Anyone in Minnesota will recognize the above ad for Norm Colemans Senate bid.
In it, three salt of the Earth bowling buddies dicuss all the reasons that Al Franken, Coleman’s rival, is unfit for governmental service. They conclude by saying that Franken is just like them, and therefore the three bowling buddies are all capable of also being Senators.
To me, this seems like the absolute worst campaign ad I have ever seen. Does Coleman really think that the way to sway voters to his side is to tell them that his opponent is “just like them”? That Franken is an everyman, and therefore unfit to lead??
Question #1: Is this a viable stategy in a state like Minnesota, or anywhere else?
Question #2: Are there other examples of a canidate for running for a major office utilizing this strategy succesfully?
I have lived amongst them for many years now, so I feel I can say with complete confidence: I haven’t the slightest idea. I think Al Franken is a good guy, would do a good job, and, good God, I wish he hadn’t run. Norm Coleman is, so far as I know, the only person Garrison Keillor actually hates, and I think Al is the only person who could lose to him. Norm is an absence with a shoeshine and a smile, a three-dimensional chalk outline.
Legend has it that Ben Stein contributed $5,000 to Al’s campaign. His reason: “Al Franken is the smartest man I ever met.”
“Juicy porn”? Al Franken? Yeah, right. Sure. Hugh Bethca.
The thing that struck me about that ad is the accents those guys have. They are supposed to sound like Minnesotans, but I have never heard anyone talk like that. Not that Norm would know as his east coast accent is so thick he’s sometimes hard to understand. I have heard people complain that they found this portrayal of the “average Minnesotan” offensive. Nevertheless, he will likely take the election as the presence of Independence candidate Dean Barkley really helps Coleman and should keep him around for another term.
But he is far more qualified. Like Ben Stein said, he’s “the smartest man I ever met”. He’s written seveal books about political topics, and hosted a radio show for 2 years on which he day after day demonstrated an excellent grasp of the issues.
I wish I could remember the exact details, but during one segment, Al and his guest were discussion situation where religious organizations sometimes risk losing their tax exempt status:
After a break, the guest came on and admitted to his embarrassment. The point is that Al Franken had a better grasp of a particular issue than someone whose job is it to be an expert on that issue.
Al has also clobbered certain well-known conservative pundits in debates. The American people have demanded that the Democrats show some backbone, and Al Franken has one. I’d say he’s well-qualified to participate in the World’s Greates Deliberative Body.
*can’t remember his exact title, but it was something like that
I think one thing Coleman’s ad proves, is that humor is extremely hard to pull off. You would have to be a very intelligent man to consistently be able to be humorous on TV. Maybe someone could run against him that is that smart.
The Coleman and Franken ads are both interesting. Coleman is trying very hard for a sense of humor. Which he doesn’t have. Franken is trying very hard to come off serious.
Even my mother was making fun of the Lori Coleman ad claiming Norm takes out the trash “how would she know, they haven’t lived together for fifteen years!” (Its fairly well known in Minnesota politics that the Coleman marriage is somewhat ‘non-traditional.’)
Yeah, I was surprised to see her in an ad for him and his amazing new teeth.
I think it’s funny, or maybe even a touch ironic, that his ads for awhile were based on him “bringing hockey back to Minnesota”. Something he did way back when he was elected as a democrat.
The Xcel Energy Center cost about $175 million to get up and running. At least 75 percent of that money was public, from the state and the city of St. Paul. The Xcel Center funding was approved in 1997, even as voters and lawmakers rejected the notion of public money for others sports stadiums. Both the Twins and Vikings have repeatedly come up empty. (Note: he did try and get a baseball stadium here too despite repeated public voting against it).
I actually was able to meet Al Franken last week. Nice guy, but he didn’t strike me as ‘the smartest man I ever met.’ He might have been hiding his light under a bushel.
As a funny story though, my husband leans hard towards the right, and he really doesn’t like Franken much. Franken stopped by the DFL booth, and we ended up getting a couple of pics. In one of the pics, my husband has such a shit eating grin, you’d think he was going to pants him or something. Which I absolutely would not put it past him to do. I have s couple of pics in my phone, but not sure how to upload them to flickr.
One interesting thing I learned is that there was a young man who spent his entire time videoing Al and all of the interactions he had with people. The guy followed him everywhere. Supposedly he was a Republican blogger, and has been doing this for quite a while.
Man, that would suck. Having someone follow you all the time, looking for a chink in the armor?
Nah, they’ve been doing that since Paul Wellstone’s reelection campaign. They had a guy following Wellstone around all the time filming him (just not with a digital camera back then). Paul used to introduce him at events, and tell people to turn and wave for the Republican movies. The Wellstone campaign even gave him rides at times when his car wouldn’t start.
The real funny thing was that this guy was just an independent photographer hired by the Republicans. But the constant exposure to Paul Wellstone influenced him. Toward the end of the campaign, he said that he was going to vote for Wellstone.
Did you hear him speak on that occasion? Did listen to his radio show at all? He’s smart when he has something to talk about. A simple meet-and-greet might not give him the opportunity to shine.
The thing is, in addition to being smart and well-informed on the issues, Franken is very affable and personable, incorporating the best qualities of Reagan, and dare I say it, Bush. And yet he’s eminently fair-minded and not driven by some all-consuming ideology.
It was at a county fair, and he was there for a couple of hours. I was in another booth close by, and was able to observe him. I also went up to him, chatted for a bit, did the photo op thing. Made sure my husband behaved. A little later a couple of my kids approached him in a gaggle of teens.
To me: polite, reserved.
To husband: polite, reserved.
To kids: tried to engage them by talking about college funding, etc. They were not really into the convo, and he wasn’t sure how to approach them. (but really, who is?)
He was ok, but really didn’t have much charisma, and seemed a little lost or uncomfortable. He never hit his stride. I think he might be really good one on one, or perhaps speaking to large crowds, but in 4-10 size, he wasn’t sure how to relate. He does seem to be a nice guy, and he comes across as sincere. Pontificated a little, but not overmuch. In his defense, we never really tried to get too much of a response from him, or engage in debate. I guess we’re polite and reserved, too.
His laugh is quite irritating. No, really, it is. A little chubbier and shorter than one would think, but that’s probably the norm for TV.
