Coleman fundraising invokes fellow party-switcher Specter

Fellow party-switcher Sen. Arlen Specter essentially reneged his support for Norm Coleman in the ongoing battle for Minnesota’s second Senate seat, but that didn’t stop Coleman from invoking Specter’s name in a new fundraising appeal. Meanwhile, on his birthday, Al Franken’s campaign is doing fundraising of its own.Coleman — who started out his political life as a Democrat, even “proudly proclaim[ing]” his support for Bill Clinton in 1996, before becoming a Republican — states in a new direct-mail appeal that Specter’s recent change of ID from R to D makes the outcome of the Minnesota Senate race even more important. The Pennsylvania senator’s switch means Democrats are one vote away from a “filibuster-proof liberal majority” and “total, complete, unchecked power,” Roll Call reports (subscription only).

“The stakes have never been this high,” Coleman writes. “Our ability to overturn this flawed recount process — and preserve checks and balances against the near total control of our government by [President Barack] Obama and the Democrats — rests in your hands.”

Funds raised will go toward Coleman’s ongoing legal challenge in the still disputed 2008 race against Al Franken.

Franken, too, is fundraising. It’s his 58th birthday today, and his daughter Thomasin has sent out emails asking for $58 donations. Last year, her appeal for $57 donations yielded more than $20,000.

“Remember last year when I told you that finding the right gift for dad can be tricky?” she wrote. “Well this year, it’s not really tricky at all.”