Around MN: More pigs than people, OccupyMN grows, Ferdinand Pecora?

Tea or coffee? Land line or cellphone? Hogs or humans? Census has answers

For the record, hogs outnumbered people in Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska, as well as in Iowa, which counted 3 million human residents and 19 million hogs (New York Times).

Johnson apologizes for ripping OccupyMN protesters

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson is apologizing for characterizing the OccupyMN protesters at the Hennepin County Government Center as "socialists, anarchists, flower children" who were "very messy." (MPR News)

Wrong target for Occupy MN

Staging a protest against economic injustice might have been more effective in front of one of the major downtown banks, not a public building (Daily Planet).

Where is our Ferdinand Pecora? And other unexpected signs of the occupation

Turns out Pecora was chief counsel to the Senate Banking Committee in 1933 when the committee held hearings into the role of various big Wall Street institutions as well as some then-prominent multimillionaires in the stock market crash of 1929 and other major events that ushered in the Great Depression (MinnPost).

OccupyMN takes hold in Duluth

The "Occupy" movement has hit the Northland. About 70 people gathered in Leif Erickson Park in Duluth on Monday night to work on a plan emulating the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Minnesota rallies in a demand for economic fairness in the country and a protest of "corporate greed." (Duluth News Tribune)

Bachmann: Occupy Wall Street has nothing in common with Tea Party

"I ran across two of the protests in Washington, DC and one in Boston and they are nothing in common at all with" Tea Party agitators. She added, "If the Occupy Wall Street wants to be upset about something they should go in front of the White House." (ABC News)

More on OccupyMN over at The Big Story blog from Paul Tosto.

Bachmann lags in Iowa

In the Hawkeye State, Romney gets the support of 23 percent of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers and Cain gets 20 percent. They are followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 11 percent, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann are tied at 10 percent (MSNBC).

With 90 percent name ID in New Hampshire, Bachmann polls 3 percent

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is well known in New Hampshire but knowledge is not making voters flock to her, according to a new poll (Star Tribune).

Michele Bachmann, a view from her hometown

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota. Bloomberg Television's Margaret Brennan speaks with local residents about Bachmann and issues facing the hometown of the Republican presidential candidate (Bloomberg).

And now, a debate ad from Jimmy Fallon:

In hopes to drum up more interest in the next GOP debate, the party has a new marketing campaign. Grab your Redbull cause this baby is intense.

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