Dec 31, 2008 10:58 pm US/Central
Reality Check: 2008 Political Awards
(WCCO)
It has been quite a year in politics, and Minnesota has been in the spotlight from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul to a Senate seat race that's still not over.
Pat Kessler's giving out his Reality Check awards, for this unpredictable, historic, eye-opening and even head-shaking year.
The NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE award goes to Rep. Michele Bachmann, who proved herself a politician to be reckoned with. She was re-elected despite her televised comments questioning the "anti-American views" of Barack Obama and Congress, and then denying she said it.
The LOOK AT ME award goes to former Gov. Jesse Ventura, who tried to sell his new book by threatening to run for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat, but refusing to talk about it in Minnesota.
If there's an award for the most TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD CAMPAIGN, where else would it go but to Norm Coleman and Al Franken?
At $43 million, or about $15,000 per voter, it was the most-expensive, meanest and now closest U.S. Senate race in Minnesota history.
For BEST LOCAL WARDROBE, the award goes to Sarah Palin. Campaign records show she spent more than $150,000 on clothes when she attended the Republican convention in St. Paul, including a $75,000 shopping spree at the Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis.
The POLITICAL STRETCH of the year is from the Fox News anchor who described Michelle and Barack Obama's knuckle bump at a St. Paul campaign rally as a "terrorist fist bump."
The ONE AND DONE cameo appearance of the year goes to Gayle Quinnell. She's the Shakopee, Minn. woman who told John McCain she didn't trust Obama, and then found national notoriety on Saturday Night Live.
The 2008 SUDDENLY YOU ARE FAMOUS award goes to Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. Not only did Minnesota finish number one in voter turnout in the nation this year, it is unexpectedly in the middle of an historic election recount. By Google standards, he's Minnesota's most newly-famous politician.
That's Reality Check.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Bachmann Leads Protest Inside Capitol
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
