the mail is somehow anti-Catholic. But the text explicitly criticizes Preacher Hall for distancing himself from policy views that have been taken by the Catholic Archdiocese, by the Lutheran Synod, and other leaders in Minnesota’s faith community.

“Dan Hall is willing to enlist God and religion in his campaign when it helps him — but in fact, his views hurt the poorest and sickest among us, and this mailing holds him accountable for those views."

Where to begin? Well, let's remember that Hall is a non-denominational minister. He's not subject to the aegis of the Archdiocese, any Lutheran synod or other unnamed "leaders in Minnesota's faith community." At a minimum, it would have been helpful to leave the Catholic Church out of this discussion entirely.

Second, there's been an ongoing debate among people of faith for a very long time now concerning the role and efficacy of government in ameliorating the problems that the poor and sick face. I have to imagine that McFarland and the rest of the folks at the DFL know this, but they don't seem especially troubled about asserting otherwise.

I've never met Dan Hall and don't know him from the man in the moon. I have no idea whether he is callous to the concerns of the poor and sick. Based on the available evidence, he does care, though. He has run a food shelf in Minneapolis for over a decade, which hardly strikes me as the work of someone who is callous to the needs of the poor and sick.

As for the image of the Roman collar, Kimball's MinnPost article relays what Hall has to say about the matter:

In an interview with EWTN, Hall said: “I’ve never worn a collar. It’s a slam on me, but they’re using you guys and it’s sad.”

"You guys" in this case are Catholics. And while some Protestant ministers do wear a collar, the majority do not. I would wager that 100% of the diocesan priests in this Archdiocese do wear the Roman collar, so it's tough to argue with Hall's formulation.

So, are the ads anti-Catholic? My guess is that they weren't intended that way, but they inadvertently betray one of the real problems the modern DFL faces. The DFL is so secular in its outlook that even its communications people don't understand the potency of religious imagery, especially Catholic imagery. It's especially stupid to use the image of a high altar and St. Anthony in this context -- the DFL could have easily found a stock photo image of a Protestant church, but they were too lazy to do so. It's usually the better call to chalk something like this up to sloth and/or stupidity rather than malice.

Where it gets interesting is that both of the two major gubernatorial candidates, Tom Emmer and Mark Dayton, are Roman Catholics. Emmer is an observant Catholic who attends Mass regularly and missed a debate earlier in the year because he was attending his son's First Communion. Dayton, from what I can tell, is more of a vestigial Catholic than a practicing one. My understanding is that Dayton has spoken in the pulpit at the ultraliberal St. Joan of Arc Parish in South Minneapolis in the past, but he's been more likely to hang out at the Esalen Institute than at Demontreville.

And you know what? That's Dayton's business. I oppose Dayton for a number of reasons, but his spirituality (or lack thereof) is not one of them. I am not in the position of judging, or even knowing, the condition of his soul.

But what the DFL needs to remember is that there are a lot of Catholics in Minnesota. Some are quite devout, others not so much. But misusing Catholic imagery is profoundly stupid. The DFL needs the support of at least some Catholics in order to win elections and this sort of thing tells Catholics, and some Protestants, that the DFL leadership is so secular in its outlook that it really doesn't care enough to understand the differences between non-denominational ministers and Catholic priests, or to understand why people of faith might differ with the DFL line.

As a partisan, I'm glad the DFL is so tone-deaf on the matter. As a Catholic, I find it troubling.

