{"id":44837,"date":"2014-06-13T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=44837"},"modified":"2020-09-20T21:37:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T02:37:05","slug":"abm-flies-above-that-circling-fin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=44837","title":{"rendered":"ABM Flies Above That Circling Fin"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCENE:\u00a0 In the office of “Governor” Mark Dayton, at the Minnesota State Capital.\u00a0 Carrie LUCKING, Executive Director of “Alliance For A Better Minnesota”, is sitting at a large, mahogany desk.\u00a0 She is leaning back, feet up on the desk, looking idly upward at the paintings and carvings that decorate the ornate office in the classical romanesque structure.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Across from her is a larger, more ornate mahogany desk.\u00a0 The nameplate says “Alida Messinger”; it shows signs of being only intermittently occupied.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

A knock is heard on a door leading to a small closet (off right).\u00a0 LUCKING barely stirs.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>LUCKING:\u00a0 What?<\/p>\n

GOVERNOR MARK DAYTON (dimly heard through door):\u00a0 Can I go to the bathroom?<\/span><\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 Go.<\/p>\n

(DAYTON opens closet door, walked quickly, shoulders hunched through the door to the left, as Hannah UNDERLING, a staff assistant, walks in<\/em>)<\/p>\n

<\/em>UNDERLING:\u00a0 Er, Miss Lucking?\u00a0 House Minority Leader Daudt is calling for hearings on MNSure.<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 Put out a press release calling him “extreme”.<\/p>\n

(UNDERLING makes a note<\/em>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’ll be all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(UNDERLING leaves<\/em>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Time passes.\u00a0 LUCKING indolently pecks a message into her cell phone, until T. Giles HUMID, a highly trained puppeteer and member of the Governor’s staff, enters the room). <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>HUMID:\u00a0 Er, Carrie…<\/p>\n

(LUCKING clears her throat)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>HUMID:\u00a0 …er, Miss Lucking?\u00a0 A group of of Saint Paul school parents are demanding better results from the public schools for their children.<\/p>\n

LUCKING (staring idly at the ceiling, twisting her hair<\/em>):\u00a0 Put out a call to Keri Miller saying they’re…extreme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(HUMID takes a\u00a0 note, leaves the room<\/em>).<\/p>\n

(There is a knock on the door<\/em>).<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 What?<\/p>\n

GOVERNOR DAYTON (voice muffled outside the door<\/em>):\u00a0 Can I come in?<\/span><\/p>\n

LUCKING (Bored):\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(DAYTON walks past, stops at LUCKING’s desk<\/em>)<\/p>\n

DAYTON:\u00a0 Say, uh…<\/span><\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 I’m busy.<\/p>\n

DAYTON:\u00a0 Ok.\u00a0<\/span> (He walks through the closet door again<\/em>)<\/p>\n

(LUCKING, bored, starts folding an origami swan.\u00a0 It quickly starts resembling a badly-formed paper airplane.\u00a0 She wads it up and throws it in a trash can that is overflowing with wadded-up pieces of paper<\/em>)<\/p>\n

(Tina FLINT-SMITH, the Governor’s chief of staff and Lieutenant-Governor candidate, enters the room<\/em>)<\/p>\n

FLINT-SMITH:\u00a0 Carrie, I’m going to be out at a town hall meeting in Cambridge, and I need a term to use to refer to the GOP’s criticism of our budget.<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 I’d run with “extreme”.<\/p>\n

FLINT-SMITH:\u00a0 Um…OK.\u00a0 Do we use that a lot?<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

FLINT-SMITH:\u00a0 Um…OK.\u00a0 (Leaves the room<\/em>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

(More idle time<\/em>).<\/p>\n

(Finally, UNDERLING enters).<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 Ms. Lucking, I got a request from some DFLers from Greater Minnesota.\u00a0 They need some talking points during upcoming debates.<\/p>\n

LUCKING (sounding bored<\/em>):\u00a0 DFLers from where?<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 Um, Greater Minnesota?\u00a0 (LUCKING stares, not compreheding.<\/em>)\u00a0 The part outside the Twin Cities Metro.<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 Huh.<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 They want to know – what do we call Sheila Kihne?<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 Er…hm.\u00a0 Let me think.\u00a0 I’d say “too extreme!”<\/p>\n

UNDERLING: OK.\u00a0 How about Jennifer Loon?\u00a0 The rep whom Kihne is primarying?\u00a0<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 I think we should call her…too extreme!<\/p>\n

UNDERLING (sotto voce while writing): …too extreme.\u00a0 OK – how about Dave Senjem, from Rochester, the leader of the “moderate” faction of the GOP in the House?<\/p>\n

LUCKING (absent-mindedly twirling a piece of thread<\/em>):\u00a0 Oh, he’s “too extreme”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 Hmm.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 How about Julie Rosen?\u00a0\u00a0 Republicans are constantly complaining she’s too moderate.\u00a0 What is the message about here?<\/p>\n

LUCKING (staring into space<\/em>):\u00a0 Too extreme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 And how about Tom Bakk.<\/p>\n

LUCKING (visibly bored<\/em>):\u00a0 Too extreme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 But he’s actually the DFL’s Senate Majority Leader.<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 Oh.<\/p>\n

(Ryan WINKLER walks in<\/em>)<\/p>\n

WINKLER: Hey, I was talking with Colin Peterson. He’s getting a run for his money from Torrey Westrom. How’s about we call him “shortsighted”?<\/p>\n

UNDERLING: Really?<\/p>\n

WINKLER: What?\u00a0 You’re gonna say that’s racist, too?\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 You don’t know…?<\/p>\n

WINKLER:\u00a0 What?\u00a0 He’s a black lawyer, too?\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 He’s blind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WINKLER:\u00a0 I don’t get it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 He’s too extreme.<\/p>\n

UNDERLING:\u00a0 Right…<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 But we must counter him as well.\u00a0 (Turns toward DAYTON’s closet<\/em>)\u00a0 Hey!\u00a0\u00a0 Find some Ray Charles glasses and a long white cane!<\/p>\n

(Silence from behind DAYTON’s door<\/em>)<\/p>\n

LUCKING:\u00a0 HEY!<\/p>\n

DAYTON:\u00a0 Ok.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(And SCENE<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE:\u00a0 In the office of “Governor” Mark Dayton, at the Minnesota State Capital.\u00a0 Carrie LUCKING, Executive Director of “Alliance For A Better Minnesota”, is sitting at a large, mahogany desk.\u00a0 She is leaning back, feet up on the desk, looking idly upward at the paintings and carvings that decorate the ornate office in the classical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[321,323,2],"tags":[115,236,213],"class_list":["post-44837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-left","category-big-leftymoney","category-minnesota-politics","tag-abm","tag-dramatization","tag-winkler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44837"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44852,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44837\/revisions\/44852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}