Don't get ahead of yourself there, Sandy

Sandy Burt is a nurse practitioner, a globetrotting missionary, and a local volunteer in her neighborhood of Northeast Minneapolis. All this (and more: she's a rabbit owner!) can be learned from a glossy flier mailed to households in District 59 of the state senate, where Burt is running for office.

It's a tall task Burt has set for herself. DFLer Larry Pogemiller is the high-powered and quick-witted chair of the Senate Tax Committee and the Pensions and Retirement Commission. He's been a state senator for some 25 years--representing Northeast, Cedar-Riverside, and the U of M--and he won his last election with 75 percent of the vote.

Yet Sandy Burt, who is campaigning on a platform of private-school vouchers, stepped-up crime enforcement, and affordable medicine, must be optimistic about her chances. Witness the return address on her fliers, which reads:

Senator Burt for State Senate
2526 Taylor St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418

Or maybe it would be safer to say that Sandy Burt used to be optimistic. In a heavy black marker, her campaign team has blacked out the word "Senator."

Don't give up, Sandy! Dewey defeats Truman and all that piffle.