Norm Coleman

A reporter takes on the Fair with pen and camera – and even survives an encounter with a statue of Jesse Ventura

You’ll never be able to find anyone to argue with this fact: We Minnesotans love our State Fair.

And politicians love it more than anyone.

Think about it: You’re running for office. You want to shake as many Minnesota hands and pose for as many photos with Pronto Pup-munching Minnesotans as possible. The logical conclusion: Spend so much time at the fair that your hands become numb and your voice disappears.

This being an election year, you can believe that politicians were thick on the ground Saturday at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, the DFL-endorsed challenger to Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, held court in front of potential constituents for several hours.

“Look at that,” observed a fairgoer, whose Southern accent betrayed her as a non-native (and thus ineligible to vote for Franken anyway). “They’ve got him standing on a box, and he’s still shorter than everyone else.”

In the big DFL booth near the Snelling Avenue entrance to the fairgrounds, enterprising DFL volunteers had supplied a stack of Post-It notes and asked fairgoers to tack up “top reasons to dump Norm Coleman.” Among them: “He’s an empty suit.” “He’s Bush’s friend.” “Because he may think he can rejoin the DFL.” And: “He has a Jersey accent (in Minnesota)!”

Partway up Machinery Hill, Priscilla Lord Faris, the DFLer challenging Franken in the Sept. 9 primary, did some one-on-one campaigning.

“I’ve known her for years,” confided a volunteer in Lord Faris’ booth, watching the candidate chat with a fairgoer and his son. “She’s really a great gal.”

Just a cheese curd’s throw away from Lord Faris’ encampment was a booth with a big sign: “Nader-Gonzalez 2008.”

“Who is Na-dair?” wondered a fairgoer. Told that it was, in fact, perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader, she looked stunned, then embarrassed at her mispronunciation. “He’s running again!” she said.

And still farther up Machinery Hill, supporters of Dean Barkley, who spent two months as a U.S. senator from Minnesota in 2002 after U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone’s death in a plane crash, staffed a booth that was a tribute to pure symbiosis.

Barkley, a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota (formerly the Minnesota Reform Party), made several unsuccessful stabs at national office before gaining political credibility as the man whose guidance turned Jesse “The Body” Ventura into Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1998. Ventura appointed him to fill the remainder of Wellstone’s term in 2002; this year, the former governor is managing Barkley’s campaign for the U.S. Senate as an Independence Party candidate.

And Barkley’s State Fair booth this year is dominated not, as one might expect, by Barkley photos, but by a large fiberglass statue of Ventura. It was a popular attraction Saturday afternoon; fairgoers meandered by and posed for photos beside the statue. (Small dents above the statue’s left eyebrow and on the tip of the nose indicated that someone might have tried a little unsuccessful facial reconstruction.)

A media jackal even made an attempt at fence mending and posed for a photo kissing Ventura’s fiberglass cheek.

Can’t we all just get along?

More photos: Left: Volunteers at the Minnesota GOP booth. Right: a bulletin board set up in the DFL building. Fairgoers could write “reasons to dump Norm Coleman” on Post-It notes and tack them up.

Ron Carey, head of the Minnesota Republican Party, reacted to the nomination of Al Franken in the U.S. Senate race, saying the election will be about Al Franken.

“The joke today is that the DFL has nominated Al Franken,” Carey told reporters. He questioned whether people in Minnesota will want as one of their two senators in Washington someone who writes jokes about rape and bestiality.

Brian Melendez, head of Minnesota’s DFL Party, said, no, the election will be about Norm Coleman and his record in Washington the last six years.

The Republican strategy of trying to make the Coleman-Franken race about Franken is not going to work, Melendez said. “The people of Minnesota are smarter than that.”

In an interview with reporters about 3:30 Saturday afternoon, Melendez said, “What the Republicans are desperately trying to talk about … is anything but what Minnesotans want to talk about.

“Of course the Republicans want to talk about Al Franken, because every one of the issues that are important to Minnesotans the Republicans have failed on.”

“Al Franken will make the campaign about [Norm Coleman], and he will win,” Melendez said.

