As a barometer of how politically charged this year's Presidential election has become, I point you to the ongoing saga of St. Paul's mayor, Norm Coleman.

St. Paul is a heavily Democratic city, but Norm (also nominally a Democrat) recently endorsed Bush for re-election. Mayors endorse other candidates all the time, and a few even will cross party lines. But this particular endorsement has brought down a firestorm from the Democratic faithful.

The horror! That an elected official should actually think for himself rather than mindlessly mouthing the party line!

At any rate, the first major consequence was something of a revolt within the City Council. Some who had been in are now out, and vice-versa. It also sounds like the City Council Picnic will be a little frostier than usual this year, and not just because of the weather (though that would be good enough reason). So far, not too unexpected.

But this morning, I heard that a group has been formed to recall Norm as a direct consequence of the endorsement. They don't even bother arguing that he's been a bad mayor, or stole money from the tip jar at Starbucks, or anything like that. The argument is simply that Norm Coleman was wrong to endorse President Bush for re-election.

They also make the argument that he shouldn't have been endorsing anyone, but the NPR interviewer was more than a little incredulous at the group's claims to be nonpartisan.

I will grant that Norm's endorsement might not have been the smartest thing politically for St. Paul--unless (cough) he's contemplating a run for governor in a few years--and I happen to disagree with him, and he's never struck me as the sharpest knife in the drawer, but at least grant the man his right to have an opinion. Yeesh.