Posted on 09/16/2009 8:55:23 PM PDT by MplsSteve
After a banner bounce-back year for Democrats in 2006, many believed the 2008 Senate race was theirs to lose.
In 2002, when Coleman was elected with Bush's blessing, 70 percent of Minnesotans approved of the president's performance. By 2008, 70 percent disapproved. A hurricane had flooded New Orleans in 2005, and two years later at the other end of the Mississippi River, an interstate bridge in Minneapolis had collapsed into those waters. Polls showed the state of Minnesota, like the rest of the country, wanted change.
The campaign got personal early. Already being knocked around for his jokes and writings, Franken was confronted with a problem that has felled national Cabinet nominees: unpaid taxes and bad paperwork.
Bestiality and babes in burkas were also part of the bad news.
Just before the DFL convention, where Franken was vying for the endorsement, Republicans delighted in forcing Franken to live down a 2000 sex satire he wrote for Playboy Magazine — it included lines about oral and animal sex — and a magazine article's description of a "Saturday Night Live" writers' meeting 14 years ago in which Franken and others batted around jokes about drugging and raping a television star.
Franken apologized to just about everyone and won the party's endorsement. But it took him two months to win over Rep. Betty McCollum, D-St. Paul. And it made him a dead-serious, unfunny candidate. Franken campaigned as an unsmiling policy wonk — Stuart Smalley with his dimples largely turned off.
Coleman's personal life raised questions as well.
Was his D.C. basement apartment in the home of a supporter and friend an unreported gift? Did a Twin Cities businessman and longtime Coleman supporter provide him with suits, trips and cash to help keep the senator afloat?
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
This section covers the US Senate race and how it negatively impacted both Coleman and Franken. Please read the whole article as you'll find it interesting.
Tomorrow, will be Chapter I - Part III entitled "Election Night".
WELCOME TO FREE REPUBLIC’S MINNESOTA PING LIST!
126 MEMBERS AND GROWING...!
FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT ON OR OFF THIS LIST!
The article should destroy any and all claims that Frankenidiot “stole” the election, as I argued vociferously during the post-election phase. Nothing untoward happened; Coleman got outmanuevered by Franken during counting rejected absentee ballots, and, darn it all, the majority of the breaks went for Franken. Stuff happens. But no fraud, no stealing, no Washington (state).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.