Good afternoon and welcome to RussertWatch. This edition is being blogged from L'Etoile du Nord of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While the rest of the country may look upon this frozen state with fond memories of Grumpy Old Men, Minnesota has become a political hotbed for the upcoming election. And at the center of this debate is the Senatorial election between Democratic Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar and Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy, who squared off this morning on Meet the Press.
A little background: The seat that Klobuchar and Kennedy are vying for is the one being vacated by Democratic Senator Mark Dayton. When the campaign kicked off, it was widely anticipated to be one of the most hotly contested and closest races in the country. However, the latest polls show Klobuchar ahead by a margin of 56 to 32. So much for hotly contested.
A little more background: Minnesota is also a battleground for the House of Represenatatives, where Democrat Keith Ellison is poised to become the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress. And it will continue to be a battleground in 2008, when current Senator Norm Coleman will likely face off against the irrepressible Al Franken for reelection.
And finally, some more background: I was employed for a short time as an intern in the County Attorney's office while Amy Klobuchar was the County Attorney. Full disclosure.
On to the show. Russert, looking rather more pink that usual, opened with an interview of UN Ambassador John Bolton, whose bushy moustache and large hair continue to reach new heights. The focus of the interview was on North Korea. Russert wanted to know if the US Armed Forces were willing to board North Korean vessels and if President Bush was prepared for massive retaliation, should North Korea bomb one of our allies. Bolton assured viewers that President Bush " He personally has engaged in extensive diplomacy this week." Wow. President Bush: consummate diplomat. That makes me feel much better.
After a long commercial break, the show finally came back to the debate between Klobuchar and Kennedy. Russert opened the debate by focusing on North Korea. Honestly, both Klobuchar and Kennedy began by parroting the talking points put forward by John Bolton. They both advocated a strong stance against North Korea, saying that the United States needed to continue "ratcheting up the pressure" if Kim Jong Il continues with his weapons programs.
Russert then turned his attention to a comment that Kennedy made back in 2003 saying:
"On the whole, the trend [in Iraq] is very positive. ... Our troops ... face ... a collection of terrorists and thugs, of whom there are fewer each day."
Russert's comment was, "That's just dead wrong."
Amazingly, Kennedy, looking like a turtle without the shell, didn't try to backtrack on that statement. And Russert seemed genuinely surprised that Kennedy wasn't backing off. It was as though Kennedy was stuck in a time warp, and he thought it was still 2003. You could almost hear President Bush's faux-twang peeking through Kennedy's nasal Minnesota accent, as Kennedy repeated the same tired phrases: "We're making progress,"and, "we have to win this war on terror."
When the debate turned to Klobucahar, the County Attorney came off as down-right moderate. Kennedy tried to attack Klobuchar's record by saying she would have been against a bill that gave the troops body armor. He repeated the claim several times throughout the debate. Klobuchar refuted the claims as patently absurd saying, "of course I support body armor for our troops."
The fact is, Klobuchar is not a progressive in the ilk of Paul Wellstone. Klobuchar is a moderate. She supports the Patriot Act. She even said in the debate, "I did support some of the changes that were later made to the Patriot Act with library books, library records and things like that." So she's not as progressive as many people in this state would like, but at least she has a plan.
Every question Kennedy was asked, he turned it into an attack against Klobuchar. He never once talked about what he would do differently, or even what he would do. He simply said, "It just tells you, when a liberal says they're going to soak the rich, the middle class gets drenched."
Kennedy has even taken to making up stuff, as evidenced by the baseless claim that Klobuchar wants to provide illegal immigrants with Social Security. Kennedy repeated this claim throughout the debate, until Klobuchar pointed out that the local paper, the Star Tribune, recently ran a piece saying, "The Kennedy claim is misleading on several levels."
Russert's role in all of this was to try and get the two to start fighting. The two have been at each other's throats throughout the election, so it wouldn't seem like a hard task. But Kennedy refused to even look towards Klobuchar throughout the course of the debate. Russert even asked, "Respond to that and ask a question" But every question that was asked, Kennedy simply turned the question into an attack against Klobuchar, instead of a plan for Minnesota. I'm the only candidate in this race," Klobuchar pointed out, "that has come out with a plan to balance the budget.
One of the more telling moments came when Russert actually questioned Kennedy on his record. Kennedy is trying to front a campaign of fiscal conservativism. While Kennedy has voted with the President more than 90 percent of the time throughout his tenure in congress, Kennedy believes the president could use, "A little bit more leadership on spending." He went on to talk about his opposition to the "bridges to no where in Alaska," and the "rain forest in Iowa." However, Russert responded by saying "But you voted for both those proposals."
The debate was ended on a sour note for Kennedy. Russert questioned openly if the GOP was pulling their support of Kennnedy. The GOP hasn't even run any ads in Kennedy's favor, opting instead to let Kennedy make a fool of himself in ads that resemble jokes more than Campaign ads.
Kennedy refused to acknowledge that the GOP is distancing itself from him. Again, he turned the question back into an attack on Klobuchar saying: "I don't see the kind of support out there for Ms. Klobuchar's, you know, proposals."
Honestly, Mr. Kennedy. 56-32. Look at the polls.