Campaign 2004 The race for president The race for Congress Resources MPR talk shows on campaign issues & candidates Select A Candidate Photos Norm Coleman Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

	E-mail this page			Print this page

Bush team asks senators to turn on one of their own
April 2, 2004

Coleman is one of several senators making the rounds on behalf of the Bush campaign, telling reporters that Kerry voted to authorize the war in Iraq but not to fund its reconstruction. (MPR file photo)

Washington, DC — (AP) The Bush campaign has recruited Sen. Norm Coleman to paint presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry as weak on defense and a flip-flopper, despite Coleman's own reputation for changing political positions.

Coleman, in fact, is a former Democrat who left the party in 1996, the same year he co-chaired Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in Minnesota.

"Coleman's flip-flopping is legendary," said Mandy Grunwald, a Democratic media consultant. "Flip-flopping is not a topic that he should be opening his mouth on."

Added Kerry spokesman Bill Burton: "He's probably one of the only senators who has voted for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush."

Strong partisanship is seldom appealing to many Minnesota voters. - Steven Schier, political science professor

Coleman said Democrats are missing the point.

"Senator Kerry's record is his record," said Coleman, sitting next to a stack of papers Democrats have compiled, documenting what they said were changes in Coleman's positions. "If they want to shoot the messenger, they can, but that's his record."

Coleman is one of several senators making the rounds on behalf of the Bush campaign, telling reporters that Kerry voted to authorize the war in Iraq but not to fund its reconstruction; that he voted against the first Gulf war; and that he proposed cuts to intelligence, among other things.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, made a call to reporters in February, telling them that Kerry was soft on defense. That prompted Kerry to publicly complain that Bush was using surrogates to attack his military service in Vietnam

"We got under his skin," Chambliss said. "He wrote the White House a letter, saying I was impugning his Vietnam record. I never even mentioned that."

Chambliss' reputation as a tough campaigner predates this election. In 2002, when he successfully challenged Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran, Chambliss ran an ad juxtaposing Cleland's face with those of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

Sen. Jim Talent, a first-term Missouri Republican who has made a couple of calls to reporters on the Bush campaign's behalf, said he doesn't cast Kerry as a flip-flopper.

"I think his record has been actually pretty consistently pretty far-left liberal," Talent said. "I suppose there are some votes that have not been consistent with that, but I have emphasized that he's pretty left-liberal for Missouri."

Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., noted the attacks are unusual in the historically congenial Senate.

"That has been put at risk by the early personal engagement of senator against senator," Schier said.

And that could wind up hurting those senators that are on the offensive, he said, especially if they are from politically competitive states like Minnesota.

"If Norm Coleman is seen as an attack dog, that could hurt him," Schier said. "Strong partisanship is seldom appealing to many Minnesota voters."

Coleman acknowledged that he does risk a backlash among voters.

"But I get back to my belief that I can be most effective for Minnesota by working with this president," said Coleman, who prides himself on a close relationship with the administration that has paid off for the state.

Would his active role in the campaign then backfire if Kerry wins?

"If John Kerry gets elected, I'm probably not going to have a lot of clout with the White House, no matter what I say now," Coleman said.

The senators rejected criticism that their political activity is undermining the civil tradition of the Senate.

"Listen, let's be candid about the Senate," Coleman said. "Every day, my colleagues on the other side are beating the heck out of the president, using the Senate as a vehicle to do that."

Talent said that when a senator runs for president, his record and opinions become "fair game."

"I believe these things are about issues, and what people are going to do, and there are plenty of distinctions in that without getting personal," he said.

But former Clinton strategist James Carville said the attacks will take their toll on the Senate.

"Any idea that there is any collegiality left in the Senate, these guys have pretty much destroyed," he said.

News Headlines

Related Subjects