The Pack is winning more games than I thought they would this year. I don't expect them to be in the playoffs, but hopefully they'll have a winning season.


Packers win 23-17

AP — November 12, 2006

Minneapolis — Brett Favre avoided those infamously big mistakes at the Metrodome, and — surprise, surprise — Green Bay emerged with a victory over struggling Minnesota.

Favre threw two touchdown passes without a turnover and Donald Driver had 191 yards receiving, leading the Packers past the Vikings 23-17 today.

Green Bay (4-5) was boosted by a strong pass rush, and Favre completed 24 of 42 passes for 347 yards and no interceptions.

Brad Johnson went 18-for-30 for 257 yards, one touchdown and two turnovers for Minnesota, which lost its third straight game.

Dave Rayner made three field goals, besting former Green Bay kicker Ryan Longwell, who only got a chance to kick one - a 34-yarder with 58 seconds left.

The Vikings (4-5) had three first downs on that desperation drive, the only time they were able to move the chains after halftime without the help of a penalty. They recovered the onside kick, but Artose Pinner was whistled for offsides.

Johnson, who was sacked four times, briefly sparked the offense with consecutive first-half drives that ended in touchdowns by Billy McMullen, but after the break it was more of the same. Bethel Johnson's kickoff return for a touchdown was called back by an illegal-block penalty on Pinner, an inauspicious start to the second half.

After one failed possession in the fourth quarter, coach Brad Childress screamed at guard Steve Hutchinson and tackle Bryant McKinnie, the prized, multimillion-dollar left side of the line. Johnson was better than he had been, but he lost a fumble on a blind-side sack and his overthrow on second-and-1 at his own 30 was intercepted by Patrick Dendy with less than eight minutes left.

Opening the second quarter, McMullen was as open as any Minnesota receiver has been all season. Johnson's throw barely arrived in time, but the little-used McMullen, who spent three years buried on Philadelphia's depth chart, caught it for his team's first offensive touchdown in 10 quarters.

That sparked the Vikings, who forced a three-and-out and surged right back by covering 82 yards on their next possession to take a 14-10 lead. They even scored in the red zone, where a 4-for-18 touchdown conversion rate, 22.2 percent, was the worst in the league coming into the league.

Johnson threw short on third-and-10 at the 16 to Taylor, who wiggled through the defense but lost the ball at the goal line on a jarring hit by rookie A.J. Hawk. McMullen was in perfect position, though, and pounced on it for just his third career score.

Though Minnesota's league-best rushing defense frequently stuffed Ahman Green and Herron at the line or in the backfield in key short-yardage situations, Green Bay mixed plays well and for the most part kept Favre away from the temptation of forcing passes into risky places - avoiding the costly interceptions that have often led to his losses throughout his career the Metrodome.

Favre was clearly having fun, as the television analysts remind viewers so many times. After his third-and-goal pass was turned into a 5-yard score for Herron, Favre leaped into his receiver's arms and patted him hard on the shoulder.

Driver has consistently hurt the Vikings over the years with his speed over the middle, especially on the artificial grass here. He burned Dontarrious Thomas on a crossing pattern right before halftime, racing 82 yards untouched for a huge score to give the Packers a 17-14 lead.

Favre ran as hard as he could to keep up, picking up his favorite receiver when he finally reached him and lifting him onto his shoulder.

Another Minnesota election result that makes me smile:

Lilydale, a small east metro suburb, has a new mayor, Tom Swain, a long time civic activist, who ran unopposed. Swain credits his win to a "youth movement." He is 85. He replaces Mayor Edward Mullasky, who stepped down at age 90.

Another very pleasing to me consequence of the Democrats taking over Congress is the ascendence of old-line long-serving liberals to committee chairmanships: in the House, Reps. Charlie Rangel, Ways and Means; David Obey, Appropriations; Barney Frank, Financial Services; John Dingell, Energy and Commerce; Henry Waxman, Government Reform; John Conyers, Judiciary and Minnesota's Jim Oberstar, (at 65 probably the youngster of the bunch) Transportation and in the Senate, Sens. Pat Leahy, Judiciary; Dan Inouye, Commerce; Ted Kennedy, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Chris Dodd, Banking.

It does my heart good just typing in those names.

From The New York Times

[The Senate is up for grabs in November’s election, and the Op-Ed page asked writers from four key states to contribute occasional dispatches during the campaign.]

Divorce-Court Politics

By Charles Baxter

Published: November 5, 2006

Minneapolis

Watching a recent debate for Minnesota’s vacant Senate seat, a friend of mine remarked, “I hadn’t expected the Lincoln-Douglas debates. But I was hoping for something better than Divorce Court. ”

In the debates, the Democratic candidate, Amy Klobuchar, generally discusses the issues, and her opponent, Mark Kennedy, generally attacks Ms. Klobuchar, sounding like an outraged husband. In one such exchange, when the topic turned to the war in Iraq, Ms. Klobuchar advocated a change of course; in response, Mr. Kennedy attacked Ms. Klobuchar, a district attorney, for the rising crime rate in Minneapolis. In the divorce-court politics of nondifferentiated anger, any attack will do.

So far, the strategy hasn’t worked for Mr. Kennedy. He is down by double digits in polls and is suffering from what one local political scientist calls “Bush drag.” In Minnesota, going negative hasn’t been effective, and the question is why. The Kennedy campaign’s ad consultant, Scott Howell (who was also responsible for the notorious “Playboy” ad in Tennessee), has mixed straightforward negative ads with more warm-and-fuzzy assaults, but none have effectively raised Mr. Kennedy’s polling numbers.

One such warm-and-fuzzy ad is instructive. In a staged conversation between a little old lady on a park bench and Mr. Kennedy, the Republican challenger is pestered with questions about why he keeps accusing Ms. Klobuchar of so many faults. “Because they’re true,” he says plaintively.

What’s interesting about the ad is not the predictable subject matter. It’s that the little old lady is straight out of Fargo — not the city in North Dakota, but the film by the Coen brothers. She wears a hideous pink cardigan sweater, a mismatched blouse, bright purple slacks and drugstore reading glasses. The actress playing the little old lady gives her a broad Minnesota accent, along with a slight dental-plate lisp. The ad is funny, but what is satirized, or plainly mocked, is the intelligence of the electorate.

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There is more to this op ed piece, but I'm stopping here because the writer pointed out one ad that has outraged me so much in the current nasty, stupid political ads campaigns. I've made use of the mute buttons on my remote controls, but I do watch each of the ads once.

The Kennedy ad is an outrageous insult to older people and there is nothing funny about it. It indicates that older people in particular are too dumb to know what's going on and that they are credulous enough to believe whatever the snake oil salesman tells them. Some older people do get taken, unfortunately, by slick con artists out to do them harm, a good description of Rep. Kennedy's posture in this ad.

The woman's attire is from the 50s. Older women don't dress that way these days. Even in the 50s women didn't dress in such bad taste.

Anyone who is stupid enough to air an ad like that exhibits such poor judgement that he doesn't deserve to be elected to anything. And hopefully he won't be on Tuesday.