MAJOR DEMOCRATIC DAMAGE (Why the "Memorial Service" will cost Mondale the election)

RealClearPolitics.com ^ | October 30, 2002 | John McIntyre

[Timesink]

Wednesday October 30 2002
MAJOR DEMOCRATIC DAMAGE: "TV networks and radio stations have been bombarded with angry calls. The Democrats greatly overplayed their hand and violated the tradition of "Minnesota nice." The only two Democrats who seemed to instinctively realize how overboard they had gone were Gore and Daschle. It is also being talked about around the water coolers at businesses and schools, and people across the ideological spectrum did not like it. In all, it gives Norm Coleman a fresh start.

State GOP chair reported late last night that Coleman brought in over $150,000 last night alone from angry moderates and conservatives across the country. I was also informed that the phones continue to "ring off the hook" at Coleman headquarters" This from a reader of ours in Minnesota and we have gotten many more emails exactly like this one. With only five full days between now and the election Mondale may not be able to recover from this fiasco. The sympathy vote for Wellstone may have been completely incinerated in 3 1/2 hours last night. JM 5:14 pm

MORE MINNESOTA: "I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally. Like in the case of Senator Lott flying all the way up here and being booed when he is supposed to be going to a memorial service. I think the Democrats should hang their head in shame." Independent Governor Jesse Ventura

"What a complete, total, absolute sham. The DFL clearly intends to exploit Wellstone's memory totally, completely and shamelessly for political gain. To them, Wellstone's death, apparently, was just another campaign event." Fmr. Rep. Vin Weber (R)

Last night has turned into a disaster for the Democrats. Powerline has delved deeper into the Star Tribune's poll showing Mondale up 8 and has found out that the poll sampled 51% DFL/Democratic supporters and only 36% Republican or GOP leaning supporters, a total of 11% more Democrats than their previous Wellstone/Coleman poll.   JM 4:49 pm

MINNESOTA: My initial feeling that Coleman was going to be swamped by the sympathy vote for Wellstone is beginning to fade, and quickly. While it hasn't gotten huge play in the national media, the "memorial service" for the late Senator Wellstone and the other victims was so over the top, and distasteful, it has the real potential to backlash hard on the Democrats. Our friends at Powerline have been all over this story and they report that the "rally" is getting a lot of coverage in Minnesota.

"There is a lot of buzz this morning about the fact that television cameras showed Jesse Ventura and his wife, Terry, getting up and walking out on the Democrats' pep-fest at Williams Arena last night. I heard Ventura being interviewed on the radio this morning. He said that he found the Democrats' misuse for partisan ends not only of Wellstone's death, but of the families of the other victims of the crash, to be deeply offensive. He said that his wife was so shocked and offended by the Democrats' conduct that she was brought to tears, prompting their walkout."

When NPR and William Saletan at Slate also characterize the event as more a political pep rally rather than a memorial service it is clear it isn't just Republicans who think the Democrats went too far. Not to mention I don't take the recent poll from the Star Tribune showing Mondale up 8 as terrible news for Coleman. That poll of 47%-39% may very well be the high water mark for Mondale from here on out. It's reasonable to assume that the sympathy factor is going to be at its peak immediately following the tragedy. Furthermore a poll done by the NRSC, the same time as the Star's poll, had Mondale up only two points, with the Star Tribune's polls long time poll bias for Dems that puts Mondale up 5 points averaging the two polls. The clear politicization of Wellstone's death by the Democrats last night is not going to play well among the average Minnesotan and it will definitely serve to energize Coleman's base. Expect that five point gap to close.

The bottom line is I am close to doing a complete 180 on this race. I think the offensive nature of the "memorial service" last night has put this seat right back into play. And the trump card in Coleman's hand are all those absentee ballots that can not legally be counted for Mondale. This can very easily be a potential 2%-5% boost for Coleman and if he can get this race close in the polls, which I suspect now he will, that absentee difference will be enough to give him the win. The Dems lawsuit to get those Wellstone votes counted for Mondale shows just how seriously the Democrats think those absentee ballots might be.

If Coleman can run a positive, mistake-free, proactive campaign these next few days (and there's no reason to think he can't) these polls will close and this will be a nail-biter. With the absentee ballot edge I think Coleman now will win. But, hey, this is a very fluid situation and Coleman's got to close the poll numbers. I have to give credit to Hugh Hewitt and Ramesh Ponnuru who dismissed the conventional wisdom, including my own, that Coleman couldn't win. JM 1:02 pm       Comments

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Very cool - Go, GoMonster's Momma!!!!

[Paul Atreides]

With McCall coming in third in New York, I hope we are witnessing a trend that could mean the demise of the Clinton influence.

[Paul Atreides]

A columnist once wrote a wonderful phrase about the Clintons. It is my favorite phrase, and describes them so well.

He said, "With the Clintons, there is always some fresh Hell to put the country through, and there's never a bottom to it."

I think that was during the pardons.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

LOL to your screen name, but unfortunately it sounds like something a homeless person in WI would use (i.e. WillVoteForSmokes) :-).

[timestax]

People will forget this by Thursday. The DemoncRATS have learned this fact...that every 24 hours there is a new NEWS cycle.

[A CA Guy]

I hope the Democrats lose the Senate.

