Politico headlines "GOP hopes to skirt Minn. bridge issue," talking about the I-35W bridge, of course, which collapsed into the Mississippi on August 1, 2007.
It’s a year today since the Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, but don’t expect Gov. Tim Pawlenty to showcase the reconstruction.
Indeed, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul just a month away and Pawlenty reported to be high on John McCain’s running mate list, Republicans want to drive attention away from the infrastructure disaster that spotlighted the nation’s crumbling bridges and from the criticism the governor faced for what some critics said was a slow response.
Doesn't that suggest that Democrats should seize the opportunity for an offsite protest at the bridge?
We can count on Gov. Pawlenty to keep protests far away from the GOP convention. And offsite protests rarely catch the media. Why? Because they're just a bunch of people waving signs. No visual.
But a protest at the bridge has a strong visual. Just pull the footage from the file of the tragic bridge collapse -- due, of course, to years of Republican neglect of American's infrastructure.
Ten miles from the convention sounds like a good, safe distance.
“The anniversary of the bridge collapse is this Friday, and the convention isn’t for a month after that. The two things aren’t really related,” said Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung.
Let's change that.