cPod barely squeaks out the door in time for the weekend as we hear from Sarah Askari about Beatrix Jar (who provide our music) and Paul Demko fills us in on the local effect of his dead turkey tale. Lastly, Matt Snyders wanders through to comment on spending a week in the Mall of America.

Click below to hear the cast:

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State Sen. Terri Bonoff and former transportation commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg have received the backing of AFSCME Council 5, one of the state's largest and most politically powerful labor unions. Bonoff is seeking to replace retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad, but faces DFL opposition from Iraq War vet Ashwin Madia and Edina Mayor Jim Hovland. (As noted below this is expected to be one of the most hotly contested House races in the country.) Tinklenberg hopes to oust freshman Rep. Michele Bachmann, a goal shared by fellow DFL'er Bob Olson, a St. Cloud businessman. Earlier this month AFSCME also endorsed the senate candidacy of Al Franken.

WaPo wonk Chris Cillizza once again analyzes which House seats are mostly likely to flip parties in next year's elections. Nine of the top ten endangered posts are currently held by Republicans. Not exactly a positive omen for the GOP heading into 2008.

Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District, currently occupied by retiring GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad makes the list in sixth place. That's three spots down from its previous ranking. Cillizza argues that the race has been slow to take shape:

Among the newly open seats, none is more difficult to analyze than this one. On its face, the district should be very competitive; President Bush won it with just 51 percent in 2004 and the suburbs surrounding the Twin Cities, which are at the heart of the seat, have been moving Democratic of late due to dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq.

Cillizza taps state Rep. Erik Paulson as the likely GOP nominee, but sees a scrum between state Sen. Terri Bonoff, Iraq war vet Ashwin Madia and Edina Mayor Jim Hovland on the DFL side of the aisle. "Minnesota politics goes at its own pace and this race just isn't gelling yet," he writes.

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

Two new slideshows up from yesterday, one capturing the festivities at Hmong New Year and another which will become a recurring theme -- The Month in Photos, a review of images from some of our favorite stories, galleries and blog posts of the previous lunar cycle.

Also, a couple of new posts on the sports blog. I make a brief argument for Bert Blyleven's inclusion into the Hall of Fame (and link to a couple of sources that offer in-depth justifications). Kevin Hoffman alerts us to Vote 4 Boogey, a site backing Derek Boogaard for the NHL All-Star Game.

BRAIN CANDY

Speaking of hockey, check out this odd tale of art, NHL stars, and public nudity. Oil paintings of hockey players naked -- not taken from real photos, but imagined celebrity nudes.

"This idea of his is not an ephemeral idea, it's a serious idea of the way in which we respond to the naked body," said Zina Davis, director of the University of Hartford's Joseloff Gallery, which showed one of the Grant nudes in 2004. "What are the trigger points, and what are the things that move us from what our expectations are into another realm? It's a high-concept kind of thing."

High-concept hockey nudes. In related news, someone is sure to start "Suicide Centers," a high-concept website where you can see real hockey players naked while you read their blogs.

Pat Robertson thinks yoga is "spooky." I do yoga. I think Pat Robertson is spooky. And thus is balance restored to the universe.

On a serious note, a couple of stories. First, a new audit has found that St. Paul gives comparatively few contracts to minority-owned firms. Minnesota Public Radio has the story here.

Next, at the Minneapolis Critical Mass Arrestee Support blog, there is an update in legal status about the 19 people arrested on a Critical Mass ride a few months back. Charges have been dropped against 14 of them, but five are still in the system, facing up to a year in jail.

Trials are slated to begin next year. The group's next ride is tonight at 5 p.m.

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox (among other projects) is one of indie hip-hops most charismatic and influential figures. I reviewed his Tuesday show at Whiskey Junction, caught up with him in a quick interview and produced a photo slideshow. Also featured was tour partner Copywrite.

Headline: Minnesota woman invents the motorized tricycle. OK, not really. As Paul Demko blogs, someone got pulled over for the rarely enforced infraction Driving An Automobile With Only Three Tires.

Remember Monday's review of The Other Side Project? If it wasn't descriptive enough for your tastes, now you can scope a video of one of the sketch comedy group's routines, a funny little bit called "So You Think You Can Impress a British Person."

There's a thread about Jeff Severns Guntzel's gay marriage story now up at popular link site Fark.com. Check out the discussion if you're so inclined.

At Balls!, I bow before the wisdom of the Pio Press' Bob Sansevere, who has invented the newest great technique for talent acquisition in baseball: trade players to whom you do not have the rights. Later today I'm planning a post about the six-player deal between the Twins and Rays centered around Matt Garza and Delmon Young. Short preview: good trade for both teams, and a fine score for the hometown nine for 2008 and beyond.

Also coming later: two slideshow image galleries, including a Month In Photos review. For now, to the links of the day.

