This afternoon's Austin Herald article, Students learn value of citizenship; Grand Meadow superintendent invites politicians to speak in school, we learn:
That’s why he invited politicos such as Congressman Tim Walz to speak to the Super Larks student body.
Walz, who represents the 1st District, is a former Mankato high school teacher and coach, who also served in the Minnesota National Guard.
Al Franken’s daughter visited Grand Meadow High School last fall to campaign for her father’s U.S. Senate bid.
“We’ve had Republicans here too,” Brown said. “People like state Sen. Dick Day and state Rep. Randy Demmer. We try to be fair to both parties whenever we can.”
Read the whole thing. It's a pretty interesting story.
An aside: a couple of recent stories about Walz's firm declaration of non-interest in a gubernatorial bid implied that the buzz about a possible run came only from the blogosphere. If one had too steady of a diet of blogs--and spent little time reading news in Southern Minnesota's dailies--that might seem the case.
Today's story in the Herald reminded of the impetus for our own question about the governor rumor in an as-yet unpublished interview with Congressman Walz. In Friday digest: Grand Meadow BBQ-ed Walz gubernatorial bid edition, we noted in November that the Austin version of the Post Bulletin had published a sampling of questions Grand Meadow students had asked their visiting Congressman.
One concerned the possibly of a gubernatorial bid (the article, "Students quiz Walz" is now in the subscription-only PB archives). Some supporters had asked Rep. Walz to consider a bid, we learned in the interview that we had later in the afternoon that Friday, and he would think about it; however, most of the session covered congressional policy. Last weekend, Walz ended speculation by calling supporters to let them know he'd be running for his congressional seat again, rather than the governor's mansion.
One thing Walz had mentioned to us was how surprised he was at the sophistication of the Grand Meadow students' knowledge of politics and policy making. This article provides the back story.
And there's also this bit for governor's race handicappers:
When Nov. 4’s historic results were known, the Grand Meadow district’s American government teacher and head wrestling coach Bill Simpkins imparted more knowledge upon his students.
Meanwhile, Brown, through his legislator wife Robin, invited Paul Thissen to visit the school district..
State Rep. Thissen, an attorney, was elected to the Minnesota House in 2002 and is currently serving his third term representing District 63A. His fourth term begins next month.
Just one week after the Nov. 4 general election, the DFLer announced he was running for Minnesota governor in 2010, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s current term expires. . . .
. . .And what did Thissen think of his visit to Grand Meadow?
“I had a great time at Grand Meadow,” he said. “The knowledge and sophistication of the students’ questions was really impressive.
We think those students should start a nonpartisan blog and help out the rest of the state.
Photo: Congressman Walz revisiting his former classroom in Mankato West High. (Photo from New York Times).
Comments