The party chief, who is also head of the Minnesota State Bar Association, said he and other
DFL leaders had accepted Franken’s “heart-felt apology” for the past satiric writings that some have found offensive – including some Democratic politicians, like U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (DFL-MN4) of St. Paul.

“I’m done with that,” Melendez said. “And he [Al Franken] is right – if he has to keep answering questions about this … the election will be about him. This election is about Norm Coleman.”

Addressing a convention hall in Rochester that had more than a few empty delegate seats, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman tried hard Friday to rouse to action a state Republican Party facing tough odds in an election year that most believe strongly favors Democrats.

With huge video screens reflecting back to the crowd Coleman’s image, dominated by preternaturally white teeth, and stressing how he’s spent 32 years in public service, the senator described how much he loves the job he’s had the last six years and wants for six more.

Without naming Al Franken, his probable opponent in this fall’s election, Coleman emphasized his own long public career, and said, “People don’t want an ideologue or a divider,” they want someone who can get things done. Coleman then outlined some of his accomplishments.

He talked about helping farmers around Lake Bronson in northwest Minnesota get help after devastating floods a few years ago.

“The best ideas don’t come from the Capitol in Washington, but from regular people” like the Lake Bronson farmers.

But Coleman saved the biggest moment for Wyatt Rech, 6, of Montgomery, a little boy battling a rare form of childhood cancer – a Wilms tumor on his kidney.

Holding the boy in his arms, Coleman talked about introducing his Conquering Childhood Cancer Bill, which “has a long way to go to become law.”

But he praised Wyatt and his parents for being crusaders in finding ways to cure childhood cancer.

“Thank Wyatt and his family for their passionate public service,” Coleman urged the applauding crowd.

Coleman went on to say that Americans and Minnesotans are looking for “problem-solvers and not angry sloganeers” – another not-so-veiled reference to Franken.

The senator talked about how Republicans need “to re-establish” their bond with the American people. He quoted Winston Churchill, who told the British people, “When you are going through hell, keep going.”

He urged Republicans to “be straight” with the American people. “We’ve violated the fiscal discipline” that is supposed to be the hallmark of Republicans.

Coleman mentioned the war in Iraq. Trying to distance himself a bit from President Bush, Coleman said, almost defensively, to a few catcalls, “We stuck with a flawed strategy for too long … we failed to see the insurgency coming.”

But he then praised the more recent success of Bush’s surge strategy, describing how he took a walk a few months ago in Falluja without body armor.

“Minnesotans want to see our troops brought home safely without sacrificing” gains made in the war on terror, Coleman said.

In the closing part of his speech, Coleman, the former Democrat, urged his now-fellow Republicans to do “a better job” of emphasizing the “core conservative Republican” values of individual rights, free enterprise, no taxes, protecting life “from conception to natural death” and supporting traditional marriage.

Coleman, 58, delivered a message to DFLers: “Keep your hands out of our pockets.” The crowd applauded.

He outlined his “eight-point action plan.” With the help of Republicans, and, presumably, Norm Coleman, the senator said America must:

1. Grow jobs by cutting taxes.
2. Cut wasteful Washington spending.
3. End our addiction to foreign oil. (He got big applause for this one.)
4. Develop a program for providing health care to more Americans … “without bureaucrats coming between doctors and families.”
5. Win the global economic competition.
6. Protect the environment.
7. Secure our borders.
8. Find peace through strength.

Then Coleman closed with his oft-used illusion to the sun rising in America, echoing Ronald Reagan.

“Some may believe that the sun is not rising in America, but not me and not you – we believe that hope and confidence and optimism ” are the DNA of America.

As Coleman’s speech ended and the crowd stood and applauded, the Chicago song “Feeling Stronger Every Day” began playing.

Dueling House Parties

The real battlefields of the DFL endorsing contest to run against GOP U.S. Senator Norm Coleman are being held in the living rooms of DFL activist homes. In PIM's view, this is a good process: Democrats have the opportunity to judge the candidates up close and personal. We sent Pam Steinle to the front lines, armed with PIM business cards and escorted by her DFL-leaning cousin, Renee Mueller Steinle. What follows are Pam’s observations (not to be confused with scientific comparisons), nonetheless from anecdotal reports we’ve heard elsewhere, she is right on target.

