A flashpoint in the 3rd Congressional District mini-debate on TPT’s Almanac program Friday (video) was Republican candidate Erik Paulsen’s charge that DFL candidate Ashwin Madia has illegally coordinated his campaign with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an independent group. Madia denied it and challenged Paulsen for proof. State Rep. Paulsen produced from his breast pocket a Madia campaign press release, which he said mirrored “exactly almost word-for-word” the DCCC’s own ads.

Read a transcription of the heated exchange after the jump. Also, see the Madia press release — and the DCCC’s own press release that predated Madia’s by a month and a half.

Here’s a transcription of the exchange between Paulsen and Madia on TPT:

PAULSEN: I’ll tell you, he is coordinating his attacks with the DCCC, and that’s wrong.

MADIA: Erik, that’s a strong allegation, and I hope you have some proof of that because that’s absolutely untrue. [On camera, Paulsen begins to pull out a piece of paper from his breast pocket.] What I’d say is, the allegations that you made against me, about, you know — the entire negative campaign that you’re running — you want to talk about phone calls [to independent groups asking them to stop running negative ads], you ought to call your campaign manager and tell him to pull those negative ads if that’s what you want.

TPT’S ERIC ESKOLA: Is there something in the ads you want to set the record straight on?

MADIA: No, I’m going to keep focused on the economy and the people in the 3rd district and getting this nation moving again –

TPT’S MARY LAHAMMER: Okay, Rep. Paulsen, you have something dramatic it looks like you want to –

PAULSEN: I just want to say I have a press release that came right out of the Madia campaign that exactly mirrors the exact DCCC ad they’re running against me to smear my record. Exactly, almost word for word. And so there is coordination. A phone call can be made.

LAHAMMER: And you’re denying these allegations because that’s not allowed, as we know. Right? [Unintelligible: You know(?)] the law.

MADIA: Absolutely. On the one hand, it’s funny he’s telling me to pick ‘em [the phone] up and call them. On the other hand, he’s accusing me of breaking the law. Look, the truth is, of course there’s no coordination. Absolutely not. And I hope you have more than a press release to back that up, Erik, because that’s a very strong allegation.

PAULSEN: It’s got your communication director’s name right on it.

Paulsen’s charge is indeed serious: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s election campaign paid a $100,000 fine for coordinating with an independent group in 2002.

Here’s the Sept. 15 Madia for Congress press release that Minnesota Public Radio’s Curtis Gilbert dug up, which Paulsen presented Friday on TPT as evidence of the Madia campaign’s alleged coordination with DCCC ads. And here’s a July 31 DCCC press release in which the DCCC appears to have itself first raised the charges that it repeated in ads mailed to voters in late September, according to KSTP-TV, which gave the ads an “F.”

The two releases do share identical phrases and even sentences, but whether that constitutes coordination is another question. Both cite as a source the same July 22, 2008, report attributed to National Public Radio (NPR) report — which seems actually to have appeared on NPR rival American Public Media’s “Marketplace” program (relevant part starts at about 24:00):

Watch Olsen’s video of the incident here. Larger video here.