$0.09

According to the New York Times, North Dakota trails every other state in donations to presidential campaigns. In this election, residents have given 9 cents per capita, or $57,613. Apparently, voters prefer personal contact with their politicians over monied media campaigns.

“Even for a statewide political campaign, you have to get to the lutefisk feed. ... Putting commercials on TV is not going to work."

In North Dakota, Forget Money. Politics Is Different.

Fiction Dept.

Louise Erdrich has a new short story in the New Yorker. It's long, so you might want to wait and read it at work.

The Reptile Garden

It's Cold

A newspaper columnist in North Carolina hears it's cold in North Dakota, investigates. Lloyd Omdahl provides details.

Asheville Citizen-Times.com

Red States Blues?

Red state Democrats like Barack Obama. Our own Kent Conrad has endorsed him. Noted smart guy George Will explains what that means (or at least what he thinks it means).

(On a related note, has anyone noticed that George Will sorta looks like Kent's dour, unfriendly brother?)

Plains Drain (Part II)

The Economist gets in on the obituaries for the Great Plains in an article about the depopulation of the American Middle, and Frank and Deborah Popper's not-much-beloved Buffalo Commons idea gets another airing. If you need a refresher on what that was about, try Anne Matthews' "Where the Buffalo Roam."