‘We are extremely reserved right up until we walk up to the ballot box’

On the heels of Al Franken’s Minnesota State Supreme Court victory, David Carr has a great piece in the Times attempting to explain how Franken’s just-odd-enough persona fits well into the realm of Minnesota politics.

Yes, Minnesotans vote like crazy. At 77.8 percent, the state had the highest turnout in last year’s very busy presidential election. But yes, sometimes Minnesotans’ votes seem just plain crazy as well.

Other states, other voters, express alienation by staying home on Election Day. But Minnesotans take a more civic approach to their estrangement, showing up at the polls and replacing the bums with some choices that scan as odd from a distance. (We might mention that the Minnesota state bird is actually a loon, but there is other less avian evidence of Minnesotans’ idiosyncrasy.)

In Minnesota, there is a kind of populist approach that is less progressive than a reflex, a notion that politics belongs to citizens, and politicians only rent their positions.

The rest here.

If we’re as politically engaged as we seem to be, won’t the potential loss of a seat in Congress be devastating? I’m not excited about the prospect of less representation, but watching the cross-district battles that would ensue if we turned it down to seven would be a blast.