politics

WASHINGTON - While Minnesota DFLers tussle for next year's U.S. Senate nomination, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is taking aim at political satirist Al Franken, top fundraiser in the race so far.

Coleman, who has absorbed several television ad campaigns attacking him on the Iraq war, launched the first video attack of his campaign Monday on his website and on YouTube, firing at Franken.

The ad comes as the Senate remains deadlocked on war funding and after months in which the Minnesota Republican Party has made Franken the focus of its Senate campaign statements.

Dubbed "Franken vs. Franken," the spot highlights perceived inconsistencies in Franken's public utterances on the war, adopting a criticism also heard among liberal bloggers and fellow DFLers.

Franken has made little secret of his evolving views, having once given the Bush administration the benefit of the doubt on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.

The former "Saturday Night Live" star and Air America radio host now argues to tie war funding to withdrawal timetables, something Democrats have been unable to do in the year since they took control of the House and Senate.

Coleman, too, has altered his views, though his campaign says he has not changed his basic contention that the United States must "fight and win" in Iraq.

"The problem is that Al Franken can't quite seem to make up his mind about where he stands," said Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan.

Franken's campaign faulted Coleman for failing to fall off from support for the war.

"Norm Coleman's record is clear," said Franken spokesman Andy Barr. "Blind support of the president's disastrous Iraq policy and absolutely no interest in defending his repeated votes against bringing our troops home."

The exchange comes amid signs that violence in Iraq is lessening.

Some political analysts say it is surprising to see a Republican start a row over Iraq, an issue that helped Democrats win control of Congress and that could still hurt the GOP next year.

Joseph Kunkel, a political scientist at Minnesota State University, Mankato, said the ad underscores a vulnerability for the DFLer that the GOP expects to face next year. "It indicates some of the reasons they're optimistic about running against [Franken]. He's on tape so much."

The spot is a judiciously edited collection of clips from Franken campaign appearances, interviews and pronouncements over the past two years. In some cases, clips are out of chronological sequence or repeated to reinforce the impression of Franken contradicting himself.

"It seems he isn't being straight with Minnesotans about his positions on the war," Sheehan said.

Barr said the clips take Franken's words out of context. "The people of Minnesota aren't interested in word games."

Kevin Diaz • 202-408-2753