Dear Kossacks,

The politics season is truly upon us when we begin hearing that Republicans are push-polling.  Remember that push-polls are different that testing messages.  Message tests tend to be long polls, sometimes with nasty questions.  They are designed to judge your reactions.  Push polls are short and obviously far from factual.  They are intended to push people buttons on wedge issues or push vile rumors into circulation.

Tonight, we have the first evidence that the Norm Coleman campaign has started push polling ...

As I cross path with folks I know or acquaintances, they often express their worry about Al Franken's campaign.  I have been telling them that everything is going fine.  Al is running the exact right kind of race.  He's got a massive volunteer operation, he's running a grassroots campaign, he's raising ****loads of money and he's the right kind of personality to take on Norm Coleman, i.e., a DFLer with some personality.

Reactions vary from "I hope you're rights" to eye rolls to rants about everything they perceive Al to be doing wrong.  I think DFLers expect Al to be leading by 15% like Amy Klobuchar was by this time two years ago.  That's just unrealistic.  Amy was running for an open seat, Al is battling an incumbent Republican Senator with all the advantages that come with it.

So what exactly do I mean when I say Al is running the right kind of campaign?

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) thinks he's dodged the proverbial bullet on his sweetheart apartment deal.  He and his landlord have created a lease after the fact describing how everything is legit, Norm is on the hook for utilities, was only supposed to pay them once per year, etcetera, etcetera.  Doesn't it seem just a wee bit fishy weasely that Norm is performing a little CYA once his apartment deal was publicized?

The Minneapolis Star Tribune allowed Sen. Norm Coleman to excrete some Norm-speak^TM on their op-ed page today.  It seems that Norm has decided to make the Republican lie "Drill Here, Drill Now" a central part of his campaign.

Nothing is more urgent or of greater significance to the American people than solving our energy crisis -- it is an issue that hits to the core of family budgets, our economy and our national security. From my travels across this state, it is clear that Minnesotans are united in the belief that any solution to our nation's energy crisis that doesn't produce a single drop more of oil is half-hearted. And rather than staying in session to address the rising cost of fuel, the U.S. Senate simply allowed time to expire to August adjournment without accomplishing a single thing.
[emphasis mine]
(Star Tribune)

I didn't get to see Norm Coleman's brilliant white teeth glistening in the morning light in Redwood Falls, MN.  I didn't get to watch Al Franken call out Norm for his close ties to President Bush and the corporations that fund his campaign.  I had to work ... ya know pay da billz and all that.  But everyone else was there.  The annual Farm Fest hosted the first MN-SEN forum.

This is solid Republican territory.  At least it used to be.  With fewer and fewer people self-identifying as Republicans in polling, this was the first test of how Al Franken's message would play.  This was also a test of how Norm Coleman's ability to cover his *** for 7 1/2 years of supporting President Bush and the corporations that fund him would go over.

Steve Sarvi was out in Washington DC over the weekend to meet folks, do some interviews and fundraise.  Rep. Jim Oberstar, in particular, held a fundraiser for him with his A list supporters.  With Oberstar and Sen. Amy Klobuchar helping him, he'll hopefully raise the money he needs to take down John Kline in the MN-02 race.  He met with the DCCC, Teamsters and the League of Conservation Voters as well as a slew of interviews.

He returns home with the news that he's hiring a new campaign manager, Brad Foster.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) takes money from anybody.  From Big Oil to Big Polluters to War Profiteers to Big Pharma to indicted, corrupt politicians and their buddies.  Of course, who does Norm represent in the US Senate?  It certainly isn't our interests.  He's a reliable vote for Big Oil, against tougher pollution standards and always votes for the hand-outs to his corporate donors.  We know that Norm isn't particularly interested in rooting out Republican corruption as he has investigated only a few millions worth of the billions lost to corruption in Iraq.  

I don't know about you, but July seemed like a really long month this year.  So much has happened in MN politics in these mere 28 days.  The Minnesota Senate race (MN-SEN) was no exception.  In particular, Sen. Norm Coleman has been liberal with the Norm-speak^TM.  He's stretched the truth, abused the truth, twisted the truth and flat out just plain lied.

Norm.  I'm seriously concerned about your well-being and your family.  I realize you're barely making it financially as a Senator and the stress of your reelection campaign has got to be giving you an ulcer.  It's just not fair that a Senator such as you should be living in the dive basement of a Replubican political operative and yet have to work so hard in such a anti-Replubican reelection environment.

But I have an idea.  You should become a lobbyist.

