Almanac: At the Capitol

Leading my Campaign Notebook for this week, Pawlenty's national press blitz from "Face The Nation" this weekend, to FOX News earlier the week, from the Wall Street Journal story and sketch over the weekend.  We should know within weeks if he's the VP candidate. What will we talk about if he's not?

The Pew poll this week was big news. It's a good poll and details how McCain is picking up steam with older and blue collar voters.  It appears the same tightening of the race is happening here in Minnesota. Smart Politics talks about that and how Pawlenty's approval ratings have suffered in his home state with his visible national ambitions.  We'll have video proof of Obama's campaign in Minnesota trying to shore up this weakness with Walter Mondale and Josie Johnson launching a talking to seniors tour.

Then the Senate race, took another mudslinging turn as Coleman and Franken's campaigns tried to show the press they were more open and it was their opponents who were holding back details on unpaid utility bills and unpaid taxes.  As the Pioneer Press' Rachel Stassen-Berger so beautifully and bluntly asked each campaign yesterday "Don't Minnesotans have to choose between a tax cheat and a rent cheat?"  

Finally, Rep. Mark Olson just doesn't go away.  Instead of working at the local political level, now prominent Republicans are coming out against him from Sen. Norm Coleman to the Senate Republican Caucus who said he isn't welcome.  Assistant Minority Leader Sen. David Hann told me "We don't believe that Mark Olson should be a candidate."  When I said his local party chose to endorse him he said "I respect local endorsements, but we don't have to support their endorsement."

First, the harsh words from the most influential Republican blogger in town, Michael Brodkorb, who said earlier this week "When I heard that Representative Olson had been endorsed, I was sick to my stomach." Now his future potential caucus, Senate Republicans, just issued this statement:

Over the last few years, too many Republican office holders, especially in Washington, were given a free pass for personal misconduct because they “voted right.” We could all recite the names. Well, it’s time we go back to holding people accountable.
 
While we respect our endorsing process in the Republican Party, some things rise far above process and party in terms of importance. The integrity and character of our candidates and elected officials are two of those things.

In Senate District 16, Mark Olson won the endorsement. That said, we are all well aware that Mark Olson’s criminal conviction caused him to be kicked out of the House Republican Caucus as well as cost him the party’s endorsement for his House seat.  

It is our intention that Mark Olson, if elected, would not be welcome as a member of our Senate Republican Caucus. This is not a matter of philosophy; it is a matter of character and personal integrity.

For the past six years, the Senate Republican Caucus and the State of Minnesota have been the beneficiaries of exceptionally strong legislative leadership provided by former Senator Betsy Wergin. We see in Alison Krueger an outstanding alternative candidate who, like Senator Wergin, combines excellent conservative credentials with a high degree of personal integrity and character.  

Accordingly, the Senate Republican Caucus will be throwing its full support behind Alison Krueger and encouraging Republicans in SD 16 to vote for her in the September 9th primary.

Many politicians talk about living green, but it's fun to catch them actually walking the talk — or in this case, biking the talk. I was downtown Minneapolis on my way to interview a high-profile former CEO for another story and I ran into Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Minneapolis) getting on her bike. I know I used to run into her a lot in road races back in the day when we were both faster distance runners. But to see a lawmaker biking downtown to do a little shopping is unusual. Kahn tends towards the unusual, but she says she recently had company downtown Minneapolis when Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller biked to their same meeting downtown. And yes, that's a Talbot's bag she's about to strap to the bike. She didn't walk out of Sak's with a sack :) 

Gov. Pawlenty's national prospects and travels lead my Campaign Notebook this week. The week began with a warm welcome full of autograph seekers at Farmfest and ended with the story and photo on the front page of the New York Times.  

In between the coverage ranges from CNN's bold question to him, "What does the Republican Party just suck at?" to the passionate GOPAC appearance where it's ever more clear that he's modeled himself after a "positive" Reagan image to the solid speech before the National Press Club to the Pioneer Press detailing more than three dozen trips out of state this year.

All I can say about the Senate race this week is it was odd.  First, a former big city mayor Norm Coleman having the crowd on his side at Farmfest to ads that are just getting uglier all the time.  Franken's ad breaks a simple rule of politics, don't pay money to point out your own faults as it mentions the fact he didn't pay taxes in some states (but overpaid in his home state).  

Coleman's ad seems to come pretty close to distorting your opponents image. And it's still August. I was interviewing some undecided independent voters this week who all said they're already sick of the ads and don't even track who's slinging what mud at whom, they said they're just getting a bad taste in their mouths about both candidates.  Faris gets credit for getting on the air. Uldrich makes the mistake of uttering the phrase "I agree with President Bush" don't matter what follows that; it's not a quote that wins an election right now. 

But the bad press move of the week probably goes to Obama in Minnesota. When radio and print reporters are mad and complaining it's not good:

MPR: Some reporters were told that there would not be a media availability before or after the event so imagine the surprise when some in the press corps saw him holding a news conference for a select group of TV stations last night.

PiPress: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is stiffing us folks in the local print media and non-contributors during his campaign stop here today.