Rep. Michele Bachmann said on Tuesday that transportation earmarks shouldn’t be called earmarks. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Bachmann said there should be a “redefinition” of the concept of earmarks. Bachmann has been a vocal opponent of earmarks and praised Sen. Mitch McConnell’s pledge on Tuesday to forgo the earmarking process.

“Advocating for transportation projects for ones district in my mind does not equate to an earmark,” she told the Strib.

“I don’t believe that building roads and bridges and interchanges should be considered an earmark,” Bachmann said. “There’s a big difference between funding a tea pot museum and a bridge over a vital waterway.”

In Bachmann’s first term in the House she did request earmarks for her district but took a pledge in her second term to reject the earmarking process.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would be backing an earmark ban at a press conference on Tuesday. McConnell has taken advantage of the pork process with requests approaching $1 billion.

In an interview with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday, Bachmann praised McConnell.

Stephanopoulos asked, “Republican leader Mitch McConnell says he’s going to back the ban on earmarks. Are you convinced this is going to stick, even if congressional Democrats don’t go along?”

“You know, I think it’s a very good sign,” she said. “And if Mitch McConnell has gone to the microphone and said that, I think that he means it and we should take him at his word. This is all very good for the American people.”

But Bachmann’s colleague in the Minnesota delegation implied that the Republican opposition to earmarks is mainly for show.

“[Earmarks are] one half of one percent of the entire federal budget,” Rep. Betty McCollum told MPR’s Morning Edition. “This is for local communities. I’m a big supporter of local control, especially when it comes to spending some of our tax dollars.”

The Labor Department announced this morning that the U.S. unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent in September, reflecting a continued stall-out in the recovery. This is the last major jobs report before the November midterm elections. The unemployment rate has held between 9.5 and 9.7 percent since April. And it has remained at or above 9.5 percent for 14 months, the longest spell in more than 70 years.

The numbers reflect both employers’ unwillingness to hire and job losses in government. Overall, the economy had 95,000 fewer jobs in September than in August. The government shed workers — including 77,000 from the census and 76,000 from local governments, many of whom were teachers and school staff.

Private employers added 64,000 workers — a good number, but not nearly enough to put a dent in the unemployment rate or even to absorb new workers into the economy due to population growth. In August, private employers added 67,000 new jobs. The economy normally needs to add about 125,000 jobs a month to put new entrants to the labor market to work. To return to full employment in five years, the economy needs to add 300,000 a month, every month. Since December 2009, the private sector has added 827,000 jobs — an average of 91,900 per month.

The total number of unemployed persons declined slightly, and not meaningfully, from 14.9 million to 14.8 million. The number out of a job for more than six months fell from 6.2 million to 6.1 million — 41.7 percent of workers. The number of long-term unemployed workers has fallen 640,000 since it hit a high of 6.8 million in May. Economists fear that most of those workers have left the labor market rather than finding work.

The statistics speak to prolonged difficulties in the labor market, to say the least. Though they do not show the labor market deteriorating, there are scarce signs of improvement. Americans worked the same workweek, for the same wages, at approximately the same level of employment in September as in August. The report speaks to a worrying status quo.

Democrats, campaigning for the midterms, have acknowledged Americans’ frustrations with jobs. Speaking at a rally in Maryland yesterday, President Obama stressed again — as he has for months in his major economic speeches — that the economy is growing and that the private sector is creating jobs. But the pace of growth is too slow for anybody’s comfort, and particularly not the comfort of the middle class.

“Of course people are frustrated. People are impatient with the pace of change. They want things to move a little quicker. I understand that. I’m impatient too,” Obama said. “But the other side, they don’t have an answer. All they have decided to do is to ride that frustration and that anger all the way to the ballot box.”

And that is what they are doing. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the minority leader, has lambasted Democrats and their stimulus policies for failing to add jobs. “Virtually every single piece of major legislation Democrat leaders in Washington have proposed over the past 19 months has made it either harder for businesses to hire new workers or retain the workers they already have,” he said last week. “And now they want to make it even worse.”

Fewer than 50 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the economy.

It’s a training exercise for junior senators to sit in as president; according to spokeswoman Jess McIntosh, this was Franken’s second stint with the gavel.

And today he used it — rapping the rostrum to interrupt Sen. Jeff Sessions and announce the order of speakers: Sessions, Sen. Patrick Leahy,  Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

For a guy who only a week or two ago didn’t seem to know how to get a committee chair’s attention or put a document into the record, Franken displayed considerable parliamentary aplomb this afternoon, authoritatively intoning such standard utterances as ”The clerk will call the roll,” “Without objection,” and “The Senate will suspend the rules.”

Whose dulcet tones stirred Minnesota’s senior senator from her sleep? It was probably Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), but it could just as well have been been Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).

Rather than hit the snooze button or throw the clock across the room, Klobuchar reported to work, where she led an hour’s worth of speeches in support of Sotomayor from Democratic women senators: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Kirsten Gillebrand of New York, and Patty Murray of Washington State.

Klobuchar served as emcee, introducing each speaker, providing segues and delivering her own impassioned remarks on behalf of Sotomayor. Among several letters of support she read was one from former FBI director (and judge) Louis Freeh, who cited the example of a Minnesota-born former U.S. Supreme Court justice, Edward Devitt.

Klobuchar repeated parts of her statement during the Judiciary Committee hearings on the Sotomayor nomination last week, including her tale of meeting an airport worker at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who asserted Sotomayor “always lets her feeling get in the way of the law.”

