Every political observer in Minnesota anticipated that the governor would probably take his red pen to portions of the recently passed bonding bill, but I don’t think anyone imagined that he would cut funding for the planned Central Corridor light rail line. After all, he included the funding in the original bonding proposal he sent to the Legislature. The remarks he made to the press today make it clear that he’s using the project as a bargaining chip to reassert his waning power. If the DFL doesn’t bend to his will in budget negotiations, he’ll deny them a much-anticipated public works initiative.

It’s an interesting gambit and perhaps Pawlenty sees this as an opportunity to boost his conservative street cred. After all, his name is probably on McCain’s short list of veep picks. Still, letting this project go forward might do more to solidify his legacy as governor. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem like the kind of person to take the long view on things.

Time for another peek at the singles on heavy rotation here on the 19th Floor:

“Send a Little Love Token” by The Duke Spirit: A propulsive rocker of a song by a British band whose pretty blonde lead singer sounds an awful lot like the pretty blonde lead singer from The Sounds. If this song was included in a movie soundtrack, it would be played during the scene where the hero walks into a rough-and-tumble bar, orders a shot of whiskey, hits on the saucy-looking woman standing next to him, and then gets clobbered over the head with a beer bottle by her skinhead boyfriend.

“Feel the Love” by Cut Copy: This sunny electronica-tinged number induces waves of Eighties nostalgia. The whole album is quite listenable, in fact.

“Dead Sound” by The Raveonettes: Continuing the theme of bands fronted by pretty blondes, this single from the Denmark duo’s latest album is drenched in feedback. Is it me, or is the whole feedback/distortion thing making a comeback? The Magnetic Fields did something similar in their most recent effort.

My employer recently implemented a web-based tool to access work e-mail and documents. It comes in handy for those times when I’m out of the office for all-day meetings and I need to check my inbox when I get home. But it will also be one of those things that I’ll compulsively access. When I had a BlackBerry, my compulsive tendencies were held in check by the fact that I needed someone’s assistance to use it. But now that I can access work from this computer, I can send all the late-night e-mails I want, thus confirming my co-workers’ long-held suspicions that I do not in fact have a life.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar endorsed Obama yesterday. If Klobuchar had more time to build a national profile, she would make an interesting choice for the veep slot. If Obama is the nominee, my money is on Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius. She has red-state appeal and she can provide him some insight on running an executive branch.

I’m going to take some pictures of my wheelchair so I have hard proof that my wheelchair was fully intact before I got on the airplane. Is it really that difficult to design an plane that can accommodate a wheelchair or two? I used to be more nonchalant about air travel, but that was before I discovered that Northwest Airlines is fully capable of forgetting to load a wheelchair into the baggage compartment.

While I’m gone, you can get your daily blogging fix from Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish. For a self-professed conservative, he’s awfully fond of Obama. Or you could finally do those chores you’ve been putting off. The garbage disposal isn’t going to unclog itself.