Minnesota Senate Farm Fest debate

I didn't get to see Norm Coleman's brilliant white teeth glistening in the morning light in Redwood Falls, MN. I didn't get to watch Al Franken call out Norm for his close ties to President Bush and the corporations that fund his campaign. I had to work ... ya know pay da billz and all that. But everyone else was there. The annual Farm Fest hosted the first MN-SEN forum.

This is solid Republican territory. At least it used to be. With fewer and fewer people self-identifying as Republicans in polling, this was the first test of how Al Franken's message would play. This was also a test of how Norm Coleman's ability to cover his *** for 7 1/2 years of supporting President Bush and the corporations that fund him would go over.

All media sources agree that Al went after Norm straight from the get-go.

And from the start Franken went after Coleman with a familiar charge, that the senator is beholden to special interests, including the oil industry.

"While George W. Bush has been president our dependence on foreign oil has gone up almost every year," Franken said. We've gone the wrong way because we've gone to oil and more and more oil and Norm Coleman is in the pocket of oil. He's received more contributions from big oil than any other politician in the history of Minnesota."
(MPR)

Norm could only respond with the Republican mantra of "Drill Here, Drill Now" which he will be repeating this fall as often as he says "bringing people together to get things done." Republicans have test marketed their mantra and know that repeating a lie enough worked in 2000, 2002 and 2004. Even though it didn't work in 2006, they're hoping it will work in 2008.

"While Norm Coleman has been senator, the cost of oil has tripled, the cost of gas has doubled and he's talking about doing the same old, same old," he said.

Coleman rolled-out his own statistics in response. And he took the opportunity to renew his crowd-pleasing call for more drilling.

"The price of has gas just about doubled since Nancy Pelosi," he said. "And both Mr. Franken and Ms. Pelosi are wrong when they oppose opening up new sources of drilling in the outer continental shelf, and they're wrong when they oppose expanding nuclear energy now."

Coleman criticized Franken for opposing new nuclear power plants until the issue of waste disposal is solved.
(MPR)

Both MPR and the Minneapolis Star Tribune note that the crowd liked the "Drill Here, Drill Now" mantra. The Strib noted this line from Norm concerning qualifications:

"More than anyone else, I know the difference between talk and results," Coleman said. "You have to ask of each candidate, what have we done in our lives to merit serving you in the U.S. Senate?"
(Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Apparently Norm ranks his constituent services higher than doing what Minnesotans want on the major issues of the day. Minnesotans want out of Iraq, want healthcare reform and want a solution to the home foreclosure crisis. But Norm is the Senator you can count on when it doesn't matter. He's been working hard on Guatemalan adoptions, medicare fraud (while ignoring all Republican corruption), holding forums on healthcare and working on the HOME Act which lets the mortgage industry get at home owners 401Ks before the file for bankruptcy. Did I mention voting as Bush wanted him to over 90% over the last 7 1/2 years.

If you want a Senator that will toe the Republican line, Norm's your guy.

MPR noted the candidates reactions after the debate:

Following the forum Coleman told reporters nothing surprised him in his first debate with Franken.

"I expected that he'd be aggressive," he said. "I expected that. This was not an eye opener." Franken defended his approach and dismissed Coleman's claims of bipartisanship.

"He's been part of the most partisan era of the Republican Party ever," he said. "So for him to come here and say, 'oh, I'm bipartisan. I work across party lines,' I just people to know what his record has been. That's all."
(MPR)

The AP ran with a quote from a random attendee at the end of their article:

Gene Engstrom, a crop farmer in nearby Morton, said he came to the event undecided but leaning toward Franken.

But he said he felt the Democrat spent too much time criticizing Coleman and not enough offering alternatives.

"The more I heard, the more confused I got," said Engstrom, who said afterwards that he's still undecided. "All this hammering -- I want to know what you're going to do when you're senator."
(WCCO)

Republican-owned KSTP ran with a pretty standard and brief article. They want to emphasize the angry Al Franken spin, but at least Al's criticism of Norm was at the top of the article.

In case there was any lingering confusion about Al Franken's strategy for defeating incumbent Senator Norm Coleman, he cleared up that confusion during their first debate in Redwood Falls Tuesday.

He used his response to nearly every question to criticize Coleman for his support of President George W. Bush.

It was the first time the U.S. Senate candidates debated each other in this campaign on Tuesday. It took Franken exactly 23 seconds to launch his first direct attack against Coleman.
"Norm Coleman is in the pocket of big oil. He's received more contributions from big oil than any other politician in the history of Minnesota," Franken said.
(KSTP)

Doug Grow of MinnPost probably had the most negative coverage of the debate. After Al opened with he criticism of Norm noted by MPR above, Grow wrote this:

Crowd cool to Franken blasts
It apparently was not what they came to hear. Franken's opening was greeted with tepid applause.

When it was the Coleman's turn to speak to the opening question, he went into his rapid-fire style, words pouring smoothly from his lips: "You've got to tap into more domestic production. Nuclear. Renewable. You gotta do the whole ball of wax.''

Big applause.
(MinnPost)

The truth about southwestern MN is it is pretty conservative. It will be interesting to see how many Republican voters who are sick of Iraq, Republican corruption and Republican fiscal irresponsibility that Al can peel away from Norm. I hope some upcoming polls break down the trends by region.