Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism from 11AM-5PM:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad and John kick off (Brian is off on assignment) from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed is back in the studio.  What’ll we talk about?  It’s a weekly mystery!  But it’s a fair guess his performance at the Millard Fillmore Golf Tourney is a solid contender, as well as my being crowned “Most Ridiculous Conservative Blog” in the Twin Cities!
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will be dishing the Minnesota smack from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism from 11AM-5PM:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad and John kick off (Brian is off on assignment) from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed is off on assignment today.  I will take over from 1-3. We – meaning you and I – are going to be talking about the Valleyfair assault, as well as the ongoing campaign to make the southwest metro redder and redder.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will be dishing the Minnesota smack from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin and the bird-friendly Prius, from 9-11!

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism from 11AM-5PM:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad and Brian and John kick things off from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will take over from 1-3. .
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will be dishing the Minnesota smack from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin and the bird-friendly Prius, from 9-11!

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network – we’ll be enjoying the Fourth of July holidy with our famillies.  

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing via the magic of digital recording from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will redound from the ether from 1-3.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King virtually joins Michael from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism from 11AM-5PM:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad and Brian and John kick things off from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will take over from 1-3. There’s a safe bet that I’ll be pretty fired up about Heller. Plus Eric Black and his advice for John McCain.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will be dishing the Minnesota smack from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin and the bird-friendly Prius, from 9-11!

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network brings you an extra-special broadcast – live from the Minnesota Street Rod Association party at the State Fairgrounds! Come on out and join us:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad and Brian will help John eye up the Jaguars and Bentleys from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will be checking out the top fuel from 1-3.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will be checking over the sensible, economically-feasible cars from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin and the bird-friendly Prius, from 9-11!

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed is out on assignment – so I will be on from 1-3. James Lileks will join me somewhere along the way; stay tuned!
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King joins Michael from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

(Title:  Johnny)

Ed notes that he and the First Mate spent three and a half hours on the tarmac before their flight got cancelled.

They got to Cali eventually, anyway.

Not a great reference for Northwest Airlines.

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing from 11-1. They’ll be interviewing Peter Schweitzer, author of Makers and Takers, talking about all the myriad, empirically-measured ways that conservatives are better, nicer, more generous people than liberals. No, it’s in a book, it’s for real.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will be on from 1-3. I’ll be interviewing Doug Hester of Northern Muckraker about Ramco Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s curious pattern of non-renewals for legal carry permits.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King joins Michael from 3-5. We’ll see if Michael’s been able to escape the DFL convention yet.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

(title h/t Harry)

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing from 11-1 live in Rochester at the GOP State Convention!
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will be on from 1-3 from home base in Eagan.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King joins Michael from 3-5 – they’re out at the convention too.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, also live in Rochester from 9-11!

(Title h/t Joni)

You’ve no doubt noticed – my NARN colleague Michael Brodkorb’s role in derailing the Al Franken senate campaign made it to the Sunday New York Times.

The Times’ writer, Monica Davey, made what seemed to be a game effort at conveying the Minnesota political blog scene, including a half-hour interview with me a few weeks ago that covered primarily the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers and, of course, True North, my other blog.  She seemed genuinely curious – and, within the constraints of space, did a decent job of getting at least some of the basics across.

The good news?  I got into the Times.

The bad news?  From our half-hour conversation, this was the quote she ran:

“We’ve kind of got a center of gravity going on up here,” said M\
itch Berg, one in a group that started a “True North” Web site in 2007.

“…going on up here?”

Oy.  Good thing I didn’t say “Ja, sure, you betcha”, too.

Anyway – Kudos, Michael!

And Scott Johnson gives some of the anti-climactic background to the whole NARN saga…

Today on a Memorial Day edition of the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will be on from 1-3.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King joins Michael from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian are doing a “Best Of” from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed is back in the studio today!  We’ll both be in the studion from 1-3.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King joins Michael from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

(Title h/t SLF)

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do the voodoo they do from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed – the real one, not the guy from the debate last week – is out on assignment, but should be back next week.  I will be on from 1-3; I’ll be interviewing Republican-endorsed candidate for the US House in the Fourth District, Ed Matthews against Betty McCollum.  We’ll also talk with Tom Effertz, who’s running against Bev Scalzi in District 54B. 
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael are, at most recent report, doing a “Best Of” show today; King’s still loggy from the surgery, for one.  I’ll keep you posted.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

(Title h/t Curt)

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

So about 600 or so of my closest friends joined us at the Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park last night for the first ever  debate, anywhere in the world, between nationally-syndicated conservative and liberal talk show hosts.  Michael Medved took on Ed Schultz in the two-hour “Donnybrook in Brooklyn Park”.   The event was jointly sponsored – this may be a national first – by AM950 Air America Minnesota and AM1280 The Patriot.

