I think I know a little about how Balloon Dad Richard Heene feels. Last week, I was hounded by paparazzi, or rather a single paparazzo, in the Star Tribune lobby. He wore big round glasses and a bow tie, just like Dominick Dunne, but unlike the vultures you see on "Entertainment Tonight," he was cordial and turned off his camera when I asked.
Unlike television paparazzi, however, Robert Carney asked one good question: Why won't Mayor R.T. Rybak participate in his own campaign? For mayor, that is.
I had contacted Carney, the "Moderate Progressive Republican" candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, to interview him about why he wanted to run the city. Instead, he turned his video camera on me and asked me why I wasn't interviewing other mayoral candidates about why they wanted to run the city.
I guess everyone thinks they are Michael Moore these days.
If you haven't been paying close attention, you may not know there is an election coming Nov. 3 to pick the best person to parse the city's budget, fight police corruption and make sure the garbage gets picked up.
Some people who want the job have appeared at three or four venues to discuss city issues. So far, Rybak has refused to come out and play. He has, however, appeared at Kolacky Days in Montgomery, where future governors go to eat. A guy only has so much free time.
His campaign manager says Rybak will almost certainly, probably, maybe debate any "endorsed" candidate on Minnesota Public Radio -- less than 24 hours before the vote.
That would be "Papa" John Kolstad, who is endorsed by both the Independence and Republican parties, neither of which has had much luck penetrating the DFL's bullet-proof city.