One week out

We'll know more, potentially a lot more around this time a week from today. A few thoughts concerning where we are:

• Despite all the heavy lifting that the local newspapers and superannuated Republicans have done on his behalf, it looks like Tom Horner is starting to fade, Tim Penny-style, and that means the gubernatorial election is going to be between Tom Emmer and Mark Dayton after all. That's probably just as well, because it means there is a clear choice for voters to make. Do you believe that Mark Dayton's plan to raise taxes to pay for more spending is the way to go, or do you believe that Emmer's more austere approach is better? There are a lot of people who will have to weigh that question closely. I remain hopeful that the undecideds will break Emmer's way, but it's not clear that they will.
• There's been some outrage about the 8-year old video circulating on the web that features Betty McCollum purposely leaving out the words "under God" when she led a reading of the Pledge of Allegiance in Congress. I can think of a dozen reasons why Betty should be retired, but this isn't one of them. What is valuable about this kerfuffle is this: Betty has largely been invisible during her decade in Washington -- she's a one-woman echo chamber for Nancy Pelosi -- but the rest of the world now understands what a dunderhead we have representing us the 4th District. Teresa Collett is a fantastic candidate facing an uphill struggle against the DFL muscle in St. Paul that keeps McCollum employed. I've spoken with Teresa during a number of events this year and she's whip-smart, quick on her feet and knows policy up and down. In a normal congressional district, Collett would win easily, but districts don't get much more blue than the 4th.
• Although I haven't lived there in over 25 years, I still care a great deal about the 8th Congressional District in Wisconsin. I grew up in the district and it's been distressing to see it represented for the past four years by a very odious fellow, Steve Kagen. Kagen got swept in during the 2006 wave election and held his seat in 2008 while riding Barack Obama's coattails. This year he's in a lot of trouble and it appears likely that he is going to lose to a political newcomer named Reid Ribble. I'm fond of candidates like Ribble, who take the Cincinnatus approach -- he's been a highly successful businessman in the roofing business and has also been a high school volleyball coach. He's the sort of guy who gets into politics because he sees problems that need to be solved. It looks like he's going to win and that's a happy thing. I'm also hopeful that he can light a fire under the long-time Republican congressman who represents the adjoining 6th District, Tom Petri, who is too much of a careerist for my taste.

A hell of a time to have writer's block

We're a week out from the election and I have been battling one of the worst cases of writer's block I've had in a long time. Trust me, there's a lot to talk about, but the words are just not flowing right now. There are a few things I would like to call to your attention:

• I have been quite remiss in talking about the state house races, especially the local battle in 50B. Russ Bertsch is an excellent candidate and a very good guy to boot. Russ and his wife are raising a family in the district and is a successful businessman with a strong financial services background. Russ is a Cincinnatus-type candidate who has seen a problem and is now setting out to do something about it. He is a hard-working, resourceful man who has run his own business and he understands that we must have fiscal discipline in the next two years. He would do a great job representing our district, unlike the incumbent, Kate Knuth, who has accomplished nothing in her two terms in the state legislature. He really deserves your support and I'd strongly encourage you to visit his website.
• We are continually assured that Mark Dayton is going to win the governor's chair in Minnesota and that the lead is at least 7 points right now, at least according to the always-silly Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. It's possible that Dayton is ahead, but he's not up by 7 points. If things were in the bag for Dayton, his henchmen wouldn't be re-running the incredibly scurrilous DWI ads against Emmer again. Which reminds me of something that needs to be said. Remember -- Emmer was arrested for DWI 20 years ago. Mark Dayton was in rehab for alcoholism within the last four years, by his own admission and has a long, well-documented history of mental illness. Who's more likely to have a problem dealing with the pressures of the governor's office?
• Watch what happens on Thursday. I predict that Dayton's Alliance for a Better Minnesota button men will hit Emmer with something even more scurrilous than the ads they've run thus far.
• I gave Rae Hart Anderson a well-deserved swat the other day. My friend Steve Taylor has posted a lot more information about Anderson that District 50 voters need to know over on the Enlighten New Brighton website.
• And before I forget, my friend Angie Schottmuller is running for the North Oaks City Council. You would think that a place as prosperous and bucolic as North Oaks could run on auto-pilot. You'd be wrong. There's a lot that can be done to improve local governance and Angie has the active intelligence and leadership skills to make things happen.

