Tag Archive for 'Erik Paulsen'

Bonoff considering another run in CD3

Doug Grow reported this morning in MinnPost:

To date, not a single DFLer has announced intentions to run against Rep. Erik Paulsen, the first-term congressman who has proved to be far more conservative than his predecessor, Jim Ramstad, the consummate moderate in what most believe is a moderate district.

But at least one prominent DFLer, state Sen. Terri Bonoff of Minnetonka, is contemplating getting into the race.

…If she decides to run, Bonoff said that this time, “I’m going all the way.” That means she will not again pledge to abide by party endorsement and will enter a primary if DFLers endorse someone else.

I get the sense that CD3 is going to be a tough battle in 2010. Not insurmountable, but definitely tough. 2008 was our best chance in a long time with the open seat. Now that Paulsen is in Congress, he’s taking a page from John Kline’s playbook — developing a hard-right voting record, but keeping quiet and not causing any controversy. Whoever ends up running in CD3 will have a lot of work to do explaining Paulsen’s record.

Paulsen’s 1st Quarter FEC Report

Erik Paulsen is almost certain to face a top flight challenge in 2010.  Rumor has it State Sen. Terri Bonoff is seriously considering another run.  If she decides to jump in, she would the DFL frontrunner.

Paulsen, however, is not waiting to find out who his opponent will be.  Filings released today reveal that Paulsen raised over $221,000 in the 1st Quarter of 2009. That’s a pretty healthy sum for the first quarter of the cycle during a recession.  His cash on hand is not as impressive - only 190,000.  If a Bonoff or some other DFLer gets into this race sometime in the near future, they should not have much trouble staying at financial parity with Paulsen.

In related news, 4th District Congresswoman Betty McCollum reported raising a little over $100k in the 1st quarter, she has a similar ammount on hand.

New KSTP/SUSA Polls Even More Laughable Than Before

KSTP just aired their exclusive SUSA poll, which of course in the past has been a fantastic display of polling incompetency in Minnesota. This is what they published tonight:

CD6: Bachmann 46, Tinklenberg 45, Anderson 6
CD3: Paulsen 46, Madia 41, Dillon 10
Sen: Coleman 44, Franken 39, Barkley 16
Pres: Obama 49, McCain 46, Other 3

Regular MNpublius readers have seen a lot of polls and SUSA has always been the right-wing outlier. One reason is that SurveyUSA only polls people it knows are likely voters. The problem with that, is that in 2004 for example, over 20% of the electorate voted with the same day registration process. If there is a remotely similar situation this Tuesday, be mindful that SUSA would have not polled any of those people.

Another way to look at this is to compare KSTP/SUSA to other polls. Here’s FiveThirtyEight’s breakdown of recent polls on the presidential race in Minnesota:

So when Survey USA and KSTP say that Obama is only leading by 3, how far off might their polling for Senate, CD3 and CD6?

If you’re interested, dig into the crosstabs: CD3CD6Senate, President. Normally I consider the crosstabs are worthy of further analysis but I don’t feel like bothering digging into a throwaway poll.

UPDATE: Paul Demko at Minnesota Independent points to Nate Silver of The Plank and FiveThirtyEight:

Don’t worry too much about that SurveyUSA result in Minnesota, which shows Obama just 3 points ahead. SurveyUSA’s polling in Minnesota has been very, very weird all year; they’ve never shown Obama with larger than a 6 point lead in their likely voter model, and had McCain ahead in the state as recently as October 1st. SurveyUSA does not have a Republican lean in general, but in Minnesota, it has consistently had a huge one.

Erik Paulsen Rips Off TPT Footage, Gets Legal Action

As if the darkening of Ashwin Madia’s skin in a Republican ad wasn’t enough, Erik Paulsen refused to condemn it. On tape. In fact, he says he hasn’t watched TV since August and says he hasn’t even seen the ad. Erik Paulsen: have you really not seen the ads that are running involving your race? And you really don’t condemn it when your allies darken Madia’s skin in TV ads?

Talking about CD3 ads, I guess the campaign tailspin going on in Eden Prairie right now involves Team Paulsen using footage illegally:

In his most recent television campaign ad Paulsen uses footage of his opponent Ashwin Madia from a TPT show Almanac that aired earlier this month. This ad has appeared on local television outlets, Rep. Paulsen’s website and is posted on YouTube, TPT reports.

