Sen. Norm Coleman kicked off his bid for a second term with a speech that carefully avoided mentioning two people: Al Franken and George W. Bush.
Though Franken didn’t draw an explicit mention, references to him dominated Coleman’s remarks Wednesday to a crowd of supporters at his campaign headquarters in St. Paul. "I am running on my record, because unlike my likely opponent, I have one," Coleman said of Franken, the former comedian and liberal commentator making his first run for public office.
As for President Bush, Democrats are sure to bring his name up repeatedly in the next few months as they try to connect Coleman with an unpopular president. Franken, in a speech just a day earlier, repeatedly tied Coleman to Bush, particularly the war in Iraq.
By contrast, Coleman used his speech to present a record of bipartisanship and accomplishment, touting his successes as mayor of St. Paul for eight years and citing numerous Democratic U.S. senators as colleagues on issues ranging from rural development to arts funding to the farm bill.
"I don’t think most Minnesotans in the end are going to be looking back," Coleman said to reporters after his speech. "I think they’re going to be looking to the future. George Bush isn’t on the ballot."
Coleman faces a vastly different political climate than when he was elected in 2002. At the time, a year after the Sept. 11 attacks and on the verge of the war in Iraq, Republicans knocked off numerous incumbent Democrats with campaigns that stressed national security and patriotism. Coleman himself won a close race against former vice president Walter Mondale, a last-minute replacement after Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash.
This year, with President Bush’s popularity low and the Iraq war in its sixth year, Democrats are hoping to pick off Republicans like Coleman in states that lean Democratic.
In his speech, Coleman highlighted areas where he’s veered off from the Bush administration, such as his opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also talked about his work on largely nonideological issues, like easing Guatemalan adoptions by U.S. couples and lessening delays in the processing of passports.
"I think what I do best is what Minnesota needs most _ an experienced, optimistic problem-solver who can do more than talk about change," Coleman said. "I can actually bring people together to get things done for Minnesota."
In his speech Monday, Franken skewered such claims by Coleman. He noted stepped-up attacks in recent weeks by Coleman and his allies on Franken’s temperament, contrasting that with the theme of Coleman’s statewide tour announcing his reelection: "Bringing Minnesota Together."
"Ironically, it seems that Senator Coleman is going to spend most of the ’Bringing Minnesota Together’ tour attacking me," Franken said.
While Coleman did stress what he said is an ability to work with political adversaries on shared goals, he also identified himself as an unapologetic Republican on some defining issues, noting his opposition to legal abortion; his support for judges "who interpret the Constitution, not reinvent it"; and his belief that his support for a strong national defense and "an unshakeable relationship with our ally Israel."
Coleman told reporters after the speech that the Senate should continue to defer military decisions to Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
"I wish I was that powerful that I could fix those things," Coleman said. "It doesn’t work that way in the Senate."
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