This has lead to a kind of political paralysis, an atmosphere in which local activists already used to years of fighting over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin are left with no solutions at all. They have been reduced to political cannibalism, a kind of Donner Party culture where there is so little hope left of fixing the problems, so little actual political fat to chew on, that old grudges and personality conflicts have taken the place of policy debate. It is leftist against leftist, people who in almost any other part of the country would be so constrained by policy differences with genuine conservative political elements that they would be thrown together without hesitation over common causes. Competition among reporters was respectful but fierce. To someone like myself, previous stints as a political columnist and reporter for a Minneapolis weekly were no comparison.
Reporters develop their own style of source maintenance.
My style has always been to get as close to politicians as they will let me, while reminding them continually that my responsibilities as a reporter are to my readers, and not to their political self-interest. Generally, it has worked for me. It has meant that I get to know the politicians and bureaucrats for whom openness comes naturally, and in Minnesota there were some surprising results, because the politician with whom I probably developed my closest relationship was a state representative from the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington named Kevin Knight. Most people, on both sides of the political aisle, thought Knight was the most conservative guy in the state Legislature, and nobody could figure us out. What we liked about each other was that we could be completely honest, discuss issues openly, and in the end agreed to disagree.