With Norm’s approval ratings in free-fall and his fundraising efforts consistently coming up short of Al Franken’s (a candidate that the GOP has written off as a joke more than once) despite having huge money injections from big pharma and corporate PACs, Normy’s bringing in the big guns later this month.
Yes, we already know the details from the AP:
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman’s 2008 challengers are relentlessly hammering him on his ties to a struggling-in-the-polls President Bush. Coleman is about to give them more ammunition.
Bush will be the featured guest at a Coleman fundraiser Aug. 21 in Eden Prairie, a Minneapolis suburb, according to an invitation The Associated Press obtained Wednesday and confirmed with a spokeswoman for the hosts. [AP, 8/1/07]
We have also obtained a copy of the invitation to the event and while I’ve been sitting on it for a bit, I think we’re getting close enough to the event to take another look.
You can click on the above thumbnails to get a full view of the invitation (left) and the rsvp form (right). The invite is fairly straightforward. It confirms the date (August 21st), location (6641 Beach Rd, Eden Prairie MN at the home of William and Tani Austin), and times (doors open at 2:30, close at 3:15, and the reception begins at 4:15). Like I said, straightforward.
The RSVP note is a bit more interesting. You need a base-level donation of at least $1000 per person to get in the door but (thankfully) you can ratchet up to the “co-host” or “host” levels for a respective $10,000 or $14,600 a couple (what a steal!). Now, at those levels you have the choice of simply giving the 10 or 14.6K or raising it from a group of other donors. I’m sure the Coleman prefers the second option as they can only legally take $4600 of any donation after which the rest goes to the state GOP (which will then be used for Coleman anyway… woo-hoo campaign finance laws!).
So, while Norm Coleman makes himself further indebted to the wonderfully popular President and shmoozes with the local millionaires that can afford to shell out $1K for a 2 hour event at the home of the CEO of Starkey Laboratories who has given over $250K to GOP parties and candidates over the last five years, Al Franken will be attending a picnic and a women’s potluck… Who do you think will do a better job of honestly representing the people of Minnesota, the guy who owes the President and a handful of individuals hundreds of thousands of dollars, or the guy who took time out of his day to sit down with everyday Minnesotans over hot-dish and potato salad?
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“Bush gazed around the diamond-studded $800-a-plate crowd and commented on the wealth on display.
“This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores,” quipped the GOP standard-bearer. “Some people call you the elites; I call you my base.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/10/18/politics/main242210.shtml
Back then a “diamond studded” crowd was only $800 a plate. Bush’s base can afford a lot more now, apparently, for some reason.
The money raised will help pay the immense cost of negative ads on TV. Remember that every time you see a Republican negative ad on TV or hear one on the radio over the next year.
More money can be raised at the $25, $50, $100 donations and above if one is feeling generous at a DFL fundraiser where more people are likely to attend, than charging a minimum $1,000 at the Door at GOP fundraisers, where just a few show up.
It goes to show that Al would rather hang out with the nitty gritty, down to earth people(more of them anyway), than the Coorporate Crowd that Norm seems to identify with.
Al Franken may be a Millionaire himself many times over, but he wears and puts on his jeans one leg at a time like everyone else does. I wonder how norm puts his on?
Kathy,
Norm coldly puts on his trousers with no compassion or conscience.
While I completely agree with Nitro I think Kathy stretches the truth with her assessment of Franken. Getting funding from slightly more diverse sources than Norm doesn’t make him an everyman. No matter what you think of his policy ideas he is an awfully rich person who made more money by far than any other radio host with his ratings while helping manage Air America into bankruptcy and laying many people off. Kinda like many of the executives many that will vote for him rail against. He moved to the state primarily to run for Senate, not because he felt such a connection with the locals. He also does a good amount of fund raising from the very wealthy from both Minnesota and California.
Also to straighten out the math a bit. If Norm get 100 paying attendees and 4-6 “host” types he would raise about $150,000. A person would need to get 3000 people each to pay $50 to raise the same amount. Not exactly an easy thing to accomplish.
Matt,
I’m curious why your criticism of Norm Coleman’s fundraising plans involved multiple references to his opponent being Al Franken.
Are Mike Ciresi and Jim Cohen (and, maybe, Peter Agre) no longer legitimate?
Norm’s face on Bush’s head. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/jhuth/Norm-W-Bush.jpg
Oh Puh-Leeze!
Would you really want to us to refer back to this post the next time Picknic-Al decides to go to LA to have a Hollywood Party to scoop up checks from your every day hard workin, church goin, green jello-makin leftwing movie star nutbags?
Check out the folks who give to Al’s “Midwest Values” Pac. They are not from the Midwest, and they sure as heck don’t share my values. http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/pdfStorage/2006/CampFin/YE/40950.pdf
Norm Coleman PAC’s 2005-2006 with links to PAC info. http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/fec/?id=130476&cycle=2005-2006
“go to LA to have a Hollywood Party to scoop up checks from your every day hard workin, church goin, green jello-makin leftwing movie star nutbags?”
Um, does this include Norm’s wife, Laurie???
