Saint Paul -- 13 months from now, the party of Dentucreme, dividend checks,
Acuras, San Diego, and George W. Bush will descend upon this city to tie up
traffic, draw protestors, wreak havoc, anoint a white, male, millionaire
presidential candidate and, (with any luck), hang their whole fetid
albatross of a convention around the neck of Norm Coleman as he seeks
reelection.
Hot damn. It's going to be fun.
Saint Paul is a quiet city, full of neighborhoods where old guys in plaid
shorts and black socks water their lawns after supper. Downtown rolls up the
sidewalks every night at 5:30 (except winter nights when the National Hockey
League's Minnesota Wild plays).
This town hasn't bustled since Scott Fitzgerald went east to go to college.
While the Republicans themselves won't bustle all that much, (they'll be back at the hotel and in bed before the 10 PM News signs off), Saint Paul
residents can expect inconvenience, rerouting, dislocation - and more sirens
in the night. A grumbling, low-grade dudgeon will take root. And it won't
abate in the days and weeks after the Republicans have left town and the
true cost of the convention in police overtime, additional security,
sanitation, and other draws on the public coffers become evident.
John and Jane Q. Public will realize the scope and scale of the flim-flam
for which they are holding the bag. Norm Coleman will find himself in the
position of a kid who threw a party that got out of hand. The election
itself will be less than two months off - not enough time for the public to
forget the convention. The pain and blame will be fresh and festering.
And Coleman is not exactly poised atop a pedestal of public adoration to
begin with. A new tracking poll by Survey USA shows 48% of Minnesotans
disapprove of the job he is doing (an additional 9% of respondents were
undecided). Last month, 48% approved of the job he was doing. This poll and
others are not trending Coleman's way.
The stars are aligning. It's not looking good for Norm. The man Dick Cheney
hand-picked to run against Wellstone must do everything he can to
disassociate himself from the Bush Administration, the War in Iraq, and his
party-line (except when politically safe to be contrary) voting record.
And just when he'll need to look most independent, the Republicans are
coming to his home town to dance their wide-hipped, middle-aged congas in
the balloon and confetti-strewn aisles of the Excel Energy Center - a hockey
arena Mayor Norm Coleman fobbed off on the people of Saint Paul before he
became Senator Norm Coleman.
Hot damn. This is going to be fun.