It's the reel thing

The Winona Daily News reports in Accusations fly between Walz and Davis:

From accusations of lies to reminders of past DUIs, DFL Rep. Tim Walz and GOP challenger Brian Davis are getting noticeably nastier as Election Day draws near.

The candidates in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District agree on few issues but hadn’t yet thrown many personal jabs in the fight to determine if Walz represents southern Minnesota for a second straight term. A flurry of accusations in recent days changed that: A Walz spokesman accused the Davis campaign of lying about Walz’s tax positions in television and radio ads, while Davis demanded Walz apologize for an ad claiming Davis wants to cut Social Security benefits.

Davis’ new television ad, which slams Walz for his tax record, drew the most attention on Friday. Vote Smart, a nonpartisan voter-information group that’s cited in the ad, chided Davis for violating its ban on the use of its survey responses in partisan advertising. And the Walz campaign accused Davis of issuing “the biggest whopper of the campaign” in the new ad, which says Walz co-authored a bill to increase taxes on oil companies by $1 trillion.

That bill, a bipartisan energy proposal that Congress hasn’t approved, would have opened up new offshore areas to oil drilling. To access new offshore drilling land under that proposal, oil companies would have paid the same royalties they pay to drill on other sites — with the revenues going to alternative-fuel research and development.

Davis objects to the new drilling royalties being dedicated to alternative-fuel development; he said at least some of the funds should go to the Treasury’s general fund, as they do now.

Walz spokesman Chris Schmitter noted most cosponsors of the National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act were Republicans, including Minnesota Reps. John Kline and Michelle Bachmann.

“Does Dr. Davis honestly think that 178 Republicans in the House voted for ‘a trillion-dollar tax hike?’” Schmitter said.

Schmitter hits the nail on the head at the close of the article:

“We’re 11 days before an election — it’s pretty obvious what they’re doing,” Schmitter said Friday. “We want to be talking about the issues. That’s what people want to hear about.”.

Since so many of our friends will be up tomorrow, rain or shine, calm or wind, to door knock and phone bank, here's a little Scots music to roust themselves in the morning, from the legendary Phil and Johnny Cunningham: