NRSC

Among the rewards Gov. Pawlenty dangles in a fundraising email on behalf of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC): “a photo opportunity with me.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) covered $500,000 of U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s recount-related legal costs last month, the Associated Press reports. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) already made its big payout ($938,000) to former Sen. Norm Coleman’s lawyers in May, so last month it paid out a relative trickle ($8,640). Legal bills aside, a Minnesota [...]

A new Republican web ad, titled “60,” again recycles footage of Al Franken gesticulating wildly — in imitation of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone cheering his son’s cross-country race. This time it’s accompanied by mournful music, because after Sen.-elect Franken’s swearing-in today, Democratic votes in the U.S. Senate reach the dreaded number 60. 

Creaking noises are starting to come from once-solid supporters of Norm Coleman as they wait for the Minnesota Supreme Court to decide his fate. “The situation out there is entirely up to the people in Minnesota,” a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman tells the National Journal’s Hotline, suggesting a stark shift from the NRSC’s recent [...]

The latest in the spat over Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat: Al Franken is due to file his reply to Norm Coleman’s election-contest appeal at the state Supreme Court today. Senate GOP leaders raised money at a Washington, D.C., steakhouse for Norm Coleman — under new, higher gift limits. And on YouTube, a frog channels Coleman covering [...]

As Minnesota Public Radio’s Tom Scheck puts it, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan has thrown Norm Coleman under the bus. In a web-only interview with Katie Couric — now being circulated by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — Ryan responded to a question about whether Al Franken will eventually take Minnesota’s second senate seat. Without [...]

Where do national Republican leaders, who are helping bankroll Norm Coleman’s election contest fight, see Minnesota’s Senate saga going? “We’re in completely,” National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tells The Politico. “We’ll support Norm to the bitter end.”

Three Republican groups are telling the federal government they agree with Democrat Al Franken on something: There should be more ways for donors to send more dollars to support the rivals in Minnesota’s ongoing U.S. Senate election contest.

As the National Republican Senatorial Committee launches the blog MinnesotaRecount.com, the New York Times reports that Mitt Romney is directing cash — $5,000 so far — from his PAC to help fund Norm Coleman’s recount efforts. In addition to the $5k, Romney’s “Free and Strong America” gave $2,300 to Coleman’s re-election campaign. The Times’ Michael [...]

Three Minnesota candidates who didn’t win their elections — or haven’t won yet anyway, with the U.S. Senate race still in limbo — can take a little consolation in having their television ads (or ads meant to benefit them) honored on national best-of lists. “Running,” the first TV ad that Democrat Ashwin Madia aired in his losing bid to replace U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, was this morning ranked among the nation’s eight best ads in U.S. House races this year by The Fix, a Washington Post blog. Videos and more best-of listings after the jump, including the ad attacking Madia that used clips from “Running.”