A lot of inside the beltway talking heads and journalists have claimed a special understanding of working class Pennsylvania voters lately.

They say they understand working class Pennsylvanians because they come from Pennsylvania themselves. Or because their fathers belonged to a union. Or worked in a factory. Or drank beer....

BAGHDAD -- A company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions on Tuesday night in Sadr City, defying American soldiers who implored them to hold the line against Shiite militias.
The retreat left a crucial stretch of road on the front lines undefended for hours and led to a tense...

Dear people responsible for cable television news,

Why exactly won't the you get-to-hell off the Pastor Wright story?

There's no new news there. Absolutely none. But there you are, breathlessly churning it, showing the same silly footage, working it for one more cycle.

If I didn't know better, I'd...

"The reality is I'll run against somebody whose temperament has been such, whose style has been such of (sic) being incredibly divisive and incredibly angry."

- Senator Norm Coleman (R, MN)

Minneapolis - There is an air of malevolent mediocrity around Norm Coleman as he dons...

Lost in the noise surrounding Eliot Spitzer's fall yesterday was the news that oil topped $110 a barrel.

Yessir. $110 a barrel.

Now that Mr. Spitzer has joined the ranks of the newly-and-foolishly-irrelevant (Mr. Spitzer, have you met Senator Craig?) let's hope the mainstream and cable media types will...

So here's the question du jour:

Any more Spitzer-like crapola hanging out there among you Democratic super delegates?

Any hookers? Blow? Airport bathroom sex? Text messages to pages? Overnight Boy Scout trips? Land deals? Golf outings? Romps in hot tubs -- gay or hetero? Sweetheart earmarks?

Anything at all?

Say NBC -- now that you're canceling Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC, why don't you give him Tim Russert's chair on Meet The Press?

Carlson is younger, better-looking and faster-talking. He's mastered the art of silencing people with whom he disagrees by talking over them (a skill Mr. Russert...

As I begin to write this, CNN.com has a big red banner across their home page. It reads: "Breaking News: AP: President Bush's top economic adviser says economic growth may be negative for the current quarter."

No sh*t, Sherlock.

And now George Bush is on TV, talking about how the...

So I'm watching MSNBC's primary coverage on the Chinese flat screen TV my Republican brother-in-law (who's doing real well under George W. Bush) gave us for Christmas. The cable connection is really good. Chris Mathews is on screen practically having an orgasm at the prospect of Clinton and Obama going...

Saint Paul - For months now, the powers that be in Saint Paul have vowed that, come the Republican Convention next fall, "The City of Saint Paul will be a First Amendment Zone." That people will be free to come to the city, and express their political views.

But...

Minneapolis -- At some point between here and the 4th of September, John McCain will choose a running mate. One of the names being bandied about is that of Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota.

I believe I speak for the majority of Minnesotans (and Tim Pawlenty has never been elected...

Lost in the mainstream media coverage of the McCain-Obama dust up about Al Qaeda in Iraq is any mention of the role Tim Russert played in initiating the imbroglio.

Like the little manager man in pro wrestling -- the one who tosses the folding chair into the ring when...

Minneapolis -- We have reached the point in our long national nightmare of a presidential primary season when the two remaining Democratic candidates no longer have anything nice to say about one another, yet do not have the luxury of saying nothing at all.

Never mind their...

This just in from a concerned American:

Dear Reverend Governor Huckabee,
My pet schnauzer Winston and I have decided to make life's journey together. We want to be married. The sooner the better. You know how impetuous young lovers can be.

There is only the small question of constitutionality,...

Well that's it. Iowa has caucused. The show is over. They're done down there.

No more photo opportunities over coffee at the Main Street Cafe. No more press buses rolling through town, snarling traffic at the stoplight. No more slick New York types interviewing Grampa via satellite....

One year from now, George W. Bush will almost certainly celebrate the end 2008 - and his term of office - with a festive round of questionable pardons and, possibly, even a few Scooter Libby-like commutations. Questionable pardons have become a holiday tradition for presidents in their last year in...

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

So the Supreme Court of the United States - the same crowd who imposed Bush, Cheney, et al on America in 2001 -...

Christmas shopping starts in earnest this week. Spurred on by hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising, more than one hundred and fifty million Americans will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by engaging in a mindless, debt-building, four-week frenzy of consumerism.

They will shop every day from here...

Here's a help wanted ad from the local newspaper:

"Order Picker/Packer
Someone to do a variety of tasks in small warehouse, no forklift. Must be able to lift and carry 50+pounds, day hours. No health insurance."

The ad ends with a slogan: "A fun place to work."

Maybe, if...

The following piece was produced by the Huffington Post's OffTheBus.

The UpTake contributed video for this piece.

Saint Paul-Minneapolis - If you long to wake up in a city that never sleeps, then Saint Paul and Minnneapolis are definitely not your kind of towns.