craigcox's blog

With former MnDOT commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg expected to enter the race for the DFL endorsement in the Sixth Congressional District, We’re likely to see both current candidates — attorney Bob Hill and banker Bob Olson — step back and re-evaluate their candidacies. Olson, who earlier this year had launched a long-shot U.S. Senate bid, had shifted his attention to the Sixth largely at the urging of local political operative Nikki Carlson, who had hoped to exact some revenge against Hill, who had dumped her as campaign manager.

A brief obituary in today’s newspaper noted the passing of Michael Jackson, the British-born beer connoisseur and author, whose devotion to the humble hop, malt, and barley beverage did much to further the pleasures of the American beer drinker.

Mr. Jackson, also known as the “beer hunter,” died of a heart attack Thursday at his London home. He was 65. News of his death takes me back to a long and enlightening lunch I enjoyed with him some 20 years ago when he was passing through town on one of his numerous book tours.