I, a Republican armed with my Politics in Minnesota business cards, rode alongside my undecided cousin, Renee, into delegate hunting grounds. Renee had been conveniently invited to both a Franken and Ciresi meet and greet event, which were located in her neighborhood and a mere week apart. She cleared my presence at both events with the reception hosts: Franken’s December 6 event, hosted by Roann Cramer and David Zimmerman, which was specifically designated as a meet and greet event; and Ciresi’s December 12 reception, hosted by Laurie and Phil Seiff and Kathy and Vince Moccio, that strongly encouraged campaign donations on the invitation.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's (R-Idaho) motion to withdraw his guilty plea will be heard in a Hennepin County District court room this week.

You read it here first: Contrary to conventional wisdom, Craig will win this motion.

I was out of the country and completely unplugged when the Larry Craig story broke. The only U.S. news I saw while I was in Egypt and Jordan were the mimeographed news sheets printed from an international Internet news service that were hung on hotel room doors each morning. Certainly it was amusing to see the men's room at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport achieve international importance. And, certainly the only rational conclusion from these news sheets was that Craig was, of course, guilty of soliciting gay sex in the men's room.

When I returned to Minneapolis, rather than reading the news stories first, I pulled up the motion (PDF) Craig's lawyers had filed to withdraw the guilty plea. And, rather than read the motion, I first read the original source documents (the exhibits):

1. From the report filed by Minneapolis Airport Police Investigative Sergeant Dave Karsnia, we learn that putting your carry on bag in front of you in a bathroom stall is, in and of itself, lewd coduct. Writes Karsnia in his report, "My experience has shown that individuals engaged in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall." [Remember that next time you're in a stall in a bathroom airport...and never mind that there's no other place to put the bag in the stall.]

2. From the transcript of Karsnia's interview with Craig, we learn that Craig was patently offering that if Craig signed a guilty plea, that would be the end of the matter. Said Karsnia, "There'll be a fine. You won't have to explain anything." Further, "[Y]ou're going to have to pay a fine and that will be it. Okay. I don't call the media. I don't do any of that type of crap."

3. From the mailed form Craig used to enter a guilty plea of misdemeanor to a disorderly conduct charge, we learn that Craig circled the "I am not" represented by an attorney choice.

These documents also included discussions of eye contact, hand waving under the stall divider and foot tapping. Maybe all that is a gay code of conduct about which I know nothing. But the acts, themselves, would easily meet Disney's standards for a G-rated movie.

This is the stuff that can derail a U.S. Senate career? You've got to be kidding me.
More below the fold...

Norm Coleman - Senior Senator (R)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Jennifer Mies Lowe
Legislative Director- Lorianne Moss
Communications Director- Tom Steward
State Director- Vicki Tigwell

Government-hosted website: http://coleman.senate.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.colemanforsenate.com/

Washington D.C. Office
320 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5641
Fax: (202) 224-1152
Scheduling: (202) 228-1503

Grand Rapids Office
200 Northbank Center 206B
Northeast 3rd Street
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
Phone: (218) 327-9333
Fax: (218) 327-8637

Mankato Office
12 Civic Center Plaza Suite 2167
Mankato, MN 56001
Phone: (507) 625-6800
Fax: (507) 625-9427

St. Paul Office
2550 University Avenue West Suite 100N
Saint Paul, MN 55114
Phone: (651) 645-0323
Toll Free: (800) 642-0323
Fax: (651) 645-3110

Amy Klobuchar - Junior Senator (DFL)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Sean Richardson
Legislative Director- Shelia Murphy
Communications Director- Ross Corson
State Director- Sara Grewing

Government-hosted website: http://klobuchar.senate.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.amyklobuchar.com/

Washington D.C. Office
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3244
Fax: (202) 228-2186

Minneapolis Office (Fort Snelling)
1 Federal Drive
Whipple Federal Building Suite 298
Fort Snelling, MN 55111
Phone: (612) 727-5220
Fax: (612) 727-5223

