Democratic Rep. Tim Walz released his last ad of the election cycle Wednesday afternoon with a straightforward-seeming piece that serves several functions. It leaves voters with a final upbeat view of the incumbent; presents his regular-guy cred while underscoring his bio (“I’ve been a lot of things in my life: football coach, soldier, teacher, dad. But I’m not a career politician.”), informs voters about election day and polling place hours, and runs down a list of his endorsements and accomplishments. It ends with a direct appeal: “I’d be honored to have your vote.”

In a statement, Walz implies that the ad is a response to attack ads run on behalf of his challenger, GOP-endorsed Randy Demmer. The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent nearly $530,000 on anti-Walz efforts in the district, including two ads (here and here).

Walz’s campaign wouldn’t reveal the size of the media buy for the ad, but said the commercial will be airing in Mankato and Rochester.

“Shady outside groups have spent a lot of money saying some pretty nasty things about me during this election. Southern Minnesotans know the truth. They know I’m fighting for them and I am honored by their support,” Walz said. “I truly believe our best days are ahead,” Walz concluded. “The American, can-do spirit is alive and well in southern Minnesota.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is out with a new negative ad against Democratic Rep. Tim Walz. The commercial ties the 1st Congressional District incumbent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and attacks him for the level of national spending during the recession. “Nancy Pelosi and Tim Walz are making it worse. With a national energy tax that would hit farmer, small businesses and seniors hard,” the ad’s narrator states, referring to Walz’s vote in favor of cap-and-trade legislation.

The NRCC has invested over $527,000 opposing Walz since Oct. 8. The seat had previously been viewed as a safe spot for Democrats, but both national committees have turned their attention to the seat.

Ben Smith of the Politico reports that the DNC won’t be paying for media to carry that message — yet — but will begin by sending messages to constituents who are on the Obama campaign email list.

Paulsen may have had in mind preempting such an attack when he released a statement via YouTube about his “no” vote within minutes of having cast it Saturday night.

Paulsen was one of seven GOP lawmakers targeted by a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad campaign over health care last summer. (Another of those seven, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, cast the sole Republican vote in favor of the pending bill.)

The National Republican Congressional Committee earlier put Paulsen on its own list of vulnerable Republicans in Congress.

Paulsen’s latest campaign-finance reports show he raised nearly $1 million this year. Democratic challengers to the first-term Republican are only beginning to emerge.

Photo: ESPN

One-time University of Minnesota football coach Lou Holtz now says he’s not mulling a run for Congress in Florida, as reported. If so, he’d be keeping a promise made in 1983 to the late Rudy Perpich, then governor of Minnesota, on WCCO-AM: “I assure you, I will have nothing to do with politics.”

Holtz had just taken the coaching job at the U of M at the time, and he was trying to live down appearances he had made in campaign ads for Sen. Jesse Helms, whose latest exploits then included filibustering a national holiday for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In two seasons, Holtz led the Golden Gophers to a 10-12 record, en route to more illustrious coaching gigs, including the University of Notre Dame.

Lending credence to the idea that he at least was interested in challenging first-term Democrat U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas are meetings he had on the topic with Republican leaders in Washington, D.C., last week — not to mention his three donations of $500 each to the National Republican Congressional Committee in June.

Indeed, Holtz’s campaign donation history indicates that he strongly favors the right side of the political field — although his donations last year included $2,300 to Hillary Clinton in March. Holtz also gave then-fellow-71-year-old Sen. John McCain $1,000 in May.

Something he said as a TV sports commentator last fall in praise of Adolf Hitler as a leader was impolitic enough for him to later clarify that in his view, Hitler was bad — and that was good enough for ESPN.

The NRCC announced it is adding 15 more candidates to its fundraising program, bumping the total count of incumbents to 25. Bachmann’s addition means she’ll compete to make a final cut of 10 candidates who’ll participate in the next “Patriot Day,” a one-day fundraiser that brought in almost $100,000 last time it was held, in June.

The NRCC’s program, modeled after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s 42-member “Frontline” program, is “designed to hold Members accountable for their own re-election campaigns,” Roll Call (subscription only) reports. “If the incumbent does not meet certain benchmarks for fundraising and infrastructure, they will not get financial help from the NRCC.”

The Swing State Project states that Bachmann is in “real danger” next election; she’s among three “Patriot Program” members elected with the lowest margin of victory in 2008 — three percentage points or less.

