MORNING EDITION

Reporters and maybe even some book critics have had their first look at ex-Gov. Pawlenty’s memoir, “Courage to Stand.” Mark Zdechlik at MPR writes: “A recurring theme is Pawlenty's frustration with the growth of government and with the Obama administration. Pawlenty accuses Obama of turning back on campaign promises of reform and more responsible spending. Pawlenty writes that Obama is driving the country over a cliff. Carleton College political science professor Steven Schier said all the direct references to Obama leave little doubt of Pawlenty's future plans.” Zdechlik  also says: “Pawlenty spends a lot of his time making the case that he's a regular guy who enjoys mowing the lawn of his modest suburban Twin Cities home. In one section of the book that describes Pawlenty being vetted as John McCain's possible running mate, he writes that he and his wife were practically buried in paperwork late one night without staff help. They joked that, ‘no way is Mitt Romney doing this by himself.' " Wait ... McCain VETTED his VP choices?

Brian Bakst’s AP story runs all over the country. It says: “Pawlenty, who was raised Catholic and later converted to an evangelical church with Baptist roots, heavily emphasizes religion. It's befitting a book from Christian publisher Tyndale House Publishers and a possible political calculation for someone sizing up a White House bid since ruling out a third term as governor. An entrance poll done during the 2008 Iowa caucuses found that more than half of the Republicans who turned out described themselves as evangelical Christians, and more than eight in 10 of caucus winner Mike Huckabee's supporters described themselves as born again or evangelical.”

Not having any support in your audience is sometimes a blessing. So Gov. Dayton just plowed on ahead and told the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which spent millions to defeat him, that he’s still coming after their cash. The AP writes: “Dayton addressed 1,500 members of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce with a won't-back-down message on taxes Thursday night. Groups aligned with Minnesota businesses spent millions promoting Republican Tom Emmer and attacking Dayton during the campaign. Dayton joked about it in his speech before making a forceful case for raising income taxes on Minnesota's highest earners. Dayton closed with the refrain: ‘Our shared solution is jobs.’ He stressed that the education of the state's future work force, size of the business customer base and the safety of communities depend on a balanced fix to a $6.2 billion deficit.” Now all he needs is someone other than John Marty and Phyllis Kahn to vote with him.

Wednesday’s spontaneous “town hall meeting” where “average citizens” were invited up to express their diasgreements with Gov. Dayton opting into Medicaid, has Sally Jo Sorenson of the ever-feisty Bluestem Prairie blog pretty worked up. Ripping the “rocking chair”/”legacy media,” Sorenson says: “It's approaching journalistic malfeasance for the press to lack the curiosity to ask a simple ‘five W’ question about ‘who’ that young man at the podium might be.  It's their duty to ask such questions, a responsibility implied in the freedom of the press.” So: “[D]o your jobs and identify those who insert themselves into the public discourse. Indeed, developing the slight amount of curiosity in the Internet age might help you better understand the material you craft into ‘news.’ Almanac identified Jake MacMillian as "citizen" ... But he's much more than that, and informing viewers and readers about that identity serves the public interest.” TPT might have flubbed it, but MacMillian/McAulay was ID’d as an “activist” by others, if not a leader of the anti-gay “ministry”/radio show “You Can Run But You Can Not Hide.”

They’re hip, you know ... Red Wing shoes. So much so that the marketing gurus have plans to open 125 stores out of which to sell 'em over the next five years. Jackie Crosby at the Strib writes: “The stores, all independently owned, will open mostly in the Northeast, in cities such as Philadelphia, where the Minnesota retailer doesn't have a strong presence, said spokesman Peter Engel. Stores typically are located in metropolitan areas with populations of 100,000 or more.”

And over at TCF, still wincing from the Federal Reserve cutting into their swipe fees, is showing its the big bank with a heart, again, sort of, by eliminating its $9.95 “maintenance fees” on checking counts. Reports Chris Serres for the Strib, “As of Thursday, new TCF customers who deposit at least $500 in their checking accounts each month or complete at :east 10 transactions per month will no longer have to pay a $9.95 monthly maintenance fee — a charge the bank introduced last year to offset declining fee revenue resulting from regulatory changes.” He reminds readers: “[L]ast year TCF said it was forced to introduce a monthly maintenance fee to offset the impact of new federal regulations that restrict other bank fees. Rules went into effect in July that prohibit banks from charging overdraft fees on ATM and debit-card transactions unless customers opt in to overdraft protection.” Does this mean Bill Cooper must move into a double-wide in Blaine?

Speaking of Cooper, one of his high-profile investments, John Hinderaker of Power Line, flings some special venom in a post titled “Obamacare: A Uniquely Vicious Form of Corruption.” Spinning off a Wall Street Journal commentary by noted corruption expert Karl Rove, Hinderaker says: “Rove explains the vicious strategy at the heart of Obamacare: pass terrible legislation, and then collect a toll by exempting your friends — those who pay you lots of money — from that legislation, while your enemies have to live with it.We have had various forms of corruption over the years, but I don't believe we have had, within memory, anything quite this disgusting. The worst malefactor here, besides President Obama himself, is AARP.”

And then it gets even riper still: “We've heard a lot about ‘crony capitalism’ in recent years, but this is something worse — crony socialism. The Obama administration is running, in effect, a protection racket — nice business you have here, too bad if something should happen to it. We're passing legislation that may destroy your business, but don't worry — if you pay us our protection money, we will give you a waiver. By American standards, this is corruption of a uniquely vicious sort.”

It was a relatively quiet evening on The Bachmann watch — unless she made a QVC appearance after midnight that I missed. Peter Grier of The Christian Science Monitor filed on the Next Greatest Maybe/But Mention My Name Anyway Candidate, writing: “Is the GOP ready for two female tea party candidates from the frozen north? Probably not. Most presidential fields get winnowed down to candidates from different niches vying with each other — a southerner versus a westerner versus a religious right candidate versus a moderate, and so forth. So Bachmann might just be enjoying her moment. ... In some ways, Bachmann might be the better candidate. Sure, she’s said controversial things in the past, and her phrasing isn’t always crisp. But Bachmann is focused like a laser beam on the tea party’s favorite issues. She’s got that politicians’ gift of driving home a central message in an interview, using the word ‘repeal’ to refer to the health care vote, the ‘repeal’ of Nancy Pelosi from the Speakership, and the possible ‘repeal’ of Obama in 2012, for example.”

Two recently ex’d head coaches, Mike Singletary of the 49ers and Josh McDaniels of the Broncos, are rumored to be joining Leslie Frazier’s staff with the Vikings. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com says, “Singletary likely would be the linebackers coach in Minnesota. He was fired by the 49ers after a Week 16 loss to the Rams. The former San Fran head coach joins former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels as potential candidates for membership on Frazier’s staff.”

Bill Williamson, writing ESPN’s AFC West blog says McDaniels might come with baggage: “If McDaniels ends up in Minnesota, I could see the Vikings trying to make a play for Denver quarterback Kyle Orton, who flourished under McDaniels and who will likely be available through a trade. Denver would probably want a second-round pick for Orton from the Vikings.” Orton would have to shave that hillbilly moustache before he’s allowed in here.