In Minnesota Democratic politics, everyone knows that the coordinated campaign, which is supposed to get all the campaigns at all levels to work together, usually fails and often miserably.  The saying goes "it's neither coordinated nor a campaign.".  Another older saying goes "I'm not a member of an organized political party, I'm a Democrat."  But that was the past.  In 2008 the campaigns are actually working all together.  It's unheard of.

Americans United for Change are at it again.  Last summer was the Iraq Summer Campaign which targeted Senators like Norm Coleman who have supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq and are up for reelection in 2008.  This summer they've taken it up a notch with the Bush Legacy Tour to remind us of what Norm and Representatives like Michele Bachmann and John Kline really stand for.  

The centerpiece is this enormous bus.  

They gutted the interior of this 45 ft., 28 ton bus and rebuilt it as traveling museum of everything bad that Bush had done to this country.  From Iraq to the multitude of ways he's embarrassed America to torture to global climate change to his incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina to Iraq.  It's all there.

The bus will be traveling to all the states that have vulnerable Senators up for reelection.  We Minnesotans will be graced by its presence more than anywhere else as Norm has been a significant cheerleader and accomplice as well as we're hosting the Republican National Convention in September.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), the Senator you can count on when it doesn't matter, is once again challenging for the title of Republican Champion of Oversight.  This would be the equivalent of world's sharpest spoon, largest shrimp, tallest midget, etc.  He's worked himself up into an a high dudgeon over fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims from dead doctors.

“This is simply unacceptable — making sure that the prescribing doctor is alive before paying a claim should be a no-brainer,” Sen. Norm Coleman, the committee’s ranking Republican said in a statement. “It’s time to close this $100 million loophole.”
(Wall Street Journal)

Norm wants to save American taxpayers 2% of what we spend in Iraq each week.

Where do things stand in the Minnesota Senate (MN-SEN) race?  The latest polls indicate Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) is leading his DFL challenger Al Franken by 10%.  Will Norm's lead hold?  Is it just a temporary bump from all the negative press about Al?  What about the more recent negative revelations about Norm?  Will Obama provide coattails for Al?  What is the significance of the amount of money raised in this race?  What effect will President Bush's unpopularity have on Norm's chances?  How's the fundraising going?  Did I forget anything?  Oh ... yea ... Jesse Ventura.  I analyze his impact on the race here.

The anti-labor, anti-union, anti-worker Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (NAMBLA) are out to get Al Franken.  NAMBLA likes that Norm Coleman is opposed to worker safety, decent benefits and living wage jobs.  Of course, unions are for these things.  NAMBLA want to hinder the union organizers as much as possible.  NAMBLA doesn't like the Employee Free Choice Act (ECFA).  In an orwellian maneuver, NAMBLA is trying to twist the truth and make EFCA into something that would be bad for workers.  As usual with legislation that groups like NAMBLA oppose, the opposite is the truth.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has come under fire for his living arrangements.  In an extensive interview in the National Journal, Norm defended the sweetheart apartment deal he received from Jeff Larson, a Republican activist and fundraiser.  Norm denies any wrongdoing, using Norm-speak^TM to attempt to claim that the apartment is cramped and a crash pad.

Local newspapers are burying this news in their back pages and I haven't checked out the television coverage, yet.

This revelation is going to make life very uncomfortable for Norm.  Especially after the focus has been on Norm's opponent Al Franken's problems for so long.

I'm live-blogging this evening from the prestigious Heritage Foundation Annual Democrat Capitulator Awards in Washington, DC.  Every year conservatives gather to heap praise upon those Democrats who are willing to compromise and work across the aisle with their fellow Republicans.  Of course, the dirty little secret that everyone in the room knows is that conservatives never given in, it's the Democrats always who cave in.

This evening they are honoring Steny Hoyer, the Democrat Majority Leader in the House and Jay Rockefeller, lead Democrat who pushed hardest for Bush and Cheney's FISA bill.  

President Bush's former speech writer Michael Gerson goes on attack on behalf of Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) today.  Gerson is the man responsible for writing the speeches that lied us into the Iraq War.  Now as a journalist, he's been a defender and advocate of all things Republican.  From defending the lies he helped construct to lead us into war to beating the Iran war drum to now defending vulnerable Republicans, Gerson has a prominent location from which to expound ... The Washington Post.

[Updated:  see below]

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) claims to be a Senator who "brings people together to get things done."  I discovered a perfect example of the kind of leader that Norm Coleman is, but it requires a bit of splainin' or back story so that you can understand the entire context in which Norm took this bold stand which I will eventually get to.  I think after I am done explaining, you'll agree with me that Norm is a brave man who takes bold stands based on principles.

Not.