From a TPT press release (emphasis mine):

In previous campaigns, we have requested that candidates - Democrats, Independents and Republicans - cease use of similar material, and all have complied…Twin Cities Public Television has sent two formal requests to the Paulsen campaign to remove all TPT footage from their ad; as of today, that request has not been honored.We are therefore issuing this statement, taking appropriate legal action

Way to go, Team Paulsen.

Paulsen’s Environmental Record, What Gives?

Jeff Rosenberg provides good reminder over at MNCR this morning: Erik Paulsen has refused to come clean on his environmental record.  He’s refused to outline even basic positions such as whether he believes in global warming, but his record in the State House shows an anti-environment streak.  Check out MNCR for the full post:

We just can’t be sure whether Erik Paulsen believes in global warming, because he refuses to tell us. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he didn’t: that would be right in line with his horrendous record on the environment. Paulsen consistently votes against bills that would reduce pollutants and emissions that contribute to climate change. He also regularly votes against stronger standards for renewable energy.

The worst part, though, is that Paulsen seems to know that 3rd district voters won’t like his views on the environment. As a seasoned career politician, he knows that he can only win by sweeping his real policies under the rug. He’s no moderate like Jim Ramstad was, but he hopes he can appear like one just long enough to fool you.

The Media on Republicans Altering Madia’s Skin Color

Two days ago, KARE 11 ran their story on how Republicans have darkened Ashwin Madia’s skin color in an ad attacking him. Now a lot of others are digging into this story more:

Daily Kos: MN-03: More Republican Ugliness

Star Tribune: Fun with Photoshop

City Pages: Paulsen campaign accused of darkening Madia’s skin in TV ad

Crooks and Liars: NRCC Darkens Ashwin Madia’s Face In Ads

Wall Street Jorunal: TV Ad Stirs Controversy in Minnesota House Race:

“It might be possible to dismiss these actions as a customary, yet unfortunate aspect of negative advertising,” said Eric S. Fought, associate communications director of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. But he said that he believed viewers would “know what Paulsen and his allies intended with darkening the images of Madia.” The Paulson campaign didn’t return calls.

Paulsen, Bachmann, Coleman Rally With Extremist Partisans

As Erik Paulsen and Norm Coleman strive to present themselves as “moderates,” Eva Young points out that Norm Coleman headlined an “fringe” event with Michele Bachmann.

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger adds:

Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt, conservative radio superstars who Hewitt called the “three tenors of talk,” were in Minneapolis Tuesday night to “Talk the Vote” before a crowd of more than 3,000 cheering supporters at Orchestra Hall.

They were joined by Republican office holders and candidates, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Norm Coleman, Rep. Michele Bachmann, state House Minority Leader Erik Paulsen, who is vying for 3rd District U.S. House seat, and others.

Paul Schmelzer then digs into the trash talk and extreme partisan rhetoric spewed at the event. It’s rather disgusting.

If Paulsen and Coleman are trying to position themselves as the “moderates” they’re not, what made them think it was a good idea to party with the extremists and Michele Bachmann?

Matt Adds: I just wanted to note how unbelievable it is that Coleman feels comfortable appearing onstage with someone that declares, in front of Coleman’s eyes, that equality “is not an American value.”  And that just 2 years ago stated that if Congressman Keith Ellison won’t take his oath of office on a Bible, he shouldn’t be allowed to serve.  Going so far as to say that Ellison taking his oath on the Koran would embolden terrorists… which is, of course, why George Bush’s State Department immediately recruited him for a number of good will tours around the Mid-East.  I expect this of self-proclaimed far-righters like Paulsen and Bachmann, but it is just amazing that someone who has (falsely) claimed that he’s a centrist would dare appear on stage with these moon-bats under a week before the election.  I guess you can’t hide your true colors forever…

SUSA/KSTP CD3 Poll Weird As Ever

Regular readers of MNpublius and other poll watchers know that polls coming from Survey USA and KSTP have consistently leaned to the right. This time, the CD3 poll just got a bit weirder: they decided to change David Dillon to “Other.” While there are a number of ideas why they may have done this, it certainly makes the poll inconsistent compared to previous polls. Joe Bodell takes another look:

That is, SurveyUSA seems to think that the electorate on Tuesday is likely to be 34% Democrats, 32% Republicans, and 30% independent-with-a-small-i. Call me skeptical. Barack Obama at the top of the ticket is carrying heavy coattails going into next week, and the electorate is more likely to be closer to 40% self-identified Democrats than it is to be 34%.