Rochester Office

1134 7th Street NW
Rochester, MN 55901

Phone: (507) 288-5321
Fax: (507) 288-2922

Tim Walz - Congressional District 1 (DFL)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Peg McGlinch
Legislative Director- Jeremy Bratt
District Director- Nate Arch
Press Secretary- Meredith Salsbery
Government-hosted website: http://walz.house.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.timwalz.org/

Washington D.C. Office

1529 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2472
Fax: (202) 225-3433

Mankato Office

227 East Main Street Suite 220
Mankato, MN 5590
Phone: (507) 206-0643

Rochester Office

1134 Seventh Street NW
Rochester, MN 55901
Phone: (507) 3882149

John Kline - Congressional District 2 (R)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Steve Sutton
Legislative Director- Jean Hinz
District Director- Mike Osskopp
Press Secretary- Troy Young
Government-hosted website: http://kline.house.gov/
Campaign website:http://www.klineforcongress.org/

Washington D.C. Office
1429 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2271
Fax: (202) 225-2595

Burnsville Office
101 West Burnsville Parkway Suite 201
Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone: (952) 808-1261
Fax: (952) 808-1261

Jim Ramstad - Congressional District 3 (R)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Dean Peterson
Legislative Director- Karin Hope   

District Director- Lance Olson
Press Secretary- Dean Peterson

Government-hosted website: http://www.house.gov/ramstad/
Campaign website: http://www.ramstad.org/
Washington D.C. Office
103 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: (202) 225-2871
Fax: (202) 225-6351

Minnetonka Office
1809 Plymouth Road South Suite 300
Minnetonka, MN 55305
Phone: (952) 738-8000
Fax: (952) 738-9362

Betty McCollum - Congressional District 4 (DFL)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Bill Harper
Legislative Director- Emily Lawrence
District Director- Josh Straka
Communications Director- Bryan Collinsworth

Government-hosted website: http://www.mccollum.house.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.mccollumforcongress.com/

Washington D.C. Office
1714 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6631
Fax: (202) 225-1968

St. Paul Office
165 Western Avenue North Suite 17
St. Paul, MN 55102
Phone: (651) 224-9191
Fax: (651) 224-3056

Keith Ellison - Congressional District 5 (DFL)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Kari Moe   
Legislative Director- Minh Ta     
District Director- Brian Elliot
Press Secretary- Rick Jauert

Government-hosted website: http://ellison.house.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.keithellison.org/

Washington D.C. Office
1130 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4775
Fax: (202) 225-4886

Minneapolis Office
2100 Plymouth Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55411
Phone: (612) 522-1212
Fax: (612) 522-9915

Michele Bachmann - Congressional District 6 (R)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Rich Dunn
Legislative Director- Rich Dunn
District Director- Sean Nienow
Press Secretary- Heidi Frederickson

Government-hosted website:http://bachmann.house.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.michelebachmann.com/

Washington D.C. Office
412 Cannon House Office Building   
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2331
Fax: (202) 225-6475

Woodbury Office
6043 Hudson Road Suite 330
Woodbury, MN 55125
Phone: (651) 731-5400
Fax: (651) 731-6650

Collin Peterson - Congressional District 7 (D)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Mark Brownell
Legislative Director- Robin Goracke
Press Secretary- Allison Myhre

Government-hosted website:http://collinpeterson.house.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.petersonforcongress.com/

Washington D.C. Office
2211 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2165
Fax: (202) 225-1596

Detroit Lakes Office
714 Lake Avenue Suite 107
Detroit Lakes, MN 56501
Phone: (218) 847-5056

Marshall Office
1420 East College Drive SW/WC
Marshall, MN 56258
Phone: (507) 537-2299

Montevideo Office
100 N First St
Montevideo, MN 53265
Phone: (320) 269-8888

Red Lake Falls Office
MN Wheat Growers Office Building
2603 Wheat Drive
Red Lake Falls, MN 56750
Phone: (218) 253-4356

Redwoods Falls Office
230 East 3rd Street
Redwood Falls, MN 56283
Phone: (507) 637-2270

Wilmar Office
320 4th Street SW
Centre Point Mall
Willmar, MN 56201
Phone: (320) 235-1061

Jim Oberstar - Congressional District 8 (DFL)

