Campaign ads

Ward One, in Minneapolis’ northeast corner, has an open city council seat for the first time in a dozen years. It’s a fresh beginning for the ward as voters prepare to rank favorites among five newcomers: a DFL Party endorsee, a DFL challenger and three independents. But a trio of veterans who held the seat going back to the early 1960s — when councilmembers were called assemblymen — still hovers over the race.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty announces the launch of his Freedom First political action committee today. He’ll surely repeat, as he’s been telling everyone, that the PAC is not about him and his pursuit of the presidency. But the website for his new PAC suggests otherwise, starting with the web address that gets you there: timpawlenty.com.

A letter from former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman soliciting money for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is printed on letterhead with images of not one but two U.S. Capitol domes and the heading “Senator Norm Coleman.” It’s customary to retain an honorific like “Senator” after leaving office, but the title carries extra zing coming from a [...]

Someone alert the Republican Party of Minnesota: A campaign sign for St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has sprouted in the grass outside Minneapolis’ South High School.

“Don’t let them Palinize me!’ cries the subject line of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s email to supporters today. Laying claim to the Sean Hannity–bestowed title of “second most hated Republican woman,” Bachmann makes a pitch for cash: “With Governor Palin taking a well-deserved step out of the spotlight, it appears that I may be absorbing [...]

The Republican Party of Minnesota and the Republican National Committee released a pair of ads on Tuesday attacking Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson on health care reform. The spots spoof the ubiquitous television ads for prescription medications using a fake drug, “Reforma.” They’re not new, having been around since July, but this is the [...]

Chris Coleman is running for elected office, as evidenced by red and blue signs all over St. Paul with his name emblazoned on them. But what’s missing from those signs? Any indication of exactly what office it might be that he’s seeking.

When Tarryl Clark jumped into the fray to unseat U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann last week, her YouTube announcement showed the Democratic state senator from shoulders up, standing on Anoka’s Main Street. Also highlighted in the video: someone else’s phone number.

First, U.S. Sen. Al Franken wouldn’t stand to meet billionaire T. Boone Pickens. Then he got into it with the latter-day domestic-energy guru — “a lively conversation” were Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh’s words — over Pickens having paid for “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” ads against Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign. Unseemly [...]

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Friday it’s produced an ad campaign taking aim at seven vulnerable Republican House members over health care reform. Radio ads in Minnesota, the only state where the DCCC is targeting more than one district, will criticize Reps. Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen for accepting campaign contributions from the health [...]