Related: ‘Right-leaning conservative’ mulls Bachmann rematch

According to Politico, Paulsen will receive the program’s support along with Reps. Dan Lungren, Ken Calvert and Brian Bilbray of California, Judy Biggert of Illinois, Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana, Thad McCotter of Michigan, Leonard Lance of New Jersey, Christopher Lee of New York and Dave Reichert of Washington.

Campaigns will need to demonstrate high performance in fundraising to remain in the program. Paulsen won the seat in 2008 by just under 8 points with 48 percent of the vote.

Franken’s request for an advisory opinion from the Federal Elections Commission — asking whether the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee can start its own fund to aid his cause — earned him some new friends.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee have told the FEC they agree with Franken and the DSCC: National party organizations should be able to raise money independent of the Franken campaign and that of former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman — and independent of the federal limits on contributions to the campaigns’ recount funds.

Franken attorney Marc Elias asked the FEC on Feb. 17 for an opinion within 10 days, citing rising costs from a legal battle “with no end in sight.” He followed up to emphasize the urgency in a Feb. 23 phone call to Cynthia Bauerly, a Democrat from Minnesota now serving as a commissioner on the FEC.

The NRSC had a field day contrasting Elias’ words with Senate Democrats’ vows to seat Franken by April, but in their comments to the FEC the Republican groups cite his phrase without irony.

Asked about the request during an appearance in Minneapolis last week, Franken appeared interested — he has himself, after all, been raising money since the election — but he told the Minnesota Independent he was leaving the details of such matters to his lawyers.

After naming him in the question posed in a poll earlier this month, Survey USA oddly dropped a direct reference to Dillon when it polled 642 likely voters Oct. 26–27. (The pollster hasn’t yet responded to MnIndy’s request to explain why references to third party support have been inconsistent in its three surveys of the 3rd District.) If you get an anti-Dillon mailing, please share it with MnIndy.

UPDATE: Joe Bodell at Minnesota Campaign Report has this high-contrast scan of the mailer and speculates writes that it’s being sent to Democrats. His theory goes that the NRCC might be using reverse psychology (if “reverse” is quite the right term in a three-way race) to draw Dems to Dillon by chargin him with being too far left politically.

This comes after state Republican officials held press conferences last month to highlight demographic differences between Indian-American Madia and residents of the 3rd Congressional District — in contrast to their own candidate, state Rep. Erik Paulsen, who is “one of them.” Video and more after the jump.
Here’s the KARE-TV news report:

Last spring during the Democratic primary battle, a television ad attacking U.S. Sen. Barack Obama employed a similar visual device that made Obama’s skin appear darker. The technique, which puts a dark halo around the perimeter of an image, while simultaneously darkening a face within the image, was put to use most famously in Time magazine’s cover on O.J. Simpson.

Vet Voice, a project of VoteVets.org, which has endorsed former Marine Madia, traces the ad’s lineage back to the “Willie Horton” ad Pres. George Bush used against Gov. Michael Dukakis in the 1998 presidential race.

Also today, two local print news outlets made endorsements — one for Paulsen and one for Madia. See the video and read excerpts after the jump.

Madia for Congress: “Check It Out”

From the Eden Prairie News:

In the Third District, Independence Party candidate David Dillon and DFL candidate Ashwin Madia both offer good ideas and are excellent candidates, but Erik Paulsen gets the nod, for his consistent service to the community, his 14 years of experience and his record. Paulsen has spearheaded initiatives supporting doing business with India and encouraging the study of Mandarin Chinese in Minnesota school districts, showing a global focus. He has pledged to work in a bipartisan way. Dillon raises the hope that reform could come to Washington in the form of independent voices not beholden to a party or lobby. We hope to hear more from him, especially on solutions for economic and immigration issues. All candidates should have a “humor” section on their Web sites, as he does.

From the ECM Editorial Board’s endorsement carried in the Coon Rapids Herald:

It was apparent from those interviews that all three [including Independence Party candidate David Dillon] seem to want to continue the Frenzel-Ramstad mold, but in our view Madia, a former Republican, offers the best hope that this tradition of moderation and bipartisanship will continue. … Indeed, Madia talks like a deficit hawk and says he is willing to work with both sides, including conservative bluedog Democrats and moderate Republicans, to achieve a balance budget. … But Madia has a unique understanding of the situation in Iraq because he served a tour of duty in that country as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. A lawyer by profession, his role was to help the Iraqis put in place a new legal system. … Change is needed in Congress and while it was close call, Madia is a better fit for the 3rd Congressional District than Paulsen.