Libel 2002: Republican Candidate Coverage

Nikki went out to lunch with her mother and grandmother at Key's restaurant in White Bear Lake, Minn. While sitting at their table, they noticed a growing congregation of loud-mouthed elderly people at the next table over.

As the minutes passed, more and more elderly people began gathering around the table, squeezing Nikki and her family in tighter. The intruders were very rude. The intruders were very arrogant. The intruders were very Republican.

Nikki's grandmother has Alzheimer's, a disorder that causes a gradual loss of brain cells. In earlier stages, the disease causes memory loss, among other things. In later stages, the inflicted person's mind gets worse as cells in other areas of the brain are also affected. Naturally, Nikki's grandmother was quite frightened of the large group of people crowding her.

The crowd refused to move, even after repeated attempts by the wait staff to relocate them. "We were here first!" Being such fans of Ronald Reagan, you'd think the Republicans would have learned a thing or two about Alzheimer's in their lives. You'd think they would have moved. But they didn't.

This real sad part is that this large mob of Republicans was at Key's for one reason, and one reason only: they were ringers for Minnesota's Republican U.S. Senate candidate Norm Coleman, who was planning a casual walk-through at the restaurant. The event would be taped for the evening news.

It's sad when a candidate is so disliked that he needs to bring in cronies to cheer for him at every turn.

Another unfortunate situation, also related to Coleman, happened to me personally, in my job as a newspaper reporter. It was sometime in June when I got a call from Coleman's media person. She informed me that Coleman would be showing up at the La Crosse, Wis. airport in two hours.

It's rare for Minnesota's political candidates to make a stop anywhere near our county. We're in the low corner of the state, and as far as most Twin Cities residents are concerned, we barely even qualify as being a part of Minnesota. So when a candidate comes to town, it's a big event. I immediately cancelled my other two interviews and left for the airport.

This publicity stunt was part of Coleman's "Great Minnesota Fly-around", or something equally ridiculous-sounding. He was planning to fly to various airports in his private plane, pose for photographs, answer a few questions and then leave. The first question I was planning on asking Coleman was, "So why do you call it a Minnesota fly-around when you just coast into the La Crosse airport and leave, without ever stepping foot in the county you represent?"

Well, I never even got the chance to ask questions. When I arrived, I was the only news organization there. Apparently, the major television stations and the daily newspaper in La Crosse told Coleman that they weren't going to show up on such short notice just to cover a publicity stunt for a candidate that wasn't even from their state. And why should they? They're in Wisconsin, not Minnesota, and he was giving only a few hours notice.

It's a shame that he never bothered to call and tell me that he was canceling. I sat in the airport terminal for damn near two hours waiting for his plane to arrive.

So Coleman bailed, leaving the only Minnesota news coverage in the area sitting at the airport. No phone call, no apology later when I called his media witch. Nothing. Just the media witch's snooty attitude when I complained. An attitude which basically implied, "Your weekly newspaper isn't good enough for us."

I ended up losing the other two stories that I had cancelled the interviews for. I looked like a lazy jerk when I turned in my miniscule amount of work on deadline day. Thanks a lot, Norm Coleman.

And Mr. Coleman: while I realize that you're having an impromptu walk-through today, you'll pardon me if I'm not there to cover it. Have your media witch give me a call, and I'll gladly offer her an explanation:

"Sorry. Your candidate isn't good enough for us."