Senior Staff
Chief of Staff- Bill Richard
Legislative Director- Chip Gardiner
District Director- Jackie Morris
Press Secretary- Mary Kerr

Government-hosted website: http://oberstar.house.gov/
Campaign website: http://www.oberstar.org/

Washington D.C. Office
2365 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 225-6211
Fax: (202) 225-0699

Brainerd Office
Brainerd City Hall
501 Laurel Street
Brainerd, MN 56401
Phone: (218) 828-4400
Fax: (218) 828-1412

Chisholm Office
Chisholm City Hall
316 Lake Street
Chisholm, MN 55719
Phone: (218) 254-5761
Fax: (218) 254-5132

Duluth Office
Duluth Federal Building Room 231
Duluth, MN 55902
Phone: (218) 727-7474
Fax: (218) 727-8270

North Branch Office
38625 14th Avenue Suite 300B
North Branch, MN 55056
Phone: (651) 277-1234
Fax: (651) 277-1235

Wired magazine reported yesterday that CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith matched every one of the millions of 'anonymous edits' on the popular reference website Wikipedia to the organizations where the edits originated. Every anonymous Wiki edit created an IP address record, and he simply matched those IP addresses to available lists of who controls them. He quickly discovered that everyone from the Central Intelligence Agency to the New York Times and the Church of Scientology have anonymously changed entries, generally to quietly promote their respective organizations' agendas and PR interests, or else delete embarrassing material. (You can try Griffith's lookup system yourself!)

The Minnesota angle is that someone on the Fox News Channel computer network (working from IP 12.167.224.228) changed several entries about U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, back when he was hosting a show on the Air America network. Staff at the Franken campaign told PIM, "We are beginning to suspect the Fox News Channel has something of a bias when it comes to Al."

Originally, Franken's entry said:

Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the [[National Public Radio]] program ''[[Fresh Air]]'' on [[September 3]], [[2003]], Franken said that Fox's case against him was "literally laughed out of court" and that "wholly (holy) without merit" is a good characterization of Fox News itself.

The Fox staffer changed it (here's the exact revision):

Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the liberal [[National Public Radio]] program ''[[Fresh Air]]'' on [[September 3]], [[2003]], Franken said that Fox's case against him was the best thing to happen to his book sales.

The Brit Hume Wiki entry once contained:

Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt’s views.

but the same Fox terminal changed it to

Many groups and commentators, including [[Media Matters for America]], and liberal broadcasters [[Al Franken]], and [[Keith Olbermann]], have claimed that Hume distorted Roosevelt’s views in an attempt to ride Mr. Hume’s coat tails in the ratings race as Mr. Hume hosts the highest rated political program on cable television.

More fun stuff below the fold...

In this issue: Cave Canem (Beware of the Dog); Signs of Litigious Times; Park or Pork?; Session Speculation; Paper Essays; Minnesotans Shine in First Ever YouTube Debate; Whomever Laughs Last...; DFLers Taking Sides in Senate Race; Bits and Pieces; Lobbyist Watch.

In this issue: Food For Thought... Or Political Action?; DFL Field in The Sixth; Franken Taps Hollywood... And The Strib; More Minnesota Hoopla; Coleman V. Galloway II?; Bits and Pieces; Lobbyist Watch.

In this issue: Mandernach's Morass: Don't Shoot The Messenger; Parsing Par; Cohen Has The Last Laugh; Sayonara, Steve Sviggum; Sviggum's Seat; Who's On First?; Moonlighter Madness; Bits & Pieces; Setting the Record Straight; Lobbyist Watch.

In this issue: Dead Man Walking? Has Mische Lost His Touch? Two Mayoral Fun Facts; EMILY Goes For Amy; The Email Rush The Day Before The Deadline; No Horsing Around; What Wellstone Would Definitely Have Done; So Much For MAC Flak; Bits From The Blogosphere; Bits & Pieces; Lobbyist Watch; Setting The Record Straight

In this issue: Doing the Sen. shuffle. . .a new dance in the DFL, A New DFLer--as in someone no one knows, and a moderate, Jesse Pawlenty?, R.T. no longer an Internet expert, Drinking, Bits & Pieces..., Lobbyist Watch, The Coming Week In Other Media