ABOUT FIRST READ

First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC Political Researcher



Down the ballot

Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 5:31 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: , , ,

From NBC's Chuck Todd
So far, we haven't seen any indie expenditure groups pop up to attack Clinton or Obama  from the right, but here's early evidence of some GOP money starting to flow into indie groups to help prop up key Senate and House Republicans.

This ad praises Minnesota's Norm Coleman (R) who faces a VERY expensive fight with Al Franken (D).

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

OBAMA'S SOLUTION

WHITE AMERICA VOTE FOR ME AND ALL YOUR SINS WILL BE FORGIVEN



Clinton 08
OBAMA'S SOLUTION

WHITE AMERICA VOTE FOR ME AND ALL YOUR SINS WILL BE FORGIVEN



Clinton 08
Al Franken would be a jewel in the Senate.

Here's a funny eBay listing from a guy who worked for Michael Moore, and has a bone to pick.  Hilarious!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270221058194&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017
Kind of stands to reason the Dems are running a comedy act (or a weak attempt at it) for the Minnesota Senate. It flows nicely from the weak and comical candidates they have running for prez, and from the screwed up voting primary process the Dims devised.

Every new day is a better day for Republicans.
Norm Coleman must go. He never would have won his seat in the Senate if Paul Wellstone had not been killed in that tragic airplane crash.  He is all about himself. Having switched from being a Democrat to Republican and then aligning himself with the politics of the right wing branch of the Republican Party.  He has been a very strong supported of the Bush Administrations failied policies.  Only recently, with his seeing the handwriting on the wall, has he begun to distance himself from Bush.  It is time for him to retire and go back out to the east coast and his hometown.  
I think the link is broken.
Oh since Obamas pastor they are drooling. Heard money traveling fast on that one.He will get so bulldozed if it is him even his wife with her Daly politics wont stand a chance.
If these indie groups have a lot of extra money lying around, I could suggest a few non-partisan charities that could make good use of even a fraction of the money that has been spent or will continue to be spent on negative political ads...

Obama for President 08
Al will do fine in MN - I grew up near the eastern border.  The people there do not take kindly to outsiders messing with their elections. Just ask Jesse.
Norm Coleman needs to be vetted. He is a yes man for Dubya, has no creative thought in his brain, and does only what Cheney and/or Dubya instructs him to do. Coleman and Gov. Pawlenty both need to depart Minnesota, they are not doing anything there except try to shove Bushisms down our throats.
Frederick, Woodbury, MN
Ah! My old stomping grounds - Valley Creek and Manning - great place to grow up in the 60's.  I sure appreciated to independence of the state politics - you'd have people come out from DC and east coast and think that we would bow at their feet.
Go TEAM FRANKEN!  If a disaster really happens can you imagine Al giving the Democratic Response to President McCain (praying to God we come together before August so that doesn't happen)
http://twocanpete.blogspot.com/
Can anybody say third party?
I find it entertaining that the ad calls Norm Coleman an independent voice. He only started distancing himself from the Bush administration when he finally realized there was no way in the world Minnesotans would re-elect him.

Al Franken will be elected.
Paul Wellstone and Bernie Sanders were the last two politicians I contributed to.

Paul was a fine Senator
He missed
Bernie still is a good Senator

I took a break from political contributions until Obama came around

Obama '08
Honesty matters
Character matters
Integrity matters
Indie group are just a front for corporations. They will soon pop up as they seem to be waiting for the primary elections to finish. Chuck, you know what a joke this whole process this has become. THE THREE STOOGES could have run a great show with this.Good to see you on Olberman, looks like you are getting quite a laugh out of the process.
Good luck Al, I believe it's time to set term limits on every congresssional leader by replacing them all this year. They have had made enough off the taxpayer of this country and they have gotten arrogantly good at it. Time for all of them to go!
If Al Franken would be a good Senator.....then "W" should be assuming a 3rd term. What a joke.
Previous poster mentions that Coleman would never have been voted in if it were not for Paul Wellstone's tragic and sudden death...all timed in the heat of the campaign, to beat.

Norm Coleman is just a Bush wannabee.  And Minnesotans have had enough of both of them.

Can't wait to check " Allen's " name on next November's ballot.  Truly can't wait.
PA voters have a choice: division or unity. Let's put aside our differences and unify behind Obama. When will our party leaders step forward and bring this to an end?
What is really rich after campaigning at Bush's right hand for the last seven years, the above mentioned ad says he is "independent" and advertises him "working with both sides of the aisle" and getting money for students and bridges. Again with the Rovian repeat lies long enough to sound familiar. Still, it is a twilight zones moment. But it tells you what repubs think they have to do to win this time around.
Yes, it is time for Norm Coleman to leave. Frederick from MN is exactly right.  He would never have been elected had Senator Wellstone lived.  I support Al Franken's candidacy, he has worked hard to gain support.  There will be dancing in the streets when Coleman is sent packing.
We all know that Sean Hannity has instigated the whole uproar with Obama and reverend Wright. I urge everyone to google "Hal Turner" and you will see where Hannity is coming from. For that matter, this man was part of one of Pat Buchanans campaign also. Does this surprise anyone? Hatred and racism at its worst.
Why not Franken; they have made Washington a joke anyway.
Everyone should go to the msnbc site and read Chuck Todd's article.  It is fascinating and explains alot regarding the democratic primary.
Excellent.


SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=785921

First Read e-mail alerts


Sign up for First Read alerts
The first place for key political news and analysis

Syndicate This Site

Add First Read to your news reader:
live.com xml
myyahoo msn
bloglines newsgator
google