Republican Senator Goes 100% Positive in Reelection Campaign
Although Norm Coleman is a sitting Senator for the state of Minnesota, he is running an uphill battle for reelection nonetheless. He is currently trailing his main competitor Al Franken in the polls, and he is seriously harmed by the candidate of the Independent Party, Dean Barkley.
The last week was especially gruesome for Coleman after controversy after controversy erupted. The collapse of the financial markets is, of course, not in his interest either.
The above led Coleman to conclude that this campaign needed a radical change. After having attacked his main rivals for months through negative ads, he announced on Friday that all those negative ads would be pulled from the airwaves and that he would run a 100% positive campaign from now onwards.
Although one might have expected his rivals to celebrate Coleman’s decision, they quite inexplicably criticized him for being hypocritical. Franken called the move “cynical” and “a stunt,” for instance. “From the start, our campaign has focused on the change Minnesota needs,” Franken said. “And we will continue to focus on our competing views of how our country has gone in the wrong direction, how we can curb the influence of special interests in Washington, and how we can get out of the tough economic situation we’re now in.”
Chris Truscott, a spokesman for Dean Barkley, responded agitated as well. “It’s great that Sen. Coleman’s going to respect Minnesotans’ intelligence for the first time in this campaign,” Truscott said. “But it’s an awful lot like trying to unring a bell.” Furthermore, Truscott argued, it was easy for Coleman to say he would only approve positive ads because there are many independent organizations running negative ads on his behalf.
Although many Americans and Minnesotans would undoubtedly celebrate Coleman’s decision if it would have been taken months ago, it seems likely that most will see it for what it is now: an opportunistic ploy.
