am.mn logo“Why not a picture of Tim Pawlenty with an unbuttoned shirt relaxing on a couch in the Twin Cities?” That’s what the Christian Broadcasting Network’s White House correspondent asks in an outraged response to Newsweek putting a photo of Sarah Palin in jogging togs on its cover, with the headline, “How do you solve a problem like Sarah?” Surely such a picture of T-Paw exists, but as ever in the early running for the GOP prez nod, he’ll have to outdo Palin, who once posed on a sofa with a bearskin.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

STATE CAPITOL: House to file brief in unallotment suit. It’s a roundabout way to have their say in state’s budget after Gov. Pawlenty’s unilateral cuts. [MN Publius]

STATEWIDE: Norm Coleman is golden in guv-race poll. Smart Politics says told ya so, while candidates not named by pollster have a right to cry foul. [Politics in Minnesota; Smart Politics; Political Animal]

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Scholars debate ID. The clash of ideas rang out as Minnesota’s P.Z. Myers pushed evolution and Ohio’s Jerry Bergman pushed back with intelligent design. [Minnesota Daily]

ROCHESTER: MnDOT hearts PRT. The state’s Department of Transportation hosts a symposium on personal rapid transit, the podcar system that’s been known to polarize people. [Associated Press]

MOOSE LAKE: Superintendent files suit over abuse as teen. His community houses sex offenders, now he alleges abuse at the hands of one, at a Catholic church retreat. [Star Tribune]

AVON: Trailers ‘untenable.’ A manufactured home park’s travails highlights the scarcity of low rents in rural areas. [Minnesota Public Radio]