The Pew Charitable Trusts

German teachers likely would have been just as tough on Michigan 's Republican Party for believing that "farfenugen" means something in German. A news release by the state GOP meant to use the German expression "Fahrvergnügen" - made famous in Volkswagen advertisements as "the joy of driving" - to criticize Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm for the auto manufacturer's decision to move its corporate offices out of Michigan . But the GOP misspelled the word, the Detroit Free Press points out . Democrats no doubt took some schadenfreude in the error.

Photo courtesy of Robin Loznak of the Great Falls Tribune Mont. First Dog Jag recently released a children's book about his life.

One of the most popular members of Democratic Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer's administration has written a memoir about his experiences in the state capital, but anyone looking for gossip about Schweitzer is barking up the wrong tree. The author of the book is Schweitzer's best friend - his dog Jag, the Great Falls Tribune finds . The children's book tells Jag's story and educates youngsters about state government, the governor's spokeswoman told the newspaper, declining to reveal the book's true author. As the Tribune notes, however, "Jag probably had help putting his thoughts down on paper."

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D), the chief executive of the nation's least populous state, this week heard about a population explosion there that even the U.S. Census Bureau can't keep up with, the Casper Star-Tribune reports . During a tour of the state, Freudenthal was told by the mayor of Lost Springs , Wyo. , that the smallest incorporated town with a post office in the United States - with an announced population of one resident, according to the Census Bureau - now has three. "Our population has really swollen," Leda Price said, adding that the town is facing a housing shortage.