Dude Weather: You said “caucus”

Plus an announcement…

The rumors, first reported last week by David Brauer and Brian Lambert, are true: Beginning on February 19, I will be joining Minnesota Monitor. The Mole is going on hiatus starting today, likely to re-emerge as a personal site with a more arts/culture orientation.

It’s been a lot of fun doing the Daily Mole during the past three months-plus. I want to thank all of you for the interest and support that allowed us to build from 2000 or so page views a day during the early part of public beta to 8,000-10,000 a day over the last few weeks–all without paid promotion or mainstream media exposure.

Trying to raise start-up funding in this climate has not been so gratifying. Neither has working in relative isolation every day as we bootstrapped the start-up. I’m very grateful to the world’s finest interweb weatherman, Jimmy “Dutch” Gaines, to my wife Cecily Marcus and our family, and to music contributor Jon Hunt.

And I look forward to working alongside the folks at Minnesota Monitor to ensure the site is one of the most useful and provocative sources of local news and campaign 2008 coverage. Some of the stories and the content departments we’ve been working on here will move to the Monitor, which, I’m excited to say, is in the process of expanding its resources and its coverage.

Hope you’ll join me and the Monitor’s growing roster of contributors there. And once again, thanks for reading and thanks for your support, encouragement, and criticisms.

• Jamie Spears, Britney’s father, will maintain control over his daughter’s affairs because a judge has ruled that she is not competent. Oh, and her estate is worth 40 million dollars.
• Lindsay Lohan gives a p.r.-perfect interview to Glamour Magazine about life after rehab. Among the highlights: she likes staying home now, and it hard to be around certain friends because they have “gone down a different path.” Gag me.
• Ellen Page wears something other than black to some red carpet event. She still won’t really smile, though. 
• Patrick Swayze spent the weekend at Stanford Medical Center to be treated for a “gastrointestinal procedure.” He is now resting comfortably at home, I am happy to report. 

• Britney Spears is extending her stay at UCLA Medical Center for 14 days, unless she protests the hold.
• What Spears is protesting is her father’s control over her estate, which he acquired on Friday.
• Michelle Williams releases a very sad public statement. Really. 
• Singer Lily Allen was dumped by her boyfriend two weeks after having a miscarriage. The couple had recently returned from a $6000 a night vacation in the Maldives. 

The eye-opener involves the two survey questions about Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Back in October, a couple of months after the 35W bridge collapse, a Strib Minnesota Poll showed Pawlenty with a 59 percent approval rating, his highest in four years. Three months later, Rasmussen says that 45 percent of Minnesotans call Pawlenty’s performance excellent or good, while 53 percent term it fair or poor. The real shocker concerns Pawlenty as a prospective Republican VP candidate: While 29 percent say it would make them more likely to vote for the GOP ticket, 35 percent say it would make them less likely to cast their votes for the Republicans. This suggests not only that MnDOT-related scandals and the economy have cost Pawlenty more than anyone has realized, but that the governor has become a more polarizing figure in Minnesota over time.

The Republicans have already invested a lot of political capital in this swing state by choosing to hold their convention here. It’s hard to think that John McCain or the chieftains of the national GOP will find much savor in the prospect of spending more political capital here by choosing a VP for the ticket who looks like a net liability in his own state.

Here’s the Fox9 report, with video, text results, and crosstabs.