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.

A fat cat lights up in the new DCCC ad

While the country turned its fickle eyes to Minnesota’s suddenly compelling 6th Congressional District contest, the race for the state’s 3rd District didn’t stop being hot. Over the last two days, both major parties’ congressional committees unveiled new TV ads. Big male guns vouched for the Republican candidate, state Rep. Erik Paulsen, and big female guns tried to widen a gender gap in favor of DFLer Ashwin Madia — while heaping derision on another female office-holder, state Rep. Michele Bachmann. All this and more, with video and details about tonight’s candidate debate in Edina, after the jump.

Candidate debate tonight

Independence Party candidate David Dillon will join Paulsen and Madia on stage at Edina High School’s Fick Auditorium tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. for a debate sponsored by Debate Minnesota. Click here for directions to the event at 6754 Valleyview Road, Edina.

Both major parties’ congressional committees on TV again

When last heard from in the 3rd District race, the National Republican Campaign Committee was canceling reservations for TV ad time one week after the next. Now they’re back in the game with a new ad called “Running to Raise Taxes” that bashes Madia on Paulsen’s behalf. The NRCC shelled out $96,500 for spots this week on KMSP and KSTP, and another $350,000 for spots next week through Election Day on those stations plus WCCO, according to MPR’s TV ad database.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee continues to roll out TV ads attacking Paulsen. The latest is called “Our Tax Dollars for Their Cash Bonuses.”

Paulsen’s ad slammed

Meanwhile, the Paulsen campaign’s own new ad earned a D grade in a “Truth Test” evaluation by KSTP’s Tom Hauser, who called its claims “misleading” and “false.” Ironically, Hauser cites distortions in how Paulsen mixes and matches quotes and images from harsh evaluations Hauser himself gave earlier to ads produced by Madia and the DCCC.  He also calls out Paulsen for quoting a Madia statement on taxes out of context, as MnPublius caught early on.

Men for Paulsen, Women for Madia

Many prominent hands gripped podiums on Monday in separate press events for Paulsen and Madia. Perhaps as striking as the speakers’ prominence was the sharp gender split that mirrors a gender gap that’s growing in recent polls. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Rep. John Kline were part of a seven-man team at the state Capitol vouching for Paulsen’s record on veterans. Across town in Bloomington, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher were kicking off (somewhat belatedly?) a campaign called Women for Madia. The boy-girl split on those two panels reflected a gender gap in voter support for Madia and Paulsen revealed in the latest SurveyUSA poll: Men back Paulsen by a margin of 51–37 percentage points, while women favor Madia by a margin of 51–40 percentage points. It’s a gap that’s grown slightly since an earlier survey by the same organization in late August, and possibly could have widened further with Pelosi’s visit — had her criticism of Bachmann not eclipsed the Women for Madia message. 

(The Republican male lineup is on view in a Paulsen campaign video. MPR has a whopping nine audio clips from Monday’s dueling press events.)

And as if on cue, NARAL Pro-Choice America declared this to be “Ashwin Madia Week,” one of a series of “Race of the Week” fundraising and attention-raising efforts. Here’s how a spokesperson described it in a statement sent to the Minnesota Independent:

NARAL Pro-Choice America will drop a total of four mail pieces and our volunteers will make calls in support of pro-choice Ashwin Madia. Madia’s record on a woman’s right to choose is far superior to that of his opponent’s and we look forward to working with him when he becomes a congressman. NARAL Pro-Choice America will do everything we can to make sure that’s possible. While we can’t confirm the amount of donations we drive to a campaign with our blog posts, we can confirm that NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC has sent the maximum amount allowed by the FEC to his campaign. Our PAC is funded by our members so they pay close attention to our endorsements and “Race of the Week” picks. Our political director routinely receives calls from members and activists about candidates and races to support throughout the country and we always make sure to mention Ashwin Madia’s race.

A DCCC ad attacking Paulsen

The National Republican Congressional Committee has continued to cut back on its planned TV advertising buys in Minnesota, with a second week of ads canceled in the 3rd Congressional District and a week called off for the first time in the 6th as well. That’s the situation at KSTP and, according to MPR’s Polinaut blog, at WCCO and KARE, as well. At KSTP-TV alone, a Minnesota Indendent review shows that the two weeks of canceled 3rd district ads, covering Oct. 14–27, had been valued at nearly $60,000.

Meanwhile at smaller stations like KSTC (Channel 45) and WUCW (The CW), the NRCC never reserved ad time in the first place, leaving the campaign of Republican state Rep. Erik Paulsen on its own with ad buys only for the week before Election Day: $1,550 at KSTC and $2,675 at WUCW (where DFLer Ashwin Madia’s campaign has also bought time). But no 3rd district campaign is spending nearly as much as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: nearly $12,000 for ad time Oct. 7–Nov. 3.

Another group running ads attacking Paulsen is Health Care for America Now, which is spending nearly $87,775 at KSTP-TV and $4,675 at WUCW for ads running Oct. 8–14.

The NRCC’s still has reservations for 3rd and 6th district ads at KSTP in the final week of the campaign. The organization canceled its ad time on behalf of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the week of Oct. 20–26.