While the Minnesota Independent and The UpTake were barred entry from Sen. Norm Coleman’s “press availability” today, Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman made it inside and gave The UpTake’s Chuck Olsen first word about what went on. Sen. Coleman said he’ll no longer run negative attack ads, but the topic of who’s buying his suits didn’t come up in questioning.

Asked about independent media being kicked out of today’s press conference, he said, “It’s interesting that politicians and public officials may resent these citizen journalists and self-described journalists. … I don’t really get the distinction that was being made, except that politicians on the defensive in a time of crisis like this may just want to make it as simple as possible and cut out the people they feel are ‘partisan.’ But that’s a two-edged sword because a lot of the politicians and public officials may have their own partisan citizen journalists and bloggers who are taking their side. … I guess once you do that, then it’s fair game.”