The other number I have a hard time believing in light of all the other polling we’ve seen this year is that just 79% of self-identified Democrats are behind Madia. In an environment in which the Republican brand has been so drastically damaged by corruption, greed, and George W. Bush, Erik Paulsen’s “I’ll be a moderate” message just doesn’t ring true — because it’s not. Using SurveyUSA’s composition numbers, if Madia consolidates about 9% of those 19% SurveyUSA thinks are behind Paulsen or “other”, that would be a nice margin of victory for Madia.

Point being, even though it is a weird poll, Survey USA may have said something that’s likely correct:

The contest is a jump ball at this hour.

In the last few days here, people really need to know who Ashwin Madia (and Erik Paulsen) are and you can help: ContributeVolunteer.

Harassment By Erik Paulsen’s Consultant Spawns Viral Email Protest

MNpublius just forwarded an email (with a very long list of recipients) that has been circulating for awhile today:

We must respond to this misoginistic attack on young women staffers by this blogger who is Erik Paulsen’s paid consultant.  I’m going to ask you to do several things:

1)  Click on this link to understand my outrage. http://www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com/2008/10/26/more-evidence-of-madias-postive-and-uplifting-campaign/

2)  Write xx@paulsenforcongress.com. She is Erik Paulsen’s communications director or call Erik Paulsen at xx@paulsenforcongress.com (952) 934-xxxx

3)  Forward this request to every woman you know who will write in to express her disgust with Paulsen’s campaign and his paid minions.

4)  Keep track of how many people write. Let’s aim for 100 emails before lunch today.

5)  Please email me that you have written to Erik Paulsen.
 
Thank you. 
 
I am approaching every women’s organization I know.  We are powerful. We can make a difference.  We cannot remain silent!

While MNpublius has absolutely nothing to do with this viral email it is not at all surprising that people are outraged and disgusted with the behavior of Paulsen’s highest paid consultant. To be honest though, it would be a lot more effective to tell the media to cover this than it would be to bombard the campaign with emails.

Either way, will Erik Paulsen condemn these actions?

Avista Capital Partners Endorsements For CD3, CD6

Even though I’ve been heavily cynical about the Star Tribune, I did want to note about their endorsements for tomorrow’s paper. David Brauer points out:

In the Sixth, editorialists avoid nuclear outrage by picking Tinklenberg. They weigh in for the first time on you-know-what; Bachmann’s “anti-America” paradigm “adds to the list of bizarre incidents and statements that undercut her credibility as a political leader.”

Even though the Star Tribune has gone far to the right, nobody in their right mind can endorse Bachmann. Interesting though, is that they absolutely destroy Erik Paulsen but cannot bring themselves to endorse Madia so they opt for a “non-endorsement“ instead:

But Paulsen’s endorsement interview was disappointing. His answers on energy, health care and foreign policy lacked depth, detail and vision. Paulsen performed better at debates, but did not make the case that he has the depth needed to be a strong, independent leader in Congress.

Paulsen was a fiscal and social conservative in the Legislature, voting for measures that this newspaper opposed. Why he’s casting himself as a moderate in this race is unclear. His conservative credentials are solid; he should have run on them.

Paulsen is farther right than the Star Tribune and they’re criticizing him for not running on his conservative credentials? They even point out how he’s trying to run as a moderate. While I am not at all surprised by the Star Tribune not endorsing Madia, the fact that they trash Paulsen so badly is rather telling.

Did Ramstad Whisper a Madia Endorsement?

Paul Schmelzer notices Jim Ramstad in the National Review Online saying the election is “going to be a tsunami.” In regards to a large Democratic win in November, Ramstad is likely correct. Schmelzer reads further: (emphasis mine)

Ramstad: “Republicans need to get back to governing from the center. We Republicans need to get away from the addiction to base politics. Karl Rove’s playbook isn’t working anymore.

