St. Paul, Fort Worth Share Dubious Bond

Bob Schieffer Says The Two Cities Have Second-Class Image In The Minds Of Most Americans

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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Anyone who has known me for at least an hour knows I'm from Fort Worth, Texas, which is referred to by many in the nation as the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is why for years, whenever I mention it on TV, I call it the Fort Worth-Dallas area.

Few people have noticed, but one day I got a nice letter from a man who wrote and said, "I know why you do that. I'm from St. Paul."

As Bill Ward, one of the local newspapermen here wrote this week, St. Paul would kill to get the kind of respect that even Rodney Dangerfield got. At least people knew who he was. Too many people don't know that St. Paul exists.

Well, I know the feeling. I once wrote a song that went like this. "Dallas, Dallas, how we love you, but why is our airport DFW? Move that D. Shift that letter. FWD sounds so much better." The Dallas deejays didn't play it much, but they loved it in Fort Worth.

So here's what we're going to do to turn it around for St. Paul. First, you need a theme song. How about this? "Minneapolis, Minneapolis, we think you are simply fabulous. But if you want to have a ball, just drop in on old St. Paul."

So, St. Paulers, if you'll finish those lyrics, e-mail them to me at CBS News and I'll read the best ones next week on "Face the Nation," when our guest will be John McCain.