The DFL candidates for governor have spent months together, hearing each others' lines, listening to each others' talking points, absorbing each others' stump speeches.

And now, according to DFL gubernatorial candidate Paul Thissen's campaign manager, they're starting to sound alike. A little too alike.

Tuesday, Thissen campaign manager Gia Vitali said Democratic gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher had "appropriated the language and message Paul Thissen has been promoting for the past six months."

The problem seems to center around the words "yes" and "no." Both candidates have used it in very similar phrases (and neither was President Obama's "Yes, we can.")

The Kelliher campaign finds the dust-up bewildering, according to MPR's Tom Scheck.

"I don't think 'yes' is a copyrighted statement or term," Allison Myhre told public radio. "We're not coopting their message."

Here's a selection from a pre-caucus email from Kelliher's campaign that Vitali said made her "sad." for Kelliher.

For too long, Republican leaders in our state have been the party of no. No jobs, no recovery, no solutions. I'm running for governor to lead Minnesota on the road to economic recovery. I've been traveling to every corner of the state as I build a people-powered campaign for governor. Together, we can say yes. Yes to opportunity, yes to ideas, and the future.

And here's a selection from a Thissen palm card:

Minnesota needs a governor who will stand up and say "Yes" to Minnesota and its extraordinary promise.

And from Thissen's 2009 campaign kick-off speech:

The answer that our current governor and his allies have given to Minnesota families is simply to say 'No'. 'No' to education. 'No' to affordable health care for everybody. 'No' to the kind of investment we need to make in innovation and technology and science, to compete in this global economy. 'No' to hardworking families who are losing their homes and losing their jobs.

I am running for governor because we need a leader who is going to be willing to stand up and say 'Yes' to Minnesota and its extraordinary promise. 'Yes' to all the solutions that we know will work. 'Yes' to the long-term investments that will stand the test of time. 'Yes' to rebuilding the Minnesota that we've always known and loved and making it even better. More just, more fair, more prosperous for everybody.