That line could almost be perceived as an endorsement of the Democratic candidate in Ramstad’s 3rd Congressional District, where DFLer Ashwin Madia, a former Republican, is facing off against Erik Paulsen, who as a 14-year Minnesota legislator has consistently earned high scores from rightwing social conservative groups like Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Minnesota Family Council and the Taxpayer’s League of Minnesota. (Here’s Paulsen’s voting record.)

Not only is the Karl Rove playbook not working for Erik Paulsen, Schmelzer is correct to point out how absolutely unlike Ramstad Paulsen actually is.

Erik Paulsen’s Consultant and Friends Humiliating and Harassing Female DFL Staff

Remember it’s not Norm Coleman’s campaign and the NRSC that’s gone into the gutter of appalling and disgusting attacks: Erik Paulsen’s campaign reached a new low last night when their highest paid consultant, Michael Brodkorb, started defaming female DFL staffers with photos lifted from their personal Flickr accounts and insulting them by juxtaposing their personal photos and real names with cynical and sarcastic notes on how they should “stay classy” and how they’re “embarrassing” the Madia campaign.

Remember, this is the same creep that was stalking and videotaping himself harassing a woman in a Perkins parking lot at night after planting illegally placed signs next to Madia’s office. It’s the same guy who finds exploiting an eight-year-old girl in a negative attack ad “hilarious.”

In his recent set of three posts on Michael Brodkorb’s whisper campaign and MNGOP rumor mill headquarters, Minnesota Democrats Exposed, he “exposes” and links to photos of young women and asks his readers to question what “skinny b*tches for Madia” means to them.

It is unbelievably shameful for the former Communications Director of the MN GOP, the former Research Director for the MN GOP and a consultant to numerous state-wide campaigns to push a story with copied images of young female staffers of his opponent and framing them such a disgusting context.

On Minnesota Democrats Exposed, many times Michael Brodkorb will pose a “simple question” or a very short post while his commenters finish his thought so he doesn’t have to say the words himself. It’s a common way to spread rumors, lies and to frame conversations about a topic. In the recent three separate posts and threads, he fostered the following excerpts of conversation to describe the photographs:

“When did the DFL start pimping their daughters?” “DFL is now DFLP Democrat Farm Labor Pimps” “Do I think their management is pimping them? Yes, Absolutely yes.” “To be clear, the gal at the top of this page is kind of a babe.” “She’s cute. Is she single?” “I wonder. Do you think the Democrat party pays workinggrrlz comp. for it’s staff skanks?” “Madia for Congress: Hiring gorgeous women.” ”The Democrat party, and the Ashtray Madia campaign does not discriminate it’s skankery based upon gender, sexual orientation or fashion sense.” “Word to the wise, fellas: If Democrat skanks, or skinny b*tches for Madia show up at your fraternal orginization, wrap that rascal!”

There’s much worse that I won’t reprint here. Most of it is blatant objectification of DFL staffers and nothing to do with the campaign. Brodkorb even allows linking in the comments where people actively grabbed their own copies of the photos and labelled them such as “madiaskank2.jpg” to share with others. All while the top of the post and the names of some of the images contain the women’s real names.

Michael Brodkorb does not delete these comments and allows them to foster. He even linked his posts to another site that took his lead and took it farther by calling these women “street walkers” and “skanks.”

This disgusting activity by the Paulsen campaign’s consultant should never, ever have a place in Minnesota politics. What happens when these women try to find their next jobs? Will Erik Paulsen condemn this activity from his highest paid consultant or will he let it go like he did with the racist and bigot in the Minnesota House?

The Paulsen campaign should be absolutely ashamed they have allowed themselves to go this low and Erik Paulsen should condemn these actions.

Will Paulsen Condemn Racist and Bigoted Remarks From Other Republicans?

Even though the Erik Paulsen campaign has sure smelled of racism, I’m not going to flat out say that Erik Paulsen is a racist. What I will say, however, is that Erik Paulsen didn’t have a problem not condemning a racist and a bigot.