More soon.

Line of the Year

Courtesy of the great P. J. O'Rourke, writing at the Weekly Standard:

This is not an election on November 2. This is a restraining order. Power has been trapped, abused and exploited by Democrats. Go to the ballot box and put an end to this abusive relationship. And let’s not hear any nonsense about letting the Democrats off if they promise to get counseling.

Emphasis mine. And of course, read the whole thing.

Rae Hart Anderson Makes a Mix Tape

I'm glad that someone noticed all the work that I put into transcribing and detailing the callous and ghoulish views of Barb Goodwin, the DFL candidate for Senate District 50, as expressed in her interview with the "Atheists for Human Rights." It turns out that Rae Hart Anderson, the sore loser candidate that the SD50 Republican caucus soundly rejected back in March, and that the Constitution Party rejected later on, has boosted the transcript that I prepared and put it on Anderson's website.

Without attribution, of course.

Three quick thoughts:

• Anderson makes quite a show of her Christian beliefs, but she seems to have no qualms about posting the work of others without attribution. Draw your own conclusions about whether she walks it like she talks it.
• Having said that, I guess I don't mind if the 7-10 people who might actually visit Anderson's website prior to Nov. 2 find out the truth about Goodwin, because people need to know.
• Fortunately, there is a candidate who is far superior to the egregious Goodwin and the slippery Anderson. Her name is Gina Bauman and she strongly, strongly deserves your support.

Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Don't Text Me, Bro Edition

It's on. It's the return of Favre, the texting terror! Ladies, watch out!

Yeah, 41 seems to be a little young to be a dirty old man.

Aren't you older than that, Decrepit?

Why yes, Benster. Yes I am.

No wonder you don't ever use text messages! Well, we have a message for you -- it's time to pick some games, even if Brad Carlson thinks we're no good at it.

Well, we'll keep picking and not worry about our critics. Lay it out, Seabiscuit!

Penn State Paternos (- 9 1/2) vs. Minnesota Horton Hears a Who. Speaking of really old dudes, JoePa is in town this week to administer a beatdown on Jeff Horton, who sounds like a Dr. Seuss character. So, do you think he speaks for the trees? This much I know, he cannot win a game here or there. He cannot win a game anywhere! He does not like the Nittany Lions. He does not like them, Decrepit You Are! Come to Penn State 35, Bartholomew Cubbins 10.

Well, I don't think I can top that outburst, grasshopper! Let's just say that the Gophers are going to wish they were on Mulberry Street when this one is over. The other thing to remember is that Obama will be in town tomorrow at the same time, so the Penn State team bus may end up on Mulberry Street. That's the only hope for the Gophs. Penn State 27, Gophers 20.

Beloved Wisconsin Badgers (+5 1/2) vs. Iowa Stanzis. Ricky Stanzi doesn't deserve to be a nickname. He's a senior quarterback who is likely to get the senior discount the way he plays. He's overrated and interception-prone, kinda like Daphne on Scooby-Doo, although he doesn't wear lavender tights as far as I know. This is a potential trap game for Iowa because the Badgers might have Jim Tressel trying to teach high school math after the way the Badgers schooled Ohio State last week. Badger Badger Badger 21, Herky Hawkeye 0.

Wow, I hope you're right. Then again, you're not. The Badgers don't win much in Iowa City. They put their all into beating Ohio State and it's going to be tough for them to avoid a bit of a letdown this week. I know they'll go in tough and probably take the lead, but if the pattern holds, Iowa will wear them down at the end. Iowa 24, Badgers 20.

Oklahoma Boomer Sooner (-3) vs. Mizzou Tigers. Decrepit warned me to be nice about this game, since the Night Writer is a Mizzou alum. And everyone loves the Night Writer -- just ask him! He's like Peter Cetera that way. But anyway, back to the game. It's obvious the Gods are angry because Boise State isn't number one in the polls or the foul, evil, wretched BCS. Did you get that -- I said, foul, evil and wretched! So what we need here is for Oklahoma, the false #1, to get their butts kicked in Columbia and restore order and decency to the land. May there be a playoff! And if Mizzou doesn't win, I'm holding Night Writer personally responsible. Mizzou 35, Joke-lahoma 0.

