If you've heard of Tim Walz, and you're not a Minnesotan, there's a good chance that it's because he's the geography teacher-turned-member of Congress whose class experiment seemed to predict the Rwandan genocide.

Now Walz is putting a little bit of that creativity and collaborative thinking to work on Capitol Hill. Last Friday, Walz, who represents Minnesota's 1st District as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, posted online the 98 different applications for earmarks received by his office.

For one week, he's asking the people of his district to help him vet the applications, running the gamut from a "new aerial port facility" for the 934th Airlift Wing, worth $7.7 million, to half a million dollars for dental care for the underserved and uninsured people of southern Minnesota. He's asking that they judge the projects based on accountability, impact, and the level of public support they would receive.

"We cannot fund all of these projects," reads a Walz press release, "so I am counting on southern Minnesotans to take some ownership of the important decisions I will soon be making on their behalf."