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The year 2011 will be the end of an era in broadcasting. That’s when Oprah will leave her long-running show — and, by coincidence, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty will leave his, Minnesota Public Radio confirms. Today, his “hot” wife Mary sits in for T-Paw on ‘CCO, but you won’t see Her Hotness unless the First [...]

Republican Allen Quist has been angling to get back in elective office since 1994 — about the same length of time the Minnesota Vikings have spent angling to get a new taxpayer-funded stadium. Now both are making dramatic moves. Vikes owner Zygi Wilf says he’s washing his hands of “political games” and the Metropolitan Sports [...]

Tuesday was a day for Q and As with Norm Coleman, Michele Bachmann and Tom Petters. Coleman in the Harvard Crimson: “No regrets.” Bachmann in City Pages: “I’m proud.” Petters in federal court: “I apologize.” Al Franken got in on the game this morning on Minnesota Public Radio, where an interviewer said it sounds like he’d [...]

“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 [...]

Minnesota Public Radio is holding a “Future of the News” forum today, but a couple ex-office-holders are the ones who’ve really got the print media’s back. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley ran large ads in the Star Tribune this weekend — for “Going Rogue” (really NewsMax) and a free [...]

How to get a conservative to say “I’m sorry”: put your gripe on video. It worked for U.S. Rep. Steve Israel with his Minnesota counterpart, Michele Bachmann, and for cable host Jon Stewart with his opposite at Fox, Sean Hannity.

Gov. Pawlenty is a “natural antidote to Barack Obama” says the British newsmag The Economist. It’s a phrase also applied to Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign last year, and a possible clue to who wrote the unsigned story, datelined St. Paul. The last Minnesota pol to make such a splash across the pond was [...]

The buck that Gov. Pawlenty shot on Saturday apparently didn’t die, but neither has the story about him leaving the woods near Thief River Falls for a speech to Iowa Republicans without having successfully tracked the deer. “The buck apparently didn’t stop anywhere,” reads one headline. Different theories have the animal grazed or severely wounded, but [...]

The city of Wayzata is the go-to trough for congressional campaign funds in Minnesota, according to a Smart Politics analysis of donations so far this year. Residents there gave nearly $150,000 — that’s $36.24 per person — to the state’s Reps in Washington, D.C., a total topped only by Minneapolis ($193,079), which is 100 times [...]

The Twin Cities are the least-dangerous for pedestrians among America’s 52 biggest urban areas, a report released Monday says. (Duluth is safest among all Minnesota cities studied.) So that means watch your step today. Remember last week, when Minnesota was named the most civically engaged state on Monday, then on Tuesday got smacked by some [...]