Hopefully this won’t be like the 5th District race where 13 candidates were sitting on bleachers on Almanac and given questions like, “How do you solve Iraq? Please limit your answer to one word.” In another section, a line was drawn across the floor, and the candidates would answer yes/no questions by standing on one side or the other while “Walk the Line” played on speakers and Mary LaHammer had a giggle-fit.

I’m also hopeful that the DFL field will have some women or non-caucasians or both of the above in it. So far Susan Gaertner is the only person who fits that description, and she’s probably too conservative for most of the activists anyway.

Bluestem’s article based on the interview is going to focus on transportation, energy policy, jobs creation, education, rural economic development, that sort of thing.