Lileks backs the controversial measure to name the Tilt-a-Whirl the official amusement ride of Minnesota.

The snooty dissolutes at Fraters and Nihilist are opposed, and Powerline, CaptainsQuarters, Mitch and King are maintaining a cagey silence as the Gopher State shudders as sides form up.  Governor Pawlenty has conveniently been out of sight and away from reporters.

Meanwhile, Chris Cizzilla gives the Friday line on the ten most vulnerable House seats in 2008 --eight of which are in Democratic hands.  (Stuart Rothenberg will be predicting a wave soon.)

But the House GOP is wasting valuable time by not blessing key candidates.  Early money could run to strong challengers, but they have to be in the hunt to get the help.

Finally, Mitt Romney's mentions of possible Veeps left off a few he named for me in my book, including Rick Santorum. 

Romney picked up the endorsement of Ohio's vastly connected Lindner family yesterday, a day after Rudy won the backing of Steve Forbes. (Romney's also got to love this Kimberley Strasssel piece in OpinionJournal.)  Put all the polls down and step away from the breathless machine, folks.  Ten months from the first votes, and it still remains a race about money and organization all building to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Almost all of the declared GOPers will get be in Des Moines in January, and all of the polls will be fundamentally impacted by the caucus results, just as they always have been in the past.  Touting polls of registered Republicans is a great signal of a commentator's desperation for a story or of a newbie to presidential politics. As John Podhoretz and I discussed yesterday, if Senator Thompson and Speaker Gingrich join the big three, the five of them should tour the country together demonstrating that any of our top candidates is far more prepared to lead the country and far more interesting and serious about the issues we face than any of their top five.  The upside of a long race is a long time to talk to the country about the war, the courts, the entitlement mess, the collapse of public education in many cities and the economy, and the GOP already has three superb communicators in the field, with a fine supporting cast, and two more possible A-listers.  The Dems have got Hillary, Barack, Edwards, Chris Dodd and Slow Joe, backed up by Dennis on the bench.

I like the way those teams match-up.  Very much. 

The Buckeyes are in Atlanta, the Tribe is headed to Chicago for opening day, Brady Quinn is headed to Cleveland, and I am headed for three days of not talking to get the radio voice back.  Congressman John Campbell --also a blogger-- sits in for me today.  He leads the republican Study Group's budget group, so if you want the details on the Jung Pao Democrats, today would be a great day to call.