Quick Hits: Volume CCXCV

 - Amazing how taking more money from Minnesotans than is needed is spun by some (**koff** DFLers **koff**) as a good thing.

Minnesota's budget surplus has ballooned to a historic $17.6 billion amid lower spending and larger tax collections, triggering a flood of ideas for how to spend the extra cash.

A funding boost for classrooms, climate change investments and potential tax relief are all on the table for Democrats, who will control state government when the Legislature convenes in January.

"We can do all of these things. This isn't a choice of either-or," DFL Gov. Tim Walz said after the new economic forecast was released Tuesday. "There's golden opportunities for us to do things on so many fronts."

In a time where some Minnesotans are still trying to recover from the pandemic combined with everyday items being so much more expensive than last year, there's only one realistic solution: give it back. 

Leave it to MN Representative-elect Walter Hudson to best articulate how this should be handled.  

Since the 2023 session is a budget year and the DFL has total control of the Legislature as well as the Governor's office, the only question is just how much this next state budget will increase. Since the Republicans are essentially persona non grata, they need to flood the zone with speeches on the Dems' unwillingness to return to taxpayers what is rightly theirs. 

- To be honest, I'm ambivalent about this move. 

The Gophers and football coach P.J. Fleck on Wednesday agreed to a new seven-year contract that will run through the 2029 season. The new contract will increase his pay by $1 million per year to an average of $6 million, a source with knowledge of the contract told the Star Tribune. The agreement is pending Board of Regents approval.

Fleck, 42, most recently agreed to a new contract on Nov. 4, 2021, a deal that averaged $5 million and ran through the 2028 season. The new deal takes it one more year with the pay raise. Under Fleck's old contract, he would owe the university a buyout of $7 million if he left for another coaching job before Dec. 31, 2023. Further details of the new contract were not immediately available.

There's no question Fleck has been the most successful Gophers coach over the past half century (which, to be fair, isn't exactly a high bar). He's coached the team to some impressive bowl game victories, including a New Years Day 2020 win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl. And the way his team responds to his style of coaching makes you believe they'd run through a wall for him.

On the other side of the ledger, I've long lamented his in-game management, whether it's the head-scratching play calls, poor clock management or bungling of timeouts. I appreciate his student athletes are set up for success upon leaving the U of M, but he's also hired to win key football games. His 0-6 record all time against rival Iowa is inexcusable and the infuriating home losses to the likes of Bowling Green should never happen to a...**ahem**...."elite" program.  

With this extension, the *minimum* Gophers fans should expect is some Big 10 West titles (including occasional wins over Iowa) and a New Years Day bowl every so often. An 8-4 season with zero wins over Top 25 competition is no longer good enough.

- The 2022 midterms are now complete, and it's official: This was an absolutely blown opportunity for Republicans to take back all of Congress. It culminated Tuesday evening with vulnerable Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) defeating Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff, giving the Dems a +1 gain in that body for a 51-49 majority.

Also official: Donald Trump is toxic and has to be put out to pasture once and for all. 

Conservative commentator (and Georgia resident) Erick Erickson lays it out. 

Donald Trump picks the weakest candidates, and those tied to Trump lose in places that matter.

More than being tied to Trump, the story of Walker is that the candidate's quality absolutely matters. Anyone who tells you Herschel Walker was a top-tier candidate should be ignored. His performance and baggage, all known going into this race, meant he should have been deterred from getting in.

But Donald Trump convinced him to get into the race. Then Donald Trump did virtually nothing to help him. In fact, what Trump did — speaking up about Walker during Trump’s own announcement speech at Mar-a-Lago — was used against Walker.

As much as Walker was a thoroughly likeable person, he was just a bad candidate who would have never entered except for Trump pushing him to do it.

The remarkable closeness of the runoff had everything to do with Mitch McConnell sinking $11 million into the runoff and Brian Kemp keeping his ground game going. Kemp was able to boost GOP turnout, but it was not enough.

In Georgia, Warnock spent the campaign tying Walker to Trump, including running an ad that had nothing but Trump talking up Walker with the text under Trump speaking: TO STOP TRUMP / DEFEAT WALKER. They ran that ad everywhere.

And if you're tempted to reach the conclusion that Georgia is trending blue now that both the state's U.S. Senators are Dems, consider this: 

 

Georgia is a great example of the difference candidate quality makes:

Governor: R+8
Lt. Governor: R+5
Sec. of State: R+9
Attorney General: R+5
Ag. Commissioner: R+8
In. Commissioner: R+8
State School Superintendent: R+8
Commissioner of Labor: R+7

Senate: On track for D+2-4

— Ryan Matsumoto (@ryanmatsumoto1) December 7, 2022

@EWErickson on Herschel Walker's loss and other Georgia election results: https://t.co/fKN3Yyg1MV pic.twitter.com/Yuo8VUMED5

— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 7, 2022

On to 2024.

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