[GOPJ]

Wellstone's son will be sick over this for years. He has to understand he was duped during a time of great loss, and that this horror is not his fault. The dem pols should have protected the family from this type of scandal. Have they no shame? And yeah, it does look like the Clinton/Carville/McAuliffe exploit team.

I'm not discounting the Wellstone sons' part in all of this, but it has the smell of Clinton/Carville/McAuliffe all over it.

[terilyn]

Great article Timesink!

Pinging for a great overview of how this is playing out locally.

[ladyinred]

I hate to say this, but I have heard democrat after democrat call into talk shows today and say that the "memorial" service last night energized them and the party! They thought it was groovy and that Pubbies are just mean spirited! I doubt this effected them at all. Then we also know that the national media didn't even mention the disgraceful behavior of the RATS last night. The Today show, Good Morning American, etc. all just ignored it.

[Saundra Duffy]

I read today's Sacramento Bee with interest. I had watched some of the rally until I couldn't stomach it anymore. The sight of the Clintoons yucking it up . . . I was horrified! Anyway, today's Sac Bee has the FRONT PAGE headline: "Senator Remembered - Will lawmaker's death be a rallying cry for liberals?" The article goes on and on (until you want to throw up!) about what a wonderful event it was . . . yada yada yada. Not one word about the controversy. Ha! So much for the Bee's liberals slant. I hope what happened last night in Minnesota will cause damage to DEMOCRAPS all over the U.S. Speaking of which, DUMP DAVIS! GO, SIMON! For victory & freedom!!!

[Rokke]

You obviously missed the nightly news. Every major network covered it and slammed the dems. I haven't seen that kind of coverage from the networks covering a dem screw-up since they found Lewinsky's dress.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

by the juvenille populist cry of "we will win" from the junior Wellstone
What do you think the odds are of seeing this in a campaign ad?

----------------------------------------
The GOP should use this footage. 1) The son is pretty scary looking with the wild hair (will NOT play well in most of MN), 2) the ranting of this son and Kahn comes off as something out of the behind-the-Iron-Curtain, Communist rallies of past years.

[Amore]

check out the minneapolis paper. They have several articles about the reaction to the pep rally. It's:
http://www.startribune.com/

[Saundra Duffy]

It may just energize Republican voters across the country enough to give the GOP back the Senate.

Yahoo! Did you see the smiling democrap faces - all that waving - all that campaigning and yucking it up. I kept thinking about the other people who died in the crash - how their families must feel. I mean, they were supposed to be there to grieve and remember Paul Wellstone. Instead, the Klintoons and Fritz's turned it into an event to showcase THEMSELVES. LOL!!!!!!!!!!! They are so dimented, they didn't even realize what they were doing. So typical. GO, GOP! For victory & freedom!!!

[terilyn]

"Can you believe these idiots? Even CNN and MSNBC have been somewhat critical but these idiot Republicans don't take advantage?"

No, no...this is terrific! We couldn't have bought this much positive publicity for a billion dollars. All the republicans have to do now, at least here in Minnesota is take the high ground. It's a whole new race.

The polls for govenor are incredible too. Republican candidate is way up - dem in second and independent in third, way back. And this poll was done by the same doofuses that did the one for Coleman/Mondale. The same idiots that predicted Skippy Humphrey would be the Gov. in MN in 2000 - (he came in third).

This is fantastic!

[Balding_Eagle]

Yes, the Dems may be energized, but they are really on the defensive too. Just visit a few of their sites, I've never seen so many four letter words used as they try to justify what happened.

Take heart! It's the (presently) undecideds who will swing the vote, or stay home, and I don't think the Dem specticle was lost on them.

I only saw snippets, it was goulish and Orwellean. It was so creepy with the Clintons there with their big smiles and all, that it makes me think the Clintons did him in.

[TatieBug]

Clinton/Carville/McAuliffe "hands" were busy yesterday...the Memorial/Pep-rally and the Haitian ordeal...huuuummmm!

[Gunder]

Is this info reported anywhere prominent? I'm sure the (Red) Star isn't shouting it from the rooftops, but someone should.

Yeah, I'm feeling better about Coleman's chances with every minute. It really seems like the Wellstone Memorial is going to backfire bigtime. And I must say, the local Twin Cities media are really giving the "scandal" a lot of attention.

By the way -- if any Minnesota FREEPERS haven't called the TV affiliates and asked for equal air time for Coleman/George W., here are the numbers. We need to keep the calls coming in thru the weekend and not let up.

KARE (NBC) 763-797-7395
WCCO (CBS) 612-339-4444
KSTP (ABC) 651-646-5555 or 612-5TV-NEWS

[FITZ]

I only saw snippets, it was goulish and Orwellean. It was so creepy with the Clintons there with their big smiles and all, that it makes me think the Clintons did him in.

I know. You really have to wonder when you look at the Clintons' faces if that plane crash was really an accident.....for some reason the picture of them splitting their sides at the funeral made me recall James McDougal, Vince Foster, Ron Brown. Those weren't accidents.

[MasonGal]

I think it was "creepy" too.

Everytime I see that clip of the Clintons I want to throw something at the tv set.I practically scared my 11-year old son to death this evening when I yelled at the tv set while they were showing it on Hannity and Colmes.