Senate Norm Coleman A Leopard Or A Chameleon

In Minnesota, we are seeing a whole new set of commercials from Senator Norm Coleman. The premise is that there has been enough negative campaigning. It’s time to be positive and to talk about the issues. This comes shortly after polling that showed his lead was shrinking and his negatives were growing, primarily because he had been running inaccurate negative commercials about his opponent Al Frankin.

Many people will watch these new commercials and see a very nice guy with a great presentation. But there’s some history that should go with these commercials.

– This was the guy who spent days conferring with the Ashcroft campaign from Missouri following the Death of Senator Paul Wellstone. Ashcroft was the Senator who lost to Mel Carnahan who also died while leading in his campaign. The Coleman campaign then orchestrated a reaction which resembles this latest commercial.

– This is the guy who was one of the members of the truth squad who went to the Democratic convention when John Kerry was nominated to spread the message of what a great job President Bush was doing. How great the war was going, how solid the economy was and most importantly how much we needed to reelect the President.

– This is the guy who is at present runningng for a leadership position with the Republican National Senate Committee. The group who is running negative ads across the country. Saying things that the candidates wouldn’t or couldn’t say themselves.

Agreeing to stop throwing mud is going to be applauded by everyone. But, to claim you have seen the light, seems to be as much a manipulation as a crafty adaptation to the environment. Although if the Democrats win big nationally, and he is elected, he may claim that the party has now come back to him and switch again.