I co-MCed the event with former Minnesota state representative Matt Entenza.  We did a point-counterpoint format, switching off between me questioning Schultz and Entenza querying Medved.  Each response got two minutes; the other party got a minute’s rebuttal; if needed the original respondant got a minute worth of redirect.

Well, officially, anyway.  There were a few times it was hard to control the flow of things – but we did our best. 

A few random observations, in no particular order:

• Advance ticket sales as of the day before the event were roughly 4-1 in favor of AM1280 fans.  The lefties hit the doors late, however, so I estimate the crowd ended up about 2.5 or 3 to 1 conservative. 
• The lefties, however, made up for the numerical disadvantage with…er, enthusiasm.  Not that that was a bad thing; it was a fun evening.
• While I’ll admit my bias, I think it’s fair to say that Medved won on knowledge of facts and their coherent, articulate presentation. 
• What Schultz lacked in knowledge and ability to answer a question, however, he more than made up for with sheer volume.  He attacked the podium for every question, no matter how innocuous, at top volume, barely needing a microphone most of the night.  Face red, veins bulging, fingers poking the air in front of him for emphasis, he looked a bit like a banana-republic dictator on the dais.  But in a good way.
• Schultz had a very politician-like tendency to dodge the questions that were asked, and swerved handily into Carville/Begala-caliber snarking points as a substitute for actual command of the issues.
• The audience was…let’s just say “animated”.  In the interest of fairness, the heckling was bipartisan (although there were a group of people down to stage-left that were, I’ll be polite, bellowing like baying dogs at Medved). 
• The first half of the debate involved questions from Entenza and I.  For the second half, we took questions from the audience, on written index cards.  We found a lot of good ones – Entenza and I probably had 100 questions to sort through.  But there were some others and…well, let’s just say that I gotta shout out to America’s talk show phone screeners on the left and the right.  Whoooie.  It’s a tough job.

Leftyblogger Gavin Sullivan was there with a camera and his own review.

If you were there, feel free to drop a comment. 

Tonight’s the big evening – the Donnybrook in Brooklyn Park between Ed Schultz, America’s most only successful liberal talk host, and Michael Medved.  It’ll be kicking off around eightish at the Northland Inn, at 94 and Boone, around 8ish (dinner at 6 for VIP ticket holders).

Get your tickets at the Patriot website – they’re $99 for the VIP Ticket, which includes dinner with Medved, Schultz and about a hundred of their closest friends, plus the debate and a photo op.

Tix for the debate only are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

The cool part?  Half of the debate is gonna be audience questions.  Mind you, not questions by video snowmen – questions from you. 

I join with my co-MC, former St. Paul representative and current MN2020 poobah Matt Entenza, in hoping to see you there!

Not sure how many tickets are left for The Donnybrook in Brooklyn Park tomorrow (although Chad The Elder reports that you AM950 people better start stepping up for your homey Ed) – but if this is like the typical Patriot party, you’re gonna need to get haulin’ to get in on the debate.  Michael Medved will be on the right, Ed Schultz will be on the left, and you’ll all be out front for the fireworks!

Get your tickets at the Patriot website – they’re $99 for the VIP Ticket, which includes dinner with Medved, Schultz and about a hundred of their closest friends, plus the debate and a photo op.

Tix for the debate only are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

Oh, yeah – I’ll be co-MC-ing the event, along with former St. Paul representative and current MN2020 poobah Matt Entenza. 

Don’t forget – Wednesday night is the Donnybrook in Brooklyn Park, between Michael Medved and Ed Schultz.  It’ll be at the Northland Inn, from eight-ish until just-close-enough-before-ten to stay respectable.

Get your tickets at the Patriot website – they’re $99 for the VIP Ticket, which includes dinner with Medved, Schultz and about a hundred of their closest friends, plus the debate and a photo op.

