Coleman taking out full-page ad to attack Franken's ties to MoveOn.org

Sen. Norm Coleman's re-election campaign is taking out a full-page ad to call attention to another one ? MoveOn.org's New York Times advertisement attacking Gen. David Petraeus ? in hopes of tying Democratic challenger Al Franken to the group.

"Ridiculous," says the ad slated to run Tuesday in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday. "That's what Al Franken said he thought when 72 Republican and Democrat senators -- including Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar -- joined together to condemn MoveOn.org's attack on an active duty military commander."

What's "really ridiculous," the ad continues, is Franken helping to raise money for the liberal anti-war group. The MoveOn.org ad is featured in the background, behind a pointing Franken.

Last week, the Senate voted 72-25 to condemn the MoveOn.org ad, headlined, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House." That ad ran as Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, testified on Capitol Hill.

On the day of the Senate vote, Coleman, R-Minn., called on DFL challengers Franken and Mike Ciresi to condemn the ad as well. Ciresi's campaign responded that Coleman should be focused on ending the war, not on advertisements.

Franken campaign spokesman Andy Barr said that Franken "thought the resolution was ridiculous and a waste of the Senate's valuable time -- which could have been better spent voting to bring the troops home."

The Coleman ad urges people to tell Franken to "stand up to MoveOn.org instead of standing with them." It includes a link to Coleman's campaign Web site, where people can fill in a message to send to Franken.

The ad comes two months after Franken ran a full-page ad in the Star Tribune trying to link Coleman's voting record in the Senate to President Bush's unpopular Iraq war policy. It featured a picture of Bush and Coleman standing arm-in-arm.

"Al Franken took out a full-page ad in the Star Tribune to try to push Norm Coleman to force President Bush to bring our troops home from Iraq," Barr said. "It sounds like rather than do that, Norm Coleman would rather play politics, which is entirely characteristic of his behavior throughout this war."

Barr said that Franken has done some organizing events for MoveOn.org.

The Coleman campaign said it paid just over $23,000 for its ad, while Franken's campaign said it paid $37,000 for its ad. The Star Tribune advertising office couldn't immediately be reached Monday night to explain the different rates.

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said that Tuesday's ad is the first major one the campaign has done.

By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer

Check out our KARE family of Web sites:
	takeKARE		Metromix
	Moms Like Me		Minnesota Bound
	Showcase Minnesota