Michele Bachmann as VP? ‘I’d pray long and hard’

Never mind T-Paw — let’s talk Michele Bachmann for VP. For The Daily Beast, Meghan McCain chatted with Our Favorite Congresswoman about her thoughts and ambitions. A few snippets:
What do you think Romney needs to do to beat Obama?
Well, clearly the No. 1 issue on the minds of the American people is: what will you do to turn the economy around? They know they can’t trust Obama. We know his plan is one for failure; it is all we’ve seen in the last 3 1/2 years. Romney is very smart, very savvy, he has an optimistic message, and he can be trusted on handling the economy, unlike Obama, who has virtually no experience in the private sector. Mitt Romney understands the private sector, he understands how profit is created, and he isn’t embarrassed by it.
What would you do if he asked you to be his running mate?
Well, obviously if he asks me, I would pray long and hard about that, but I would do everything I could to help the country succeed. But clearly that won’t be my decision. That will be Gov. Romney’s decision, and one thing we know from Romney is that he has a lifetime of good decisions. Whomever he chooses, I think we know he will make a very wise judgment.
From your point of view, do you think politics is sexist?
I think that there is a different standard for women. I made a decision when I ran for president that I wouldn’t whine about my coverage in the media, and I never did. I wanted this to be a merit-based election, and I think that it had more to do with the fact that the left and center media sources don’t want to see strong conservative women be a role model. I had an objective to show women that you can be feminine, you can be a conservative, and you can have a positive message.”

Gov. Dayton got the tour of Duluth flood devastation this morning. Larry Oakes and Chris Havens of the Strib write: “Duluth Mayor Don Ness led him around various parts of the city to see sinkholes, buckled streets and other damage. At a joint news briefing with Dayton and other public officials from northeastern Minnesota, Ness estimated that there’s from $50 million to $80 million in damage to Duluth’s public infrastructure, not counting damage to private property. ‘Regionwide, I’m sure we’re looking at over $100 million in damage’, he said. … On the tour Thursday, Duluth officials explained to Dayton that it costs about $3 million to repair a mile of city street, in part because of Duluth’s heavy clay soil. They said a thick layer of sand and another thick layer of gravel is required to make the base stable enough to support pavement through storms, freezing and thawing. Dayton said: ‘Three million a mile, and 50 miles of (damaged) streets. That’s a lot.’ ” Sounds like a job for … Big Gummint.

A professor emeritus with extensive union ties uses a Captain Bligh analogy to describe the scene in Wisconsin post-Gov. Scott Walker’s successful June 5 election. Says David McGrath in the Duluth News Tribune: “On Walker’s side, money pumped into Wisconsin from Republican and Tea Party groups from out of state, at a rate that gave him three times as much as his opponent, paid for a divide-and-conquer advertising campaign to persuade Wisconsin’s average Joes that teachers and health-care workers were the ones robbing their prosperity. New York billionaires like the Koch brothers financed political action committees that tried to convince a voter, for example, in a small town like Hayward, who gets by working three jobs as a bartender, logger and Wal-mart cashier, that taking away a teacher’s right to ask for a raise would somehow improve his own plight. These PACs tried to harness that Hayward voter’s resentment but at the cost of his own best interest since the only thing that has ever raised a non-union worker’s wage or his standard of living has been the influence of those very unions. On labor’s side, workers must make it clear to the electorate that it’s not the local kindergarten teacher who’s to blame for the country’s financial woes. The greed and recklessness of institutions like J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and A.I.G., ravaged pension funds and wrecked the economy, which drained tax bases and busted state budgets.”

Up in Lake County, officials are calling the storm a more destructive event than the July ’99 blowdown. Mike Creger of the Duluth News Tribune says: “Lake County Sheriff Carey Johnson said the heavy rain Tuesday and Wednesday left more of a mark on the county than the Fourth of July storm in 1999 that has since become known as the ‘blowdown.’ Nearly 24 hours of torrential rain swelled every waterway along the North Shore and left many roads closed due to water running over them or because they had breaches where everything was washed away. … The Highway 61 Expressway was also closed for most of the day Wednesday as inspectors took a look at the bridge at Knife River for damage. … Bays on Lake Superior were hit hard. The temporary landing at Burlington Bay, set up last year during reconstruction of the landing in Agate Bay near downtown Two Harbors, was mostly eroded. Flood Bay up the shore was littered with debris, including whole trees on their way out to sea to meet others bobbing on the horizon.”

The DFL has the early lead in campaign cash over the GOP. Briana Bierschbach’s Politics in Minnesota story says: “In surveying the 2012 campaign cash landscape in Minnesota, it’s not immediately obvious who’s going to help Republican legislators defend their majorities. The Republican Party of Minnesota, which was heavily involved in electing Republicans to the Legislature in 2010, is mostly out of the campaign mix this year as it battles roughly $2 million in debt from the last election cycle. That’s even as the party faces a July 3 campaign finance board meeting that could yield fines for unreported debts and further balloon the state GOP’s deficit. In addition, the photo I.D. and gay marriage constitutional amendments that Republicans put on the ballot are sure to suck up campaign dollars that otherwise might have gone toward legislative races. On the left, a dependable trio of third-party spending groups is intact and already pulling in cash. … While reports so far this year show Democrats vastly out-raising Republican groups, observers note that some pro-GOP groups, in the interest of operating under the radar, may ask their donors to wait until after the 56-day report to make their contributions.”

At the Strib, Rachel Stassen-Berger says: “Before Minnesotans vote in November, they could see a legislative battle that breaks all spending records. The reports do not yet include the fundraising numbers from political parties. Those will add millions more to the total tab. … Although the numbers are large, they may be dwarfed by the amounts being raised by proponents and opponents of the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Already, the two main groups have raised nearly $6 million since the Legislature voted in 2011 to put the question on this year’s ballot.”

Is carbon monoxide harder on asthmatics than pollen? Colleen Stoxen of the Strib reports: “Twin Cities residents are more likely to wind up in the hospital for asthma than people in rural areas, according to a new report by the Minnesota Department of Health. The report noted, however, that asthma rates in Minnesota, urban and rural, are below the national average and have trended down in recent years. But after a dramatic decline through the mid-2000s, the statewide asthma mortality rate increased between 2008 and 2010. … Health Department analysts said they couldn’t explain the geographic gap, but noted that secondhand smoke, mold, pet dander and air pollution can contribute to asthma attacks.”

Writing for the National Catholic Reporter, Zoe Ryan discusses Minnesota’s gay marriage vote: “Currently, Minnesota law only permits marriage between one woman and one man. However, worry over potential legal challenges to that law compelled the legislature to propose a constitutional amendment. The Catholic church in Minnesota has been one of the most, if not the most, active religious groups in support of the constitutional amendment, which is in line with Catholic church teaching about marriage. … the Minnesota Catholic Conference said it has heard from thousands of Catholics statewide and ‘found that they are overwhelmingly in support of the amendment.’ … three retired Catholic priests wrote a letter in May to the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper (although it was not published) and held a press conference May 17 in Minneapolis, expressing their opposition to the Catholic church’s campaigning on the issue. Minnesota Public Radio took up the story and posted the letter online along with the story. Although the priests said they agree with the church’s position on sacramental marriage, they opposed a state constitutional amendment that would deny rights and privileges to same-sex unions. Asserting that ‘there is not just one way for Catholics to vote in November,’ they ask the letter reader to consider voting against the amendment.”

And check this out: Gooseberry Falls in “full roar.” Amazing. (From MPR.)