The Definitive Tim Pawlenty Picture (www.facebook.com).
by Tony Petrangelo
Sep 23, 2012, 7:00 AM

The Weekly Wrap 9-23

Stuff happened this week in Minnesota, and elsewhere, a bit of a recap of a small slice of that stuff that happened in Minnesota follows immediately below.

♣ The big news this week, I guess, is that beloved (I kid!) former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, like a rat, has fled the SS Romney for the seven figures of green pastures in the private sector.

You may have to read that sentence again. But rather than fix it I decided to add that helpful disclaimer.

♣ Both Representative Michele Bachmann and Jim Graves have ads on the television in Minnesota’s 6th congressional district race. Graves started with a bio spot:

And then moved onto this one hitting Bachmann about her response to the Sartell paper mill explosion:

Michele, as is her style, didn’t bother with a bio spot (there’s this radio ad, but we’re talking about TV here!) and instead went right into the fray with a boiler plate, but thankfully sans Jim the Election Guy, ad hitting Jim Graves for being a big spender… or something.

With six weeks left this race has nowhere to go but down!

♣ Speaking of ads, MN United, or Minnesotan’s United for All Families if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, went up with their first ad:

And then they went up with their second ad:

♣ The pearl clutchers in support of the ban on marriage amendment have released a web ad, #34 of a series they call the “Minnesota Marriage Minute,” although this particular effort is a little over 4(!) minutes!

Yowza!

Apparently there was actually such a peer reviewed study… only:

The back-story the spot doesn’t delve into: The study in question is the subject of a highly critical internal audit conducted by Social Science Research, the journal that published it in June. The audit will appear in the November issue of the publication.

In an interview with the Chronicle, auditor Darren E. Sherkat, a professor of sociology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a member of the journal’s editorial board, had a more succinct summation: “It’s bullshit.”

♣ The Uptake has video, which I’ve helpfully embedded here, of the debate between Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and voting rights skeptic John Fund:

♣ A not entirely honest GOP direct mail piece, not really shocking, but the people running the operation who sent it? Well, that’s not shocking either. But it’s certainly interesting!

♣ Tweet of the week:

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