Tim Walz and Gil Gutknecht will face off one-to-one today for the second time. In their last meeting--a debate over ag policy in Owatonna--Walz dominated the event.
The Steel County Farmers Union sponsored the last meeting; today's host is the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. Although the focus of the questions is likely to be business-related, those who attend the luncheon forum should also expect to hear questions about business and the economy, the DM & E project, national security because of the date, and international trade. The debate begins at 12:15 p.m. sharp at the Rochester Marriott.
What else can those at the debate expect? Not long ago, Checks and Balances reported an unsourced rumor that the Gutknecht campaign was going to go negative. Since then, we have seen the RNCC and political operative bloggers give themselves the barking fantods about an 11-year-old speeding ticket.
Perhaps nothing unusual will happen today and people attending the forum will have the treat of seeing the contrast between Tim Walz and the incumbent firsthand. Walz should do well again--in addition to teaching and National Guard service, he is a small business owner. Gutknecht is having a difficult time holding his own on the issues.
Thus, one needn't possess the Fat Lady of Limbourg's delicate sensibilities in order to predict more efforts to impugn Tim Walz's character by Republicans and their operatives.
That's what they're paid for.
Not long ago, Checks and Balances reported an unsourced rumor that the Gutknecht campaign was going to go negative.
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I suspect that you’ve read the Washington Post story on Sunday about the GOP’s plan to spend mega-dollars going negative. If not, here’s the link.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901079.html?sub=AR
I think they will use a three prong approach.
#1. Overt – i.e. sending the info to pseudo-bloggers like MDE and forcing the press to publish or miss the story.
#2. Covert through push polls. The GOP has already used push polls in Iowa and last week in Rhode Island. Here’s the Lincoln Chafee story –it’s a good one.
http://www.projo.com/extra/election/content/projo_20060908_senate8.31dbc57.html
#3. Selective – or should I say Intelligent – voter/issue advertising.
Do you recall back in February when the GOP sent out a C/D to gather voter input on issues … in reality, it was just to determine how to market the Republican team to the voter. Here’s a link to the MPR story with sample questions.
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/minnesota/polinaut/archive/2006/02/the_gop_cd.php
The best defense for Walz is an aggressive early absentee ballot campaign. The Republicans will want the voter to make up his mind early and will launch misleading ads. Walz also needs to couple his campaign with other Democrats that are running … up and down the ballot … no doubt the Republicans will push the voter for a solid Republican ballot … even though I can find so many differences between Gutknecht and Kennedy and Pawlenty.
Posted by: MinnesotaCentral | September 11, 2006 at 08:24 PM