“Check out the folks who give to Al’s “Midwest Values” Pac. They are not from the Midwest, and they sure as heck don’t share my values.”
My guess is you don’t know a damn thing about Sally Luther from Poughkeepsie, NY - much less anything about her values - so that would be a big lie you just told.
Also, I see quite a few from Minneapolis, Hastings, Edina, and St. Paul. When did they move those cities out of the Midwest?? It’s another lie to say these folks “are not from the Midwest”.
I’ll bet you just hate it when the world isn’t black and white.
Ok. I know Jimmi Smits and he is a very cool actor. I really liked him in LA Law. Barbara Streisand…like butta..Love Babs. Where’s Meathead? Just not really the green jello $20 bucks a pop midwest values contributors.
Correct my math if you like, But i count about $18,500 from Minnesota in total of the hundred grand distributed. That includes Als kids (one who works in NY), a Dayton, a Seiben and a former Governor.
Would you like me to go through and compare that to the two cities of LA and NY? Maybe these folks truly pine for the Minnesota sunrises over the cornstalks and the white fences of Stearns County. What do I know? It just seems like kinda these folks are wealthy entertainment and political professionals.
Let’s look at where the money went. That’s even more telling.
Hey, you guys decided to go here, so let’s go.
This whole idea of the President or Coleman not caring about the regular guy is pretty crazy. I’ve been privileged to be invited to (and attend) two White House Christmas parties with the President and Laura Bush and have met him at Air Force One, and at other places — and I’ve never given over $100 to any political candidate in my life. The last time I went to the White House, I took my mom as my guest and the President kissed her & Laura gave her a hug. My mom and dad aren’t fat cats either.
Where the money comes from is a completely valid topic for both Norm and Al. We are giving these guys the power to collect taxes and approve war it would be nice to know who feels they would benefit enough to give money. It is also funny to watch their supporters defend them long after logic has been exhausted.
Chris - the President KISSED her?? eeeeuuuwww. I’ll bet Michelle was jealous.
Why won’t Republicans talk about Norm’s wife who hangs out in Hollywood? Does she have evil liberal Hollywood values too, just because she lives there??? The purple dog seems to think that anyone with a CA or NY address can’t possibly be a decent person.
My sense is that if someone in another state shares my values (anti-war, pro-choice, etc.), then I don’t care if he/she gives my candidate money if it helps him get elected. In the long run and on the national stage, we (CA, NY, MN) want many of the same things.
abc,
Don’t be gross. Bachmann wasn’t even there, thank you very much.
As for the rest of your post, you’re right that there is a values fight in this country. I happen to oppose most of your values as you oppose mine. I personally wish people in Hollywood would shut up and sing or shut up and act. Barbra Streisand doesn’t know any more than any other person just because she is a highly paid actress and singer.
abc:
“My sense is that if someone in another state shares my values (anti-war, pro-choice, etc.), then I don’t care if he/she gives my candidate money ”
If Franken would have named his PAC “anti-war, Pro-Choice PAC” I would agree. Fact is, he is a poser. He wants to be the guy in the Wranglers in the church basement. He tries to be, but those doggone voters are too smart. Minnesotans can spot a poser a mile away.
Coleman is not trying to be the guy in the church basement pretending to have made a green jello salad. He is their senator. A guy who is competant and who can produce real product.
abc,
The question isn’t only about abortion or the war since any Democrat nominated from this state will share your values there. The question is what happens if AL is on a committee or has to make a vote dealing with a transportation funding formula or other such thing. Will he work for Minnesota or does he work for California and New York? It is the same question we should ask of Norm and his funding.
Only in the liberal blogosphere is a fundraising effort that builds a $2,000,000 lead labeled “consistently coming up short.” Ridiculous.
“Barbra Streisand doesn’t know any more than any other person just because she is a highly paid actress and singer.”
Substitute “Bill Cooper” for “Barbra Streisand” and “banker” for “actress and singer.” No, celebrity and wealth don’t give you any special insight into anything. These are, however, the people who are able to garner the most attention in our media-saturated world. I’m sure there are people out there who made their decisions on issues based on what Babs said, just as there were people who voteed for a certain former Governor because they thought it would be cool to have a wrestler lead state government. That is democracy in action in the 21st century.
I like the way Michael wrote out $2,000,000 instead of saying 2 million. It looks a lot bigger that way, doesn’t it? He should have said $2,000,000.00 - even more zeros!
First of all Nitro, this is not the Mark Kennedy campaign, you cannot just splice stories to make them appear different than they are, you are an idiot, you know that comment was a joke.
Second of all, give me a break, it would be the same way if John Kerry were president. He would be swinging in all over the place and raising money from, gasp, CEO’s and executives who happen to hold more liberal points of view. Oh my, what a scandal this is brewing into!
gopgal
That joke sure was funny! They laugh all the way to the bank.
I wonder if Michael had his pinky in his mouth as he was typing $2,000,000.
Chris - don’t be gross - and mention BACHMANN!
She’s a laughing stock - Katherine Harris on drugs.