Charley Walters has a tidbit in his column this weekend that U.S. Senator Norm Coleman worked "feverishly" to get the visa processed for 19 year-old Wild freshman James Shepard, so that Shepard could travel with the team on this road trip and play his first game of his NHL career.

That's great Norm. So many worthwhile, difference-making things you could have been doing last week, but you chose to work feverishly to help a professional sports franchise. While I value our local professional sports franchise, this effort of Coleman's is an example of the egregious misdirection of our elected officials when it comes to how they spend their time on our dollar.