The Opinion Minute: October 26th Edition

In a semi-regular feature, we boil down the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune Opinion page to its basic message.

Lori Sturdevant :  In 2010, a long-serving Democrat congressman lost his bid for re-election.  That will not be allowed to happen again.

Editorial Board:  The Board endorses Democrat Al Franken for re-election to the U.S. Senate.  What?  You were expecting a different result?

For the benefit of my out-of-state readers, or those new to Minnesota, let me provide a little background.  The Minneapolis Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper, owned by a rabid, Tea Party extremist, conservative Republican billionaire, exactly like, in every respect, those evil Koch Brothers.  This arch-conservative partisan extremist’s hand-picked board, nevertheless, only endorses the best, most-highly qualified candidates.  Who always happen to be Democrats.

In instances where a long-time Republican incumbent is going to win anyway, by a big margin, the Board will endorse said Republican.  (See Erik Paulsen, John Kline, and Rich Stanek.)

Also, once per cycle, the Board will endorse a Republican you never heard of in a minor, local race you never heard of to demonstrate their “independence.”

D.J. Tice :  the Star Tribune’s house “conservative” pops up this week to deliver a public service announcement:  get out and vote, even you low information voters who don’t know anything.

Lead Story :  A week after the Board’s inevitable endorsement of Democrat Mark Dayton and the paper’s declaring the race for governor to be over, the Board posts their conversations with Dayton and Jeff Johnson.

Why bother?  Because this the Sunday in the election cycle that the Star Tribune publishes its this time we're not kidding poll showing that the race will be razor close next month.