Saturday, June 03, 2006
GOP Post-Convention Tour in St. Cloud: Bloggers 3, MSM 0
I raced back from the studio to arrive two minutes after the plane that brought Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kennedy, State Auditor Pat Anderson, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and state Attorney General candidate (not to be confused with SD 15 Senate candidate) Jeff Johnson to the St. Cloud airport (we were two for two in Jeff Johnsons). About 25 supporters greeted the plane.
Kennedy introduced each of the candidates, who spoke briefly of their candidacies and plans for the fall election. Anderson and Kiffmeyer emphasized their accomplishments and Johnson talked about getting the attorney general's office off the backs of Minnesota businesses and to stop its use for pursuing partisan ends. We were also greeted by Mayor Dave Kleis. Questions were taken from the audience. Kennedy fielded some questions on alternative energy started by Psycmeistr's asking how we can increase supply in these tight times for energy. Noting that the US is producing much more without consuming much more energy than 25 years ago (see this graph for some evidence and some data here), a discussion of alternative fuels, hybrid cars and renewable energy ensued. The range of Kennedy's knowledge on the subject was impressive.
None of the radio stations covered this event (including the news talk KNSI), nor did the St. Cloud Times. This occured even though there was a media advisory sent Friday (received by this blog at 12:15pm.) Indeed, at the time of my writing this, you would not even know a convention took place this week from reading the Times, though reports of the DFL's settling on a local House endorsement, and another DFL House candidate's picnic do appear.
The absence of MSM was noted by Kennedy, who recognized the role of bloggers in helping get out the word about this campaign. Gary Gross and Psycmeistr were both in attendance.
UPDATE: You don't need the newspapers -- here are Gary's and Psyc's posts on the day's events. Gary has gone so far to dub us the St. Cloud Bloggers Association. It's not exclusive -- if you're a local area blogger, please drop a line to comments -at- scsuscholars -dot- com.
Kennedy introduced each of the candidates, who spoke briefly of their candidacies and plans for the fall election. Anderson and Kiffmeyer emphasized their accomplishments and Johnson talked about getting the attorney general's office off the backs of Minnesota businesses and to stop its use for pursuing partisan ends. We were also greeted by Mayor Dave Kleis. Questions were taken from the audience. Kennedy fielded some questions on alternative energy started by Psycmeistr's asking how we can increase supply in these tight times for energy. Noting that the US is producing much more without consuming much more energy than 25 years ago (see this graph for some evidence and some data here), a discussion of alternative fuels, hybrid cars and renewable energy ensued. The range of Kennedy's knowledge on the subject was impressive.
None of the radio stations covered this event (including the news talk KNSI), nor did the St. Cloud Times. This occured even though there was a media advisory sent Friday (received by this blog at 12:15pm.) Indeed, at the time of my writing this, you would not even know a convention took place this week from reading the Times, though reports of the DFL's settling on a local House endorsement, and another DFL House candidate's picnic do appear.
The absence of MSM was noted by Kennedy, who recognized the role of bloggers in helping get out the word about this campaign. Gary Gross and Psycmeistr were both in attendance.
UPDATE: You don't need the newspapers -- here are Gary's and Psyc's posts on the day's events. Gary has gone so far to dub us the St. Cloud Bloggers Association. It's not exclusive -- if you're a local area blogger, please drop a line to comments -at- scsuscholars -dot- com.