Lotta pressure the young fella has put on you, Night Writer! Well, leaving my son's well-known animus concerning the BCS to the side, this will be an interesting game. Mizzou has been flying under the radar this season, but now the tests begin. Can they beat OU? I'd like them to, but I don't think they will. Sorry, Night Writer! Oklahoma 31, Mizzou 24.

Minnesota Textings (+3) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers. Watch out, Wisconsin -- it's the return of Favre! And this time he's brought back Randy Moss with him! I heard that Lambeau Field has had its goalposts sanitized prior to Moss's arrival in Green Bay. Probably a good move. I've heard a lot of Vikings fans saying that "Minnesota's gonna win" and "Rodgers is terrible!" and "half their team is in the hospital" and other things like that. However, Favre is starting to face both Father Time and Roger Goodell. We don't know which one is the tougher opponent yet, but he's probably going to lose to both of them in the end. What's nice is that the Packers can bottle up Jared "Cowboy Up" Allen with actual NFL linemen this time, instead of using the Swinging Gate and T. J. Lang. Also, keep in mind that the Vikings are a little short on defensive backs and that the Packers are going to come out swinging the Hammer of the Gods. I would not be surprised if this is the game where Aaron Rodgers finally makes us forget our Lebron James. Go Pack Go 50, Textings 20.

Pretty simple, I think. If Clay Matthews puts Favre on the turf a few times, the Vikings will have trouble scoring. If the Packers keep Rodgers upright, they will score a lot of points. As a Packer fan, I worry more about Percy Harvin than I do about Moss. But I think this time the Packers win. Packers 27, Vikings 21.

Washington Runaway Federal Spendings (+3) vs. Bear Down Chicago da Bearz. Washington does spend way too much -- not only the football team, but just about everyone else in that town. Are you reading this, Tarryl Clark? Of course the only way Clark will go to Washington is on a tour bus, but we'll leave that for another time. I'm still angry about two weeks ago, when the Redskins stole a game from the Packers. However, I would like the Redskins to give the Bears all they can handle. Hogettes 21, Dit-ka 0.

Jay Cutler is getting his butt kicked and there's no way he can survive the season unless the Bears start playing better on the offensive line. Mike Martz's system really only works if you have a great line, because it requires the quarterback to hang in there a long time. I think the Bears can win this game, but if they aren't careful they'll be looking at a year of Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie. And that would turn 4-2 into 5-11. Bears 17, Redskins 13.

New York Football Giants (+3) vs. Dallas How 'Bout Them Cowboahs. So help me understand this -- the Cowboys are about 1-136 right now, but they're favored to win? How does that work, old fella? Dallas lost the Panic Bowl last week, so now they're playing in the Outright Despair Bowl against the New York Giants. There are rumors going around that Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning might not be around next year and, hopefully, Tony Romo will be watching his friend Ricky Stanzi become a bust like Romo is, especially in big games. I think the Giants are trying to get Jessica Simpson to show up this week, although I'm not sure Romo could get a date with Homer Simpson the way he's playing these days. The New York Giants 21, Cowboahs 0.

You seem to like that 21-0 score this week, young fella. That's the third time you've used it. Are you running out of material or something? Anyway, the Cowboys have to win this game or they will be pretty much out of it. So on the "desperate teams at home" theory, with no team anywhere more desperate, will go with the Pokes this time. Dallas 27, Giants 17.

I wonder what the Vikings-endorsed talk show host known as Dan Barreiro will be saying after Favre chokes again. He probably will demand a recount. Mark Ritchie, that's your cue! Ben out!