And now this live report from the scene…

I called Kennedy campaign intern Michel Weilbodt a bit ago to find out firsthand what the story is with the Humphrey Institute flap as described earlier. Here's the RealAudio. Now I remember why I like politics so much. Before Polinaut, MPR only let me out once every four years, to go to the national conventions, where I mostly just talked to regular folks in irregular settings. You meet a lot of interesting people that way and, man, do I ever love doing that!

So I asked Michael about the incident and it didn't sound like a huge deal and, as I usually do, I found myself more interested in Michael and politics -- pretty much the same thing I do at those conventions.

You know -- and I'm now leaving the whole taping-flap for you to figure out whether you want to be outraged or what (Update for the record: personally, I think there's little reason for any candidate to be afraid of the documentation of their own words) -- you just have to love the enthusiasm in the guy's voice. Maybe the rest of us crusty cynics can learn a few things.

My boss asked me a week or so ago, "what do you want to do when you come back." This is what I want to do. Talk to real people again.

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