Farm Fest

The gubernatorial candidates squared off at Farm Fest today. Pawlenty went on the offensive first, talking about how Hatch cited some agricultural issue in the New York Times and acted like an "aw shucks" kind of guy: New York? It was like that old commercial for Pace picante sauce. Too bad that Pawlenty can't run away from his record, though.

I think that the Kennedy-Klobuchar matchup was far better, and Klobuchar did just about everything right. Kennedy keeps trying to run away from the Republican Party and Bush in particular, but Klobuchar reminded the audience that he can't run from his record (seems that most Republicans are doing this these days; I wonder why?) She attacked Kennedy's stance on the estate tax by talking about Paris Hilton, as well as pointing out that no family farms are actually affected by the estate tax. Meanwhile, Kennedy's lame attack that "some group that endorsed Klobuchar thinks that manure is hazardous waste" was not only weak, but untrue. Besides, if not handled properly, of course manure can be hazardous. Does Kennedy feel like proving it's not by swimming in a manure lagoon?

All in all, I think it was a poor showing for the Republicans and a good one for the Democrats, especially Klobuchar. The race is on.