With reference to the travails of female trailblazers of jurisprudence such as Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Klobuchar said, “We’ve come a long way.”

With reference to senators who have said they’ll oppose Sotomayor, Klobuchar added, “I hope my colleagues will also come a long way.”

Update: Here are video clips from Klobuchar’s remarks:

Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, regularly sounded the rallying cry of Coleman’s cause, threatening “World War III” when appropriate and calling for Coleman’s return to the Senate, or at least for his seat to remain empty a good long time — like, “years.”

It took only days after Coleman conceded defeat to Democrat Al Franken for Cornyn to take the Ag committee seat that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had kept empty, in case Coleman came back. It’s Cornyn’s fourth committee assignment — evidence, says the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, of how thinly-spread the 40-Republican Senate minority is.

Franken got four committee assignments too, but not Agriculture, where Minnesota’s other senator, Amy Klobuchar, holds a seat (as did her predecessor, Mark Dayton). That makes 2009 the first year since the late Sen. Paul Wellstone joined in 2001 that Minnesota hasn’t had both its senators assigned to what’s officially called the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

The U.S. Senate took an hour out of its time Thursday to honor former Sen. Norm Coleman. Here are video clips with the complete tributes to Coleman from 10 senators (seven of Coleman’s fellow Republicans and three Democrats, including Amy Klobuchar), as well as transcribed highlights of their remarks — with particular attention to what they had to say about their former colleague’s future.

In the order in which they spoke, listed below are the 10 senators who gave Senate-floor testimonials to Norm Coleman on Thursday. After each name is an text excerpt from and full video of the senator’s speech. Click on the senator’s name to see the full transcription of his or her remarks.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.):

Today we honor our colleague and friend for that long career that we hope is far from over. And we punctuate an incredibly hard fought campaign that some people thought might never end. In the end, it didn’t turn out the way many of us had hoped it would. … And I have no doubt that this is not the last we will hear from Norm Coleman.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.):

I enjoyed serving with Norm … I wish Senator Coleman the very best in his future endeavors …

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.):

If Norm Coleman could have found some way to make the 2000 Presidential election Bush v. Gore v. Coleman, Norm would have been a participant in every single one of the most spectacular political races of the last decade. … He proved to be determined and courageous and, in the Minnesota tradition, a happy warrior in attempting to make sure that every Minnesota vote counted in the race, which was decided by just a few votes.

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.):

Norm and Laurie are my friends. I wish them the very best as they go forward in their lives. I know they will find other opportunities to be of service to the people of Minnesota and to the people of the United States, and I might daresay also to the people of Florida because Norm has a great affection for my State, where he has spent a lot of his time.

Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah):

I simply add my voice of gratitude for the opportunity of serving with Norm Coleman and my best wishes for him in his future activities. He is a young and vigorous enough man that I think we will hear far more from him in the years ahead.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.):

So to Norm Coleman I simply say we will miss you in the Senate. We are not going to let him go away, though. I still talk to him on a regular basis and will continue to do so and will seek his advice …

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.):

I had the opportunity to talk with Norm right after the supreme court in Minnesota ruled against him. I was struck, once again, by his determination to do what he felt was best for his state, even though it was not best for him. I was also touched by his commitment, once again, to his constituents and to moving on and ensuring that they had two Senators representing them.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.):

He was always very courteous and always a gentleman with me. I never heard him say a negative word about me. I cannot ever recall saying anything negative about him. … [H]e is a relatively young man, and I am sure with his educational background and his notoriety in Minnesota, he will have a bright future.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.):

Second only to his family has been his dedication to public service. It has literally defined his adult life. Maybe it was sheer destiny that he found his way to the Senate. After all, he is a graduate of James Madison High School in Brooklyn, which is also the alma mater of two of our Senate colleagues — Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders. Norm hit the ground running in politics, and he has not stopped.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.):

If he were here, I think he would tell you that in coming to the Senate–and I would tell you the same thing — he can now look back on some of the things he was involved in getting done, such as being involved in the big debates over the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Sam Alito — these were big debates in which we were all involved in seeing good people put on the Supreme Court of this country.

He feels like he owes it to the voters of Minnesota and his colleagues here. He realizes how important retaining that seat is to us.

Democrats have taken up talking about the political effect of the vacancy, too — ruefully — but they are not talking about doing anything about it. An attempt to seat Franken ahead of the election contest trial’s end ain’t gonna happen until the courtroom drama is resolved, an occurrence Majority Leader Harry Reid somehow got the idea would happen by about a week from today.

Taking account of the Coleman campaign’s receipt of hefty donations-to-the-limit from a fistful of sitting GOP senators, The Nation puts Republican enthusiasm for Minnesota’s vacant senate seat in high relief:

In effect, key Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are paying $10,000 a piece to maintain their power to obstruct Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have reached a tentative agreement that would give Democrats a three-seat advantage on most committees during the 111th Congress. [...]

The major sticking point of the lengthy and sometimes difficult ratio negotiations — whether to count the still-unresolved Minnesota Senate election as a Democratic pickup — appears to have been resolved in Democrats’ favor.

[Sen. Debbie] Stabenow (D-Mich.) said the ratios she disclosed Tuesday assume Democrats will enjoy an effective 59-41 edge in the Senate as a whole, a margin the party would achieve only if they win Minnesota.

Would the Republicans have folded if they thought Coleman was going to win?

Of course not.

David Weigel is a reporter/blogger for The Washington Independent.