"I'm just a bill . . . "

I'm not sure I even saw it as a kid, but because it seems EVERY American kid of my generation did, I must have, too. And it probably had a deep and lasting effect my subconscious, forming my desire to be a politically informed citizen.

Well maybe. Maybe not.

I'm talking about Schoolhouse Rock. And more specifically, the "I'm just a bill" song. It's a pretty simple way of explaining exactly how a bill becomes a law. It's created for bills in Congress, but if you exchange "Congressman" for "legislator" and "President" with "Governor Pawlenty," it'll give you a fairly accurate picture of things.

(Also, the boy in the beginning is dead on with the "Whew! You sure gotta climb a lot of steps to get into this capitol building . . " I was thinking about that this morning as I hurried up them on my way to a hearing.)

This far into the session, I thought we might need a little primer.

So, I think it's worth checking out. I'll do a little more detailed process summary at another time for those of you who have the basic process down. But I'm trying not to make any assumptions . . .