Ed Schultz Watch

Ed Schultz, the North Dakota radio personality touted as "the anti-Rush," gets a long piece in tomorrow's edition of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune under the headline "Liberal talk radio finds a voice in North Dakota." Excerpt:

Ryan Bakken, a columnist at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald who often spars with Schultz, admires the tactician but wonders about his motives.

"Even I have to agree that he is an excellent talk-show host," Bakken said. "I know just about every radio in every tractor in North Dakota is tuned toward him.

"He does his homework. He's well-informed on more issues than anyone I can think of in the state. And he gives callers a chance to make their point, even if he disagrees with them. He doesn't shout them down . . . like so many others do."

But what drives Schultz, Bakken said, is ego.

"I know of none bigger," he said. "So when he goes from the right to the left, I'm suspicious. Ed knows that no radio talk-show host gets any attention -- or listeners -- by being in the middle."

Schultz's conversion coincided with Democrats waking up to the influence of talk radio, Bakken said. "Did Ed see that opening? He's certainly smart enough."

The notion that Big Eddie has cynically changed ideologies to advance his career won't go away. It's no wonder Tom Daschle, who cynically portrays himself as an ultra-liberal sharpie operator in three thousand dollar suits when in Washington and a conservative when he's back home in South Dakota, thinks Ed Schultz is great.