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On November 10 at approximately 10:35 p.m. a Minneapolis cop pulled over Carly Jo Juetten in downtown Minneapolis. The reason? Her vehicle had no left front tire. Juetten informed the officer that she was unaware that her car had only three tires. The cop also observed that she had slurred speech, smelled of booze, and had difficulty walking, according to a criminal complaint filed this week. The 26-year-old Minneapolis resident declined to take a breathalyzer test. She's been charged with one count each of driving while intoxicated and refusing to take a breath test.

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

From the print issue, Matt Snyders' feature recounts the experience of living at the Mall of America for a full week. I don't mind saying that this is a hilarious read with a number of laugh-out-loud moments, and I'd say that even if Matt Snyders wasn't holding my dog hostage. Web-only content includes a photo slideshow with images by Nick Vlcek and an audio slideshow with a fitting soundtrack: "You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve" by Johnny Boy.

When Paul Demko first pitched his story about a local farmer who lost everything to a flood, we were in a news meeting. Always looking for web-only content, I asked Demko if I could take some photos for a slideshow that would run around Thanksgiving, because the story involved turkeys. Demko gave me an appalled look and said, in a who-the-hell-is-this-guy deadpan, "The turkeys are all dead." I'm not even going to pretend I had a retort.

Sarah Askari's column about the electronic duo Beatrix*JAR also has a terrific photo gallery by Emily Utne and a sample MP3 of the group's work (click the link in the right-side box of the story to download). The band's name reminds me of Sarah Jessica Parker's character in LA Story, whose name is spelled SanDeE* (Big S, little A, little N, Big D, little E, Big E. With a star at the end!).

The blogs are hopping, too. On the Blotter, Kevin Hoffman has updated Boy, Interrupted, our story about a local man suffering from an eating disorder. Jeremy has been involuntarily committed to a treatment facility.

Jonathan Kaminsky has an amusing tale of copper and robbers. Well, one alleged robber anyway. Since I know you're wondering, I'm not related to the Frederick Shaw named in the post.

It was all Anthony Bourdain all the time at Culture To Go, with Jessica Armbruster's interview with the famous chef preceding Paul Demko's roundup of local media reaction. Matt Smith broke the string with a post about Diablo Cody's award nomination.

Later today I'll also resist the trend of food blogging with a music review from last night's Vast Aire and Copywrite show at Whiskey Junction, featuring a Q+A with Vast, photo gallery and sound files.

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Last Wednesday, Frederick Shaw was making his evening rounds in north Minneapolis, carrying a bent copper pipe with fittings and valves still attached, when he crossed paths with Sgt. Frank Holley of the Minneapolis PD, according to a criminal complaint.

The sergeant was curious: Where had the pipe come from?

Good question, Shaw allowed: He'd discovered it in an alley a block away. Shaw offered to take Holley and his colleagues to the exact spot of his lucky find.

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Jeremy, the 88 pound man recently profiled by City Pages, has entered treatment involuntarily at Methodist Hospital.

After receiving calls from Jeremy's family requesting a health and welfare check in the wake of the recent City Pages article, the Community Outreach for Psychiatric Emergencies paid him a visit at his condo on the 13th floor of a downtown Minneapolis high rise.

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The print issue comes online this afternoon, and we have one or two more posts in the works today that are worth sticking around for as well. Until then:

DAILY DISH: WHAT'S NEW AROUND THE SITE

The chilling tale of Duy Ngo has reached its latest chapter. Paul Demko reports on the Minneapolis City Council's record $4.5 million award to the police officer, who was shot multiple times with a sub-machine gun while doing undercover work.

At Culture to Go, read Jessica Armbruster's Q&A with chef Anthony Bourdain, who spoke at the Triple Rock last night. You'll find out what he thinks about celebrity chef culture and what one food he'd eat for the rest of his life if he could pick just one.

BRAIN CANDY

Today: inventions!

Ron Popeil has given the world so much. The pocket fisherman. Spray-on hair. Parodies of his work such as Gallagher's Sledge-o-Matic and the Weird Al Yankovic tune "Mr. Popeil." This link documents several of his contributions to American commerce, delivering unto you 11 Items Sold by Ron Popeil. After you've checked that out, scope Malcolm Gladwell's musings on Mr. Popeil for the New Yorker.

A specific invention that caught my eye: amidst the litany of amusing spam e-mails we get here at City Pages last week came news of the Fish 'n Flush. You've seen those words combined before, no doubt, but not quite in this way. The device is a combination aquarium and toilet.

This costs 300 bones? Seriously? Are the interspersed bubbling and flushing sounds coming from that website supposed to hypnotize me into forking over the credit card digits? For nearly the cost of a Nintendo Wii, you can ... oh, someone edit me, I can't do it.

Say this for the tackytacular toilet: When your fish dies, you don't have far to walk with his corpse.