Tix for the debate only are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

I’ll be there, co-MC-ing the event, along with former St. Paul representative and current MN2020 poobah Matt Entenza. 

And yes, you in the audience will get their chance to get their questions into the debate.  Which is more than the “League of Women Voters”‘ll getcha.

We’ll be interviewing Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis during the NARN show today (listen on AM1280 The Patriot, either via radio or the website). 

Got questions for the Mayor, but don’t want to call?  Leave ’em in the comment section below.

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed is off on assignment.  I will be on from 1-3.  I’ll be joined by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak  to talk about the state of Minneapolis, the upcoming convention, and whatever have you.  Plus Jan Schneider, one of the Republicans who’s going up against the Override Six this fall; she needs your help, and we’re gonna make sure she gets it!
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – Michael with special guest host Sean Broom from MNPublius are in from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

News Flash; the Minnesota Monitor is helping Al Franken circle his wagons by taking an ad hominem attack at Michael Brodkorb.  Indeed, other than Katherine Kersten (who earns the left’s ire by transgressing the liberal old-boy’s-and-Lori-Sturdevant’s-club at the Strib), nobody in the Twin Cities arouses more deranged ire than Brodkorb.

Indeed, it seems sometimes it makes them depart the surly bonds of reason.

Disclosure:  Michael’s a friend of mine, and my NARN colleague.

Background:  Along with many of us on the center-right, Michael smelled a rat when the Monitor – whose operations are underwritten by the “Center for Independent Media” – went live back in ’06.  The CIM started life sharing offices with George Soros’ attack-PR firm Media Matters for America – which, many of us felt, was more than just a coincidence.  The Monitor’s first editor, Robin Marty, tittered and giggled and obfuscated when Michael and many other local bloggers asked for details about the Monitor’s funding – or even a denial that Soros was involved.  Not that it would have mattered, other than as a way of helping the casual reader assess the “independence” of the “Center for Independent Media” from Soros; to the informed observer, being in bed with Soros, whose other activities are to say the least unsavory, might have helped the reader in judging how much and what kind of credibility to assign the Monitor. 

But other than a slip of the lip from a contributor (who admitted that the Monitor was  “supported by liberals with deep pockets”) and stalled – until former Strib reporter Erik Black let the truth slip out when departing the Monitor for the MNPost last fall. 

Now, there’s a reason the left gets all deranged over Michael Brodkorb; if Michael were a fighter pilot and big scoops on DFL shenanigans were enemy planes, the side of his cockpit would look like John Landers’ P51, only with donkeys instead of swastikas and rising suns.

“Surely”, their reasoning goes, “he must be on the GOP’s payroll”, the reasonable among them insist – although nobody’s ever come up with anything, beyond Robin Marty’s hit piece from a few years ago (which made the unsubstantiated leap from “Brodkorb was a paid consultant to the Mark Kennedy campaign” to “the GOP pays Brodkorb to blog”) which served only to give the local deranged left an ad-hominem shrieking point.

And to this day, they’re still hovering out there.  Still trying to make that connection. 

Today, we got a double helping of fun.  We were not only served with the rich irony of Paul Schmelzer (whose writing and editorship I have in the past guardedly praised in this space), a paid employee of a group linked with people to whom the Monitor and the CIM have gone to great lengths to hide their ties, flogging the thin gruel of Robin Marty’s old, debunked accusations about Brodkorb’s blog’s supposed financial ties to the GOP…

…but we got him muffing the basic facts of the story – the AP piece by Pat Condon I wrote about earlier today.

Schmelzer:

The AP neglects to mention Brodkorb’s past work as research director for the Republican Party of Minnesota and a part-time gig as “press consultant” to former Republican senatorial candidate Mark Kennedy; according to Federal Elections Commission reports, he earned $4,500 per month at that job.

Condon’s AP story:

He dropped out of college in 1995 to work on the failed U.S. Senate campaign of Rudy Boschwitz. In the late ’90s, Brodkorb worked for state Senate Republicans, where he started to learn how to do “opposition research” — digging up dirt on opponents. He did it well enough to become director of research for the state Republican Party, and served in similar roles for several Republican campaigns…

…and later…

Brodkorb started Minnesota Democrats Exposed anonymously in 2004, when he was still a paid employee of the state Republican Party.

