March 12, 2008 - Midday presents recording of prominent Minnesotans sharing stories about Minnesota during a story telling event put on by the 2008 Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission. Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota Climatologist; Carl Eller, professional football hall of famer; Al Quie, former Minnesota Governor; Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator (D-MN), and more gathered to wax Minnesota during a story telling event put on by the 2008 Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission.
March 13, 2008 - St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman joins Midday to discuss the challenges facing his city, and the achievements that have been made in the past year. Coleman also answers listener questions.
April 9, 2008 - MPR’s Perri Finelli talks with U.S. Congressman Tim Walz about a process underway in Washington that'll determine where billions of your tax dollars will be spent…called earmarking. That's where local projects get funding from the federal government. The number of earmarks has grown over the years.... and the projects have been criticized as pork.
April 9, 2008 - MPR’s Sea Stachura profiles 1st District Congressman Tim Walz as he prepares to run for re-election. The Republican Party thinks 1st District Congressman Tim Walz is one of the country's vulnerable freshman Democrats. One analyst says Walz has inoculated himself against a Republican challenger. But will it be enough this November?
April 28, 2008 - One of Minnesota's best-known novelists, Louise Erdrich, discusses her book “A Plague of Doves,” a story that weaves together the murder of a family, a lynching of men innocent of the crime, and the tangled relationships of Ojibwe and whites living around the dying town of Pluto, North Dakota.
May 15, 2008 - MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports that former Governor Jesse Ventura said he's serious about a possible run for U.S. Senate, and he had harsh words for some of the other candidates already in the race. Comments were made when Ventura broke his boycott of the Minnesota broadcast media, appearing on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday program to talk about his latest book.
May 29, 2008 - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar says the nation isn't ready for a lower highway speed limit. Klobuchar met with Minnesota truckers to talk about high diesel prices. Diesel fuel is 70-percent higher than it was a year ago, and truckers say it's adding to the cost of practically everything. The Minnesota Trucking Association is calling for a national speed limit of 65-miles-per-hour. Senator Klobuchar told the truckers she hopes individuals will choose to reduce their speed to save gas and money, but Congress won't require it.
June 6, 2008 - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar gives speech at 2008 DFL state convention. Klobuchar speaks of various Democrat state candidates. She called for supporters of other Democratic presidential candidates to get behind Barack Obama in his run for presidency, whom she endorsed several months ago.
June 7, 2008 - U.S. Representative Keith Ellison speaking at DFL State Convention.
June 7, 2008 - As part of MPR Special Coverage, a recording of U.S. Representative Tim Walz speaking at DFL State Convention. Walz highlights a pen that he carries as a metaphor for his efforts as a legislator.