An ethics complaint was brought by eight representatives against Representative Arlon Lindner after he suggested during a March 10, 2003 House floor speech that gays and lesbians were not persecuted during the Holocaust: “It’s just been recently that anyone’s come out with this idea that homosexuals were persecuted [during World War II] to this extent.  There’s been a lot of rewriting of history.”

Lindner then spewed these disgusting remarks in justification (see video): “What I am trying to prevent is the holocaust of our children getting STDs, AIDS, and various other diseases… If you want to sit around and wait until America becomes another African continent, you do that, but I’m going to do something about it.”

The complaint was referred to the Ethics Committee where it died on a party-line tie vote.

On April 25, 2003, a resolution specifically stated that “Representative Lindner has to date refused to apologize or acknowledge any regret over the statements he has made.” The resolution declared that the House of Representatives “formally condemns the statements made by Representative Lindner.” The resolution instructed the Speaker of the House to remove Representative Lindner as Chairman of the Economic Development and Tourism Division for the remainder of the legislative session. Not a very nasty punishment, really. On a roll call vote, Erik Paulsen voted against the House resolution.

Even worse, during floor debate on the House resolution Paulsen defended Lindner’s comments. Paulsen decided to distribute handouts attacking democrats equating Lindner’s denial of certain aspects of the Holocaust to statements made by democrats regarding meetings between republican House members and african-american youth. Yeah.

Again, I’m not saying Erik Paulsen is a racist or a bigot, but what does it say when he won’t condemn those who are?

If faced with a similar situation in Washington, would Erik Paulsen play by the party line or would he condemn racist and bigoted comments?

New Madia Ad

Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but Madia has a new ad out (via MNCR):

Sound the Alarm! GOP Shifts Focus to 3rd; Spending Over $1 Million Through Election [Updated x2]

You know how we just noted with much fanfare that the NRCC is pulling their ads out of the 6th? Well, turns out now is not time for celebration because they, and the rest of the GOP, is refocusing just south of the 6th in the 3rd. In other words, the GOP is throwing all their resources at the 3rd in order to buy this race.

[UPDATE 2: The MN GOP buy is not just $110K, it’s $250K. And now that I think about it, where is all the money Ramstad has in his campaign coffers? To the best of my knowledge he has around a half million that he can’t do much with now, where’s that going? Maybe with all this money Paulsen can afford to buy his first positive ad…]

Polinaut just broke the news that the MN GOP is buying $110K $250K in ads next week for Erik Paulsen… $110,000 $250,000!!  But wait, it gets worse, the NRCC has 5 buys (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) for over $390K from yesterday through 28th… $390,375!!!!!  But you’re saying, “well, at least they’re stopping shy of election day.”  Hold on, it gets worse!  Erik Paulsen’s campaign itself is chipping in a cool $275K for ad buys up to November 4th… $275,000!!!  Does your head hurt yet?  Just wait, it gets worse!  Between the 28th and the 4th of November, the RNCC, hold your breath for this one, is spending $305K over 5 different buys… $305,225!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (my head is exploding).

Without even factoring in the radio buys that the GOP and other Republican interest groups are running in the 3rd as we speak, the above brings the total for GOP major-player (sate party, NRCC, and Paulsen) ad buys to WELL over $1,000,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Republicans are trying to buy this race from us.  They’ve seen Madia working his butt off and they’ve been unable to sell Erik Paulsen on his record, so they’ve turned to the last ditch option the GOP always turns to: break out the big-bucks and attack, attack, attack!  They’ve said he isn’t “one of us” (and we all know what they means), they’ve called him a traitor because of his “Discipline” ad, and Erik Paulsen even calls him a liar in all his TV ads (which, I might add, got a D rating by KSTP).

This race is in our grasp, but we can’t lie down and let the GOP swoop in and steal this one from us so close to the finish line.  Ashwin is being out-spent in this race now and he needs our help. Help Ash fight back!  Help us turn this red district blue!  Help us beat these faceless GOP forces!  Donate.  If there was ever a time, it’s now.

Added by Sean: I bumped this over Zack’s post because it deserves to be.

Added by Matt: I bumped this over Aaron’s post about the new Franken ads (they are really awesome though).