Franken catching a break on media coverage, for now

DFL Senate hopeful Al Franken may be catching a timely break when it comes to the recent revelation of the candidate’s unpaid back taxes. With the clock ticking on the legislative session, the fast action at the state Capitol has many in the media maintaining focus on lawmakers and less on Franken’s woes. TPT’s incomparable Mary Lahammer reveals as much in a blog post from Monday:

Many of us in the Capitol press corps haven’t had the time or space to fully cover Al Franken’s financial problems. The reporters who are most likely to cover politics are based in the Capitol and we’re heading into crunch time at the Capitol with less than three weeks now for lawmakers to pass bills. Capitol policy usually trumps politics for us.

Continued: Click “Read more” Lahammer asked Minnesota Republican Party Chair Ron Carey if the Minnesota GOP hadn’t blown an opportunity by not sitting on some of this information until after the legislative session.

What I was surprised at was that so much of this information is coming out during a legislative session. Republicans would have likely gotten more ink or airtime after session when there are fewer demands on our time. We’re often covering several events simultaneously and there’s a lot of news to choose from. In one of his many Capitol visits lately, I talked to Republican Party Chair Ron Carey about this today. He said the timing isn’t strategic, he’s just revealing the information as they’re uncovering it.

“Revealing the information as they uncover it” may suggest the Republican Party feels confident that they have enough ammunition to use against Franken all the way until November. However, if this is as bad as it gets for Franken, time may be on his side.