Senator Norm Coleman announced he
was suspending all negative advertising. He is now running ads like this one,
featuring the star of his campaign 2002 ads his daughter Sarah. The Sarah ads
were great then and
this one is great now.
But it may be too late. Polls show
Franken narrowly leading the race. And the Star Tribune poll say voters
specifically place more blame on Coleman for the negative tone of the campaign.
This latest ad by Franken is especially devastating, it shows how a clip of a
speech Franken made about the late Senator Paul Wellstone was taken out of
context to make it appear that Franken was angry.
And this week came another painful
moment for the Senator, when campaign manager Cullen Sheehan says 12 times in 3
minutes the “Senator has reported every gift he has ever received.”
Sheehan is
being questioned about whether wealthy contributor Nasser Kazeminy may have
purchased suits for Coleman at Neiman Marcus. Reporters are right to press
Sheehan, that this is clearly a question that deserves a “yes” or “no” answer.
Chris Cizilla who writes the Fix blog for the Washington Post called it “perhaps
the most awkward press conference in the history of politics.”
For those who
haven’t seen the news conference here it is.
Coleman is clearly making the right
move by suspending negative ads. But again I wonder if it is too late. I go back
just three and a half weeks. Coleman was running an ad featuring Al Franken
swearing. It ran during the dinner hour. When I wrote about this ad on my blog,
I got close to 300 responses in two days with the comments running two to one
against Norm Coleman. In case you missed it here it
is.
I told WCCO-TV’s political reporters
Pat Kessler that week, something is going on here in the Senate race. It
certainly was.
There is still time, national
perhaps even international events could reshape the race once again. But right
now the Minnesota race and races around the country
are trending in favor of the democrats. Senator Coleman’s ads haven’t helped
him.
From Andy Barr, Al Franken's Communications
Director
"From the start, our campaign has focused on the change
Minnesota
needs. And we will continue to focus on our competing views of how our country
has gone in the wrong direction, how we can curb the influence of special
interests in Washington,
and how we can get out of the tough economic situation we're now in.
"Given that this week's polls are clearly showing that
Minnesotans are sick of Norm Coleman's campaign of character assassination,
today's stunt rings as a cynical ploy designed to change the subject and avoid
scrutiny of his own record. It's like an arsonist burning down every house in
the village and then asking to be named fire chief.
"It's worth noting that even in his own statement, Norm
Coleman makes it clear that he intends to continue attacking Al Franken. But we
are proud of the campaign we've run, and we will remain focused on talking
about the issues that matter to Minnesota and
the change Al Franken wants to bring to Washington."
