AFTERNOON EDITION

ALSO: Bachmann mum on Obama's heritage; McCollum sideswipes NASCAR; judge may suicide Internet case; Delta gets double dose of bad news; and Petters' appeal invokes mob.

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The union-busting Tea Party revolution in Wisconsin is off to a rocky start. Doug Grow has filed for us here at MinnPost. And the latest, according to the AP, is that, shades of Texas, “14 Democrats disappeared from the Capitol." Says AP:  "They were not in their offices, and aides said they did not know where any of them had gone. Hours later, one of them told The Associated Press that the group had left Wisconsin. Sen. Jon Erpenbach said Democrats fled to slow down consideration of the bill in the hopes that Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers would discuss changes. ‘The plan is to try and slow this down because it's an extreme piece of legislation that's tearing this state apart,’ Erpenbach told the AP in a telephone interview.”

Politico’s Ben Smith reports that — shades of Dade County 2000 — the Democratic National Committee is helping organize the protests: “The Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America arm — the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign — is playing an active role in organizing protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attempt to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights.  OfA, as the campaign group is known, has been criticized at times for staying out of local issues like same-sex marraige, but it's riding to the aid of the public sector unions who [are] hoping to persuade some Republican legislators to oppose Walker's plan. And while Obama may have his difference with teachers unions, OfA's engagement with the fight — and Obama's own clear stance against Walker — mean that he's remaining loyal to key Democratic Party allies at what is, for them, a very dangerous moment.”

Rachel Weiner, on the Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog, writes: “[B]efore this week, Democrats had been reluctant to defend their long-time allies in the public sector in a recognition that with tough economic times come tough funding decision. Now, however, they're on the offensive. Liberal MSNBC host Ed Schultz will broadcast his show from Madison tonight. The Democratic National Committee i s involved: they have been filling buses, organizing phone banks, and promoting the rallies through social media and email campaigns. President Obama said Walker's plans seem 'like an assault on unions.' " Democratic state legislators have skipped town to avoid a vote on the plan. Some Republicans are starting to wobble." 

For those who think I spend too much time noting the daily/hourly appearances and statements of Michele Bachmann, what would you have me do with stuff like this? David Jackson, on USA Today’s “The Oval” blog watched Ms. Bachmann on ABC’s “Good Morning America” this morning and reports: “Michele Bachmann won't say whether she thinks President Obama is a citizen and a Christian. ‘Well, that isn't for me to state,’ the conservative Minnesota House Republican said today on ABC's Good Morning America. ‘That's for the president to state.' " Jackson adds: “Bachmann's comments came shortly after a news poll — from a Democratic firm, it should be noted —- showed that about half of Republican primary voters question Obama's citizenship. The poll also says many Republicans say Obama is a Muslim. According to North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, 51% of national GOP primary voters erroneously say Obama was not born in the USA, and 28% say he was. The rest are unsure.”

NASCAR’s season begins in Daytona this weekend, and 4th District Congresswoman Betty McCollum is in there grinding the gears. FoxNews’ story says: “Minnesota Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum is offering an amendment to the House's federal budget bill that would strip Army sponsorship of a NASCAR vehicle, saying that Republicans who want to tackle excess spending should look to the millions spent on racing. But NASCAR backers say McCollum ignores the value of the dollar spent at NASCAR. According to Col. Derek W. Crotts, who manages the Army's NASCAR marketing and advertising program, nearly one-third — 46,000 — of the 150,000 leads Army recruiters get each year come from motorsports events.” And many went on to become guards at Abu Ghraib.

Randy Furst of the Strib follows the story of the ex-Minnesota nurse accused in the assisted suicide-via-the-Internet case. Now the accused wants a judge alone to decide the case. “[William] Melchert-Dinkel is charged with two counts of aiding suicide. Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England, hanged himself in 2005, and 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji of Brampton, Ontario, jumped into a river in 2008 and drowned. Prosecutors say Melchert-Dinkel posed as a young female nurse and in some cases gave instructions to victims. He testified during a pretrial hearing last August that he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.”

The fee for that second checked bag is about to go up. The Strib’s Paul Walsh reports that Delta has been nailed with a $2 million fine for “failing to treat disabled passengers fairly.”  “A department investigation of disability complaints filed in 2007 and 2008 with Delta and federal officials revealed many violations of the requirement to provide assistance getting on and off the airplane. The investigators also found that Delta failed to properly report to the Transportation Department each complaint from a passenger, and that it frequently failed to adequately respond in writing to passengers' disability complaints. The Department of Transportation received more than 2,500 complaints about Delta connected to disabled passengers in 2007 and again in 2008.Of the $2 million penalty, up to $834,000 is to be spent on automated wheelchair tracking systems being installed at MSP and the carrier's other major hubs.”

Delta — our hometown airline — also lost its bid to goose up fares. The AP reports that US Airways wouldn’t go along with Delta’s hike, posted Monday, and the scheme has now collapsed. “The Delta increase applied to some first-class, business-class and high-end economy fares on routes within the U.S. It was the second — and larger — increase aimed at business travelers this month. Airlines, which are paying about 50 percent more for fuel than they did a year ago, have also raised fares or fuel surcharges on leisure travelers five times since December. ... Even though the Delta increase targeted corporate travelers who usually worry less about price ... evidence is growing that many passengers may not be willing to pay higher fares ... Southwest Airlines recently blocked a fourth effort to raise fares on its routes after going along with the first three increases.”

Tom Petters’ appeal is being heard, and basically his argument is that the mobster made him do it. David Phelps reports for the Strib: “Attorney Jon Hopeman said the defense's inability to fully expose previous criminal conduct of Larry Reynolds and Reynolds' role in the in the $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme that landed both men in prison hampered the defense. ‘He was Mafia and one thing the Mafia does is turn legitimate businesses to illegitimate uses,’ Hopeman argued. But assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dixon said Petters' defense team had ample opportunity to cross examine Reynolds on the witness stand and delve into his criminal background.”