Only a month ago, Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman was starting to pull away in his reelection bid for the U.S. Senate. Democratic comedian-turned-politician Al Franken's edgy humor was being made known to unamused Minnesotans.
Aside from the harm the financial crisis has caused nearly all Republicans in competitive congressional races, Coleman has had a particularly bad week of media coverage. On Monday, facing accusations of not reporting Neiman Marcus suits as gifts to the Senate ethics committee, the campaign's initial response only fanned the flames of the controversy.
Then there was the revelation that a NRSC ad portraying Franken as an angry maniac--however angry he may be--was taken out of context. Franken hadn't lost his temper; he was sharing a story about the late Sen. Paul Wellstone cheering on his son David, a cross-country runner, from the sidelines. Franken's campaign is now running an ad playing the clip in context.
Now, with polls showing a Franken lead and a third-party candidate attracting more than 15 percent of Minnesota voters, Coleman has decided to do the only thing any politician determined to win would do. Backed into a corner, he announced this morning that his campaign will be ... going positive.
Said Coleman:
At times like this, politics should not add to negativity - it should lift people up with hope and a confident vision for the future.
And second, I decided that I was not all that interested in returning to Washington for six years based on the judgment of voters that I was not as bad as the other two guys. I want folks to vote for me, not against the other guys.
Maybe Coleman's new strategy will work with the nice people of Minnesota.