I think that counts as a “mention”, don’t you, Paul?

Schmelzer: 

The AP also doesn’t mention the check for $5,500 Brodkorb received on September 3, 2006, for research services provided to the Michele Bachmann campaign.

And for about the thousandth time in three years, I have to ask – so what?  Brodkorb gets to have a day job – right?  Leaving aside that adding “scare quotes” around “press consultant” doesn’t by itself impeach Brodkorb’s story (right?), I have a question for the Monitor:  Given the reputation as a giant-killer that Michael Brodkorb has built up, and the fact that he is not a dumb guy, and that he’s got a city full of leftybloggers and DFL opposition researchers scurrying about like cockroaches on amyl, looking for that magic link that’d discredit him, does anyone rationally think that Brodkorb – who claims not to earn his living from politics today – would risk all of that by trying to lie about his income?

Y’know – like the Monitor did?

And when you get back to us on that, Paul and Robin and your various supporters (heh), please try to use things like “evidence” rather than “innuendo” and “jumping to conclusions that aren’t warranted by evidence”. 

UPDATE:  Joe Tucci hit the same conclusion at about the same time, noting that Schmelzer has added a “correction”:

The “correction” is even funnier than the “error”:

The AP only mentions in passing Brodkorb’s past work as research director for the Republican Party of Minnesota and leaves out specific reference to a part-time gig as “press consultant” to former Republican senatorial candidate Mark Kennedy… (emphasis mine).

It’s a 1,000 word fucking wire story. Should they have posted a detailed and exhaustive C.V. along with the story? “OMFG – Brodkorb worked at McDonald’s when he was in high school , and they clear cut rainforests!!!”

Is that something they normally do? Is it desirable?

Only if you’re a power hungry partisan hack with an axe to grind

…until The Donnybrook in Brooklyn Park – the great debate between talk radio titans Michael Medved (R – Salem) and Ed Schultz (D – Jones Media).

Get your tickets at the Patriot website – they’re $99 for the VIP Ticket, which includes dinner with Medved, Schultz and about a hundred of their closest friends, plus the debate and a photo op.

Tix for the debate only are $20 in advance, $25 at the door./font>

I’ll be co-MC-ing the event, along with former St. Paul representative and current MN2020 poobah Matt Entenza.  This is gonna be fun!

Next Wednesday, May 7, Michael Medved and Ed Schultz will throw down in a head-to-head debate between talk radio titans.  And you can be there!

Get your tickets at the Patriot website – they’re $99 for the VIP Ticket, which includes dinner with Medved, Schultz and about a hundred of their closest friends, plus the debate and a photo op.

Tix for the debate only are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

Unlike lesser debates, audience questions will be half of the show; come on in and get your two cents in!

Oh, yeah – I’ll be co-MC-ing the event, along with former St. Paul representative and current MN2020 poobah Matt Entenza. 

C’mon out!

With a nod to Chief at Freedom Dogs, who got to the title long before I did.

King Banaian, my friend and NARN colleague, is apparently out of surgery. 

Gary Gross forwards this email from King’s wife Barbara:

King had his gall bladder removed…[minor complication redacted – who needs private medical info, anyway?]…his hospitalization will be prolonged until Thursday or Friday…Barring complications, he will recuperate on the 4th floor of the hospital.

I’m always reticent about mentioning peoples’ conditions or prognoses – too many “last minute “oops” episodes of Scrubs, perhaps – but so far, so good.  Keep your prayers coming for the whole family. 

This’ll larn me to leave town.  My good friend and longtime NARN colleague King Banaian is in the hospital, and scheduled for surgery this morning.  Apparently he took ill after the NARN show on Saturday.

Gary Gross from Let Freedom Ring has the story:

I just got an email update from Barbara Banaian, the wife of my good friend King Banaian. King went into the St. Cloud Hospital Saturday night and has been in there ever since. Yesterday, they ran some tests. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to diagnose the problem with those tests. Today, they ran more tests which helped them diagnose the problem. Here’s the important part of Barb’s email update:

King was scheduled to have his gall bladder removed tomorrow morning at 8:15 a.m., but is currently running a high fever and having heart palpitations.

…

This is just another reminder of how close the ties are between MOBsters.

Indeed.

Keep King (and his wife Barbara and their daughter, the Littlest Scholar)  in your prayers tonight and in the coming days.