The GOP’s attack on Madia’s ‘lifestyle’: Gay-baiting by any other name…

While Republican Party representatives took heat this week for claiming in fliers that DFL candidate Ashwin Madia had the “wrong demographics” to serve the people of the 3rd Congressional District, they got off lightly with respect to the not-so-veiled undercurrent in their attack on Madia’s “lifestyle.” By larding in mentions of Madia’s household (he’s a renter, not an owner) and his hobbies (he’s not a soccer coach), the tacit insinuation that Madia must be gay is made easier to politely ignore. But it appears to be the real payload behind GOP efforts to point out Madia’s purported, um, difference from the stolid homesteaders of the 3rd District.

New Paulsen ad: ‘Madia lies a lot’

Three things happened Tuesday in the race for Minnesota’s 3rd District congressional seat: News broke that the National Republican Congressional Committee had canceled ad buys for state Rep. Erik Paulsen’s campaign. The seat’s current occupant,…

MnIndy Video: Emanuel lauds Madia; Ramstad assails ‘gutter politics’

U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., came to the Twin Cities today to support DFL congressional candidate Ashwin Madia in his bid to replace retiring Republican 3rd District U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad. Emanuel lavished praise on Madia as the sort of practical politician who would be welcomed in the House Democratic caucus, which Emanuel leads. Both are sons of immigrants, with names that not everyone can spell, who in the course of their congressional campaigns have been called “carpetbagger.” In a separate press conference across town today, Ramstad himself assailed Madia and Democratic groups supporting him for engaging in “gutter politics.”

MnIndy video and more after the jump.

Strategic shift for GOP? NRCC pulls TV ads for Paulsen, buys time for Bachmann

The National Republican Congressional Committee has scaled back its TV ad buys in the Twin Cities metro for Republican Erik Paulsen, who is running in a tight race with DFLer Ashwin Madia, MPR’s Polinaut reports. At the same time, the NRCC is buying ads for Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann who faces a challenge from Elwyn Tinklenberg.

Dem poll puts Madia up by five in 3rd Congressional District

DFLer Ashwin Madia holds a five-point lead over Republican state Rep. Erik Paulsen in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District race, according to results of a new poll released Monday by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). It’s a sizable swing from Paulsen’s three-point lead in an independent poll six weeks ago. But as in that survey, the difference in Monday’s results between the leading candidates — Madia with 44 percent to Paulsen’s 39 — is within the poll’s percent margin of error. More after the jump, including a Republican ad retreat; courting business; and dueling national endorsements.

Who’ll stop the rain of negative attacks in 3rd CD? No one, apparently

On WCCO-TV Sunday, State Rep. Erik Paulsen spoke for the first time on Republican claims that DFLer Ashwin Madia is less qualified for the state’s 3rd district U.S. House seat because he’s not a father, rents, and doesn’t fit the district’s “demographic.” Asked if he would condemn the line of attack, Paulsen dodged the question — without acknowledging his campaign’s role in rolling out the personal slams. More after the jump, including videos of WCCO’s interviews with all three candidates.

3rd CD: Box office not boffo so debate’s off; Madia OKs new bailout

Seventy million tune in a political debate — albeit one with “Hee Haw” appeal — but the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce has to cancel a debate in the hot 3rd district congressional race due to poor ticket sales? Plus: CQPolitics says the race to the center is a tossup while a blogger tips towards Paulsen, Madia says he’d vote for the new bailout, and three business groups that apparently don’t buy debate tickets endorse Paulsen.

MnIndy video: Madia talks economy, opponent’s attacks in Wednesday news conference

Here’s five minutes of video from a press conference held today by Ashwin Madia, DFL candidate for U.S. Congress in Minnesota’s 3rd district. In this clip, Madia addresses the economy; Republican characterizations of his background as less well suited to the district than that of his opponent, state Rep. Erik Paulsen; ads by outside groups attacking Paulsen that have been called inaccurate; and an incident in which a Madia campaign volunteer removed Paulsen signs from a public right-of-way. Also: six-minute clip of GOP response.

Madia calls Paulsen’s personal slams ‘bizarre’

At a Wednesday news conference, DFL 3rd District congressional candidate Ashwin Madia, pledging to push a positive message on the economy and steer clear of negative attacks, said he would have voted for the bailout bill the U.S. House of Representatives rejected Monday — if inaction were the alternative. But he added that any bailout must include both guaranteed relief for middle-class homeowners facing foreclosure and oversight from outside the U.S. Department of Treasury. He also called a new line of attack by allies of Republican state Sen. Erik Paulsen’s campaign — focusing on Madia as an unmarried non-homeowner uninvolved in youth soccer — “bizarre.”

3rd District update: Madia ad swats back, Paulsen plays bachelor card, KSTP gives DCCC mailings an ‘F’

The knives are out in the 3rd District congressional race. A new Ashwin Madia attack ad answers Sen. Erik Paulsen’s, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee mailing reaches with a strip-club charge, and a Paulsen stand-in plays up Madia’s marital and residential status (single, renter) and calls him “carpetbagger.”