Almanac: At the Capitol

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.

Looking back at the week in politics, the U.S. Senate race was the story. From Jesse Ventura's announcement with Larry King on CNN that he wasn't running to 7 Independence Party members jumping in from former U.S. Senator Dean Barkley and former IP Chair Jack Uldrich. Getting less press is the fact there are also 7 DFLers in this race, most notably Priscilla Lord Faris who is challenging Al Franken. It was a madhouse outside the secretary of state's office for candidate filing.

The other story I'm watching is Pawlenty slipping a bit in the national buzz. The Washington Post moved him down from #1 in the veepstakes for the first time. But the buzz about his hair continues, MSNBC said the shaving of the mullet means he's serious about being VP. We documented the disappearing mullet back in May. MSNBC also says Pawlenty dodged questions about whether he is now being vetted. But our governor's biggest honor has to be making a hilarious viral hit from Jib Jab (notice him tucked into McCain's Straight Talk Express).

One of the Independence Party candidates for U.S. Senate, Jack Uldrich, tried to prove he's going to have a different approach to his campaign. He rolled out a YouTube-inspired web commercial. Uldrich is a smart and thoughtful guy, but this ad may be too smart and too complicated for the web. One young person who saw the ad told me it's too long and confusing.

Jack says he's going to go "viral" and use technology in a different way and if this doesn't work he'll be back with another ad and another ad. He is serious and persistent. When we pointed out that Coleman and Franken are using the web, Facebook and other new technology tools, Uldrich said "the difference is I'm going to address the issues." The former IP chair conceded that Dean Barkley will have better name ID and probably raise more money.

Barkley plans to have commercials actually on television and famous adman Bill Hillsman is already working on ideas. In our interview for Almanac this week Barkley told me next week he will milk more free media hitting greater Minnesota media outlets. And speaking of the IP, the U's Smart Politics has an interesting post on the health of the Independence Party.

The media were there in mass to watch the unpredictable last-minute candidate filings at the secretary of state's office. The Independence Party of Minnesota will have quite the spirited primary with more than half a dozen candidates now in the mix. After Jesse Ventura announced on CNN he wouldn't run, Ventura's close ally Dean Barkley decided to get into the race. Gov. Ventura appointed Barkley to serve 8 days in the U.S. Senate after Sen. Paul Wellstone's death. Barkley said Jesse is "tough act to follow" and it's like "stepping into a big shadow." Barkley pressed that he can get things done and proved it during his short stint in Washington. He said "I'm not there to throw bombs, I can collaborate."

Barkley will be facing former IP Chair Jack Uldrich. Not sure what it says about a party when there's an endorsed candidate being challenged by not just a dozen people, but a former party chair. Uldrich has a good sense of sportmanship in all of this and said the number of candidates is "wonderful for democracy and the Independence Party." He also said he has nothing against Dean Barkley, they just run different campaigns. The author and public speaker plans a viral campaign relying heavily on the internet.

Finally, Al Franken will have a DFL primary opponent as well. Priscilla Lord Faris was the only candidate who had a press release and staff today. Her release says "I am deeply concerned about the direction of the Al Franken candidacy." Faris said her tipping point was Frankens poor showing in the polls, but also "the work done as a comedian may come back to bite him." Faris was the only one at the podium who hadn't done a press conference before and she held up just fine. Her father is a former attorney general and the name has weight. But Franken has more current name ID, money and an endorsement that has more meaning than in the past when DFLers regularly had primary battles. She said she has a ton experience in Minnesota.