An interesting urban drama has been playing out in the Wedge neighborhood of Minneapolis, home to The Wedge co-op, arguably the Midwest’s best food co-operative, and Hum’s Liquors, for whom similar plaudits are not warranted. 

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Norm Coleman is right, Al Franken is wrong. It pains me to say this. I voted for Al Franken. I would like to see him in the Senate. Norm Coleman is a friendly man whom everyone enjoys chatting up and schmoozing with, but his finger to the wind politics is not for me. 

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This website has received an advance copy of next weekend’s column, penned by the Star Tribune’s editor-in-chief, on topics of interest regarding the newspaper’s operations. Here’s the text:

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I went to buy Yankee tickets last weekend. Some friends and I are headed out to NYC this summer to see the new ballparks there. The thinking was that if we didn’t jump on day one, we’d be at the mercy of the scalpers. Lo and behold, what showed up when I asked the computer for five “best available” seats but a quint of prime ducats in the lower deck. Booya . . . no. Face prices on these babies were $2,600. A ticket. No, I didn’t leave a decimal out. (Anything under $50 was sold out, natch.)

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The veil of anonymity that much of the world uses to pontificate over the Internet has always puzzled me. We have become a nation of exhibitionists, over-sharers, personal bloggers, self-publishers. Most do that under their own name and often include a stylish photo. But virtually all the rest of online pontificating and commenting is done under pseudonyms.

 

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Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but last week's state Canvassing Board meeting that turned down Al Franken's request to allow counting of improperly rejected absentee ballots fell totally along party lines. Yes, the vote was 5-0, but the two Pawlenty-appointed Supreme Court justices were hard line "no" votes while the elected Ramsey County jurist and Ventura-appointed district judge felt there needed to be a solution that included those ballots (they also weren't sure the Canvassing Board had authority in the matter). 

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I can't stand American cars. My first car back in my twenties was a Ford Fairmont station wagon, and it drove me into the welcoming arms of Honda. I've since gotten an affinity for the Europeans' vehicles, but that Honda Fit looks like a lot of car for $15K. I drive American cars all the time when I rent cars on the road, and I've never sat in one I'd pay money for over a Honda, VW, or Volvo.

 

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Thankfully, election season ends this week. And with it, the end of the ubiquitous pro and anti advertising over the Employee Free Choice Act that would change federal regulations governing union organizing efforts and elections. I will not begin to even try to get into this debate or explain it as it is clearly not simply about secret ballots as its opponents have suggested nor little people vs. "fat cats" as its proponents' ads say.

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When I was a kid, and my parents would catch me picking my nose, my mother would quip, "pick a winner."

I would never deign to compare the Star Tribune's political endorsement process to nose-picking, but having read nearly a week's worth of them, the first general election under editorial pages editor Scott Gillespie, I must say I am not getting it. Until yesterday's endorsement of El Tinklenberg in the Sixth District Congressional race, the paper has just endorsed incumbents. Republican here, DFLer there.

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I just got back from a week out of the country. Somewhere far, far away from a Starbucks. And boy, did I miss those venti iced teas in a place where the temperature and humidity were sweltering. When I landed at LAX and saw a Starbucks in the terminal, I knew I was home again. And boy, were the lines long.

But Starbucks is apparently not what it seems. If you follow the business press, you would conclude that Starbucks is one of the more troubled companies in America. About a year ago, it stopped showing growth in same-store sales and profits after years of breakneck growth. Wall Street turned on Starbucks, and its visionary but impetuous founder Howard Schultz took back the reins. Stores were shuttered in places such as Albert Lea. Hot sandwiches were taken off menus because Schultz said you couldn’t smell the coffee; oatmeal is now a morning staple. But the numbers have not rebounded.

Remember Krispy Kreme, the cult donut that went national, started offering its product everywhere from gas stations to Target stores, and flamed out? Is that where Starbucks is headed?

Or consider an alternate analysis: What’s wrong with Starbucks is Wall Street. Walk into any Starbucks and what do you see? People who love the brand, its products, and vibe. Starbucks reinvented coffee and leisure breaks for a whole generation of Americans. Not everything it serves is great, but the ratio is pretty impressive. Where Starbucks went wrong was it believed that its product was for everyone and belonged everywhere.

And who drove it to that conclusion, like Krispy Kreme? That was Wall Street. It’s not enough to run a profitable but mature, slow-growth business anymore. If you want to trade on the Street, you need to be growing the top and bottom lines or your stock tumbles.

It’s a sick system that’s evolved because it pushes companies to grow beyond their natural constituencies and clientele, and over-leverage so to take short-term risk without regard to long-term stability. Product and customer-experience innovation takes a back seat to expansion. That’s why there was a Starbucks in Albert Lea and that’s why there were analysts suggesting the company needed to serve dinner at those underutilized stores.

So now Starbucks is retrenching. Trying to figure out what went wrong. Krispy Kreme commoditized its product, sapping it of consistency and excellence. Starbucks hasn’t gone there yet, but probably only because its founder remains in office, refusing to destroy its essence.

There’s little wrong with Starbucks to its customers and thousands of employees. That there is so much wrong with it in the eyes of Wall Street is just another piece of evidence of how screwed up America’s business culture is. When the only universally accepted measure of a company’s success is growth, inevitably recklessness and short-term thinking ensues. Let’s hope it doesn’t destroy one of the great retail success stories of our era.