Almanac: At the Capitol

Today I tagged along with a couple of 2-year-old lobbyists. Really. They are knee-high toddlers who are working with their parents to change the health care system. The center of the story is Henry. He's a big brown eyed and beige suit wearing 2 1/2 year old lobbying force. He is allergic to nearly all solid food. To stay alive he has to drink a specialized hypoallergenic formula. Private insurance companies don't cover the formula, only if it's delivered through a feeding tube would the $15,000 a year nutrition be covered. Henry's family is trying to change that. Six states so far have required insurance companies to cover the medically necessary nutrition. We had amazing access to private meetings with lawmakers today, including the new House Health and Human Services Committee Chair Paul Thissen. So far the results were positive for Henry's family. We'll try to keep you updated about this issue as health care takes center stage. This story was my way of trying to put a human face on the complex issue of health care. Gov. Pawlenty and Sen. Berglin rolled out their health care initiatives this week and they featured a lot of numbers and detailed policy. Henry's bill would be separate from the big health care proposals for now, but could end up in the final omnibus bill.

The media will not only report and reflect the 2007 session, but may also become part of the very story they're covering.

This particularly pertains to Governor Pawlenty, as the media took notice of him as a political player once he surfed through the national democratic tidal wave.

Locally, he's a well-known figure, but many conservatives are using partisan media to try to keep him that way. Beyond blogging and the normal partisanship that is old hat in new media, conservative talk radio in particular is holding his feet to the fire (if not in it), unleashing radio rage questioning his core conservative credentials.

Nationally, he's now a national figure, as a short-lister on Senator McCain's (and perhaps others') veep list. This has made his actions — and the 2007 session — a Minnesota microcosm of Potomac politics, as both the state and the nation share the same dynamics of a Republican executive and a newly elected Democratic legislature.

The New York Times took note in a December 29th front-page story about session 2007. Reporter Kirk Johnson filed his first in what will be an occasional series of articles examining North Star state government.

He gives the governor credit for a "sharp tongue and a sharper wit" and positions him as a "son of working-class South St. Paul," in a piece that indicates peace may be possible in a divided government, at least in Minnesota.

This is media manna for whatever national aspirations the state's governor has, but comes from the very publication many conservative commentators love to loathe.

To get glowing reviews and continually raise his profile as a GOP Governor who got the message from voters, Governor Pawlenty may continue the Minnesota moderation that fits public perceptions of his personality — if not his politics.

But this very tack left puts wind in the sails of right-leaning media back home, which may make his job harder and may erode his political appeal if he feels forced to protect his standing with his base voters and the session devolves from winter harmony to springtime acrimony.

To what degree he even listens to either the national or local media remains to be seen (or heard, or read).

But what they say about him will mean a lot — not just for the ongoing state session in 2007, but perhaps for the national election in 2008.