Tim Walz issues first e-newsletter

While some members of Congress avoid the spotlight unless it's election time, others seem to relish it. It appears that novice Congressman Tim Walz in Minnesota's 1st District is already charting the former course, which seems odd for a former high school geography teacher and first-time officeholder.

In fact, until he accidentally entered the political spotlight in August of 2004, almost nobody outside of his National Guard unit and students, parents and teachers at Mankato West High School had ever heard of him. It was then that Republican operatives tried to exclude him from a George W. Bush rally in a quarry north of Mankato. The news of the attempted rejection hit the evening news on local CBS affiliate KEYC and settled into a comfortable spot in the pages of the Mankato Free Press the next morning. Later, the story was picked up by Nick Coleman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and from there it spread through the blogosphere.

Now it's 2-1/2 years later and Rep. Walz is taking at least one page from the book of his predecessor, Gil Gutknecht: He's issuing a periodic e-newsletter. How often he plans to put out the newsletter he hasn't said yet — Gutknecht's came out like clockwork every Friday. But it's clear he won't be a shrinking violet from either the press or his constituents, especially if his tenure keeps having to face issues near and dear to his interests and his district — for example, veterans' health care and the DM&E controversy.

Stay e-tuned to e-Walz.