am.mn logoGov. Pawlenty did Moose Lake’s captive sex offenders a favor by taking away their big TVs Tuesday before his 12-minute appearance on CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report.” They were spared captions dubbing him “‘President’ Pawlenty” and claiming he holds a 56-percent approval rating in Minnesota. (Try 45 percent.) And a majority of Minnesotans’ blood might boil to see T-Paw on a plasma screen say this about another state: “Keep in mind there’s a third-party candidate in that race, so the majority of people are voting not for the status quo in New Jersey but for change.”

Elsewhere in Minnesota news today …

MINNEAPOLIS: Mayor Rybak met with people seeking jobs. Just not his. [KSTP-TV; Star Tribune]

STATEWIDE: Senators too. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar echoed Rybak’s call for extending jobless benefits about to expire — unless Rybak was echoing them. [Hot Dish Politics]

STATEWIDE: Minnesota a national model on renewable energy. The country is playing catchup, says Klobuchar. [St. Cloud Times]

MINNEAPOLIS: Minnesota not a national model on elections. The Center of the American Experiment’s first recommendation: a photo-ID mandate that stymied reform this year. [Politics in Minnesota]

INDIAN COUNTRY: The first shall be healthiest. Minnesota’s senators also back a bill “to make America’s native people the healthiest people in the world.” [Bemidji Pioneer]

ST. PAUL: Breakfast was served. Were the people of Minnesota? That’ll take more bacon and pancakes. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]