Nick Coleman (columnist)

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Disambiguation: see also Nicholas D. Coleman the Minnesota politician and this Nick Coleman's father, as well as Christopher B. Coleman, Mayor of St. Paul, and this Coleman's brother.

Nicholas J. (Nick) Coleman,(born June 26, 1950 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a veteran Minnesota journalist and columnist for the Star Tribune, the daily newspaper published in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Coleman is on his second stint at the Star Tribune, having begun his career there in 1973 before moving across the Mississippi River to become a news columnist at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1986. He returned to the Star Tribune in 2003.

Coleman has covered politics, local government, out-state Minnesota, media and business, Native American issues, the war (and the peace process) in Northern Ireland, six governors and 10 mayors. Coleman has published more than 3,000 columns, produced approximately 300 TV commentaries, and hosted two radio talk show programs. In his 35 year newspaper career, Coleman has worked as a Minneapolis city government reporter, business reporter, Metropolitan Government reporter, out-state correspondent, media critic, editorial page columnist and news columnist.

His work has won numerous awards. His awards include Page One Awards from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists; a Frank Premack Award for a series (Coleman was lead writer)on The New Face of Minnesota, dealing with the impact of new immigrants on Minnesota; an AP Sweepstakes Award as lead writer on the 1997 Pioneer Press coverage of Red River Valley Flood; a Gene O’Brien Excellence in Journalism Award as co-writer of a 1987 Pioneer Press series on the 1862 Dakota Indian War; a 1985 Lowell Mellett Awards special citation for Improving Journalism Through Critical Evaluation; and many others.

City Pages, the Twin Cities alternative weekly, named Coleman Best columnist three times in recent years -- 2002, 2005 and 2008. In 2008, he was also honored as the readers'choice for Best Columnist.

Coleman has worked almost equally for the St. Paul and Minneapolis newspapers -- 18 years at the Star Tribune in two different stints (1973-86 and 2003-present) and 17 years at the Pioneer Press (1986-2003). He returned to the Star Tribune in November, 2003, as a Metro News columnist.

In a column writing career that has spanned 25 years, Coleman predominately attacks Republicans (Tim Pawlenty is a frequent target) and occasionally Democrats, including DFLers such as Rudy Perpich, George Latimer, Roger Moe, Sandy Pappas and R.T. Rybak. A staunch Democrat himself, Coleman has used his columns to castigate state Republicans for their view of government and taxation, and alternately chide local Democrats for not being ambitious enough in their plans to transform Minnesota into a collectivist / communitarian society.

Coleman has stated he is a believer in Finley Peter Dunne’s adage that a journalist’s job is to ‘comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.’

Coleman’s print persona is a regionalized version of the acerbic, cranky big city columnist made famous by Mike Royko, Jimmy Breslin, and others. Coleman is a shoe leather reporter, writing about people and events around town from a quasi-populist, but ultimately very liberal perspective.

Thematically, Coleman alternates through a handful of topics throughout the year. He is fanatical about crime, corporate subsidies (specifically as embodied by the new Twins stadium), Indian nicknames, 35W Bride collapse, and the perceived defunding of public education and social programs.

Typically Coleman’s columns will describe a newsworthy social problem, how government is inadequately funded to solve it, and then belittle state Republicans for their unwillingness to raise taxes. When he covers breaking stories, he often employs a literary device whereby he confronts a pedestrian with no knowledge of the news. Coleman then informs them, and documents their reaction for his column. The pedestrians are consistently quoted as, “that happened over there? Man, that’s (sad / scary / tragic),” or words to that effect.

He has engaged in rhetorical feuds with local Twin Cities writers and bloggers, and others who publicly critique his work. In 2004, Coleman criticized the role of local Power Line bloggers in the Dan Rather / Killian documents controversy. A back and forth exchange ensued for some weeks in local print and on the internet. The flame email spats he initiated with local writer Steve Marsh and New York University Professor Jay Rosen spilled out onto the internet as well.

Coleman has done regular TV commentaries for KTCA-TV and KMSP-TV, and hosted talk radio shows in the Twin Cities, including a weekly show for 10 years at KSTP-AM 1500. He was briefly a morning host at Air America Radio’s affiliate in the Twin Cities in early 2005. His engagement at Air America ended after a feud with management, with Coleman unsatisfied with the centrist positioning of the station by its owner, Janet Roberts.

Coleman is the eldest child of the late Nicholas D. (Nick) Coleman, a DFL majority leader of the Minnesota State Senate from 1973-81, and Bridget Finnegan. He is also the oldest brother and godfather of Chris Coleman, current mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, and stepson of Deborah Howell, ombudsman for the Washington Post. Howell was editor of the Pioneer Press when Coleman was hired there in 1986.

Coleman was educated in Catholic schools in St. Paul, and at the University of Minnesota, where he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Minnesota Daily. Coleman is 6 ft tall and has a concealed handgun carry permit. His second wife is freelance writer and former Pioneer Press columnist, Laura Billings (17 years Coleman's junior). The couple has three children.