Erik Paulsen attacks again, falsely, might I add.
Recently I received a flier telling me that Dean Phillips is “heartless” because when he was “in charge,” 12,000 nurses went on strike when their health insurance was threatened.
That is false. Here are the actual facts: Continue reading “Flier’s attack on Dean Phillips as ‘heartless’ is false”
Three weeks before the 2018 midterms, more than a dozen Republican-held House seats appear to have tipped toward Democrats — and dozens more are in play too, according to polls and expert race ratings. Meanwhile, only a handful of Democrat-held seats appear to be in danger of flipping to the GOP.
The magic number for Democrats is 24: that is, they need to pick up, on net, 24 seats from Republicans to cement a House majority.
Currently, there are not yet that many individual contests in which Democrats are believed to have a solid advantage over GOP candidates. If we exclude toss-up contests and look only at how many races are at least leaning toward flipping, the Cook Political Report currently has Democrats favored to gain 15 seats on net. FiveThirtyEight has them clearly favored to net around 22, which would be agonizingly close.
Yet here’s the thing: There are many more remaining toss-up and other competitive contests — and they’re overwhelmingly in Republican-held districts.
View the complete October 16 article by Andrew Prokop on the Vox.com website here.
As Minnesota Republican Congressional candidates and their Washington allies get increasingly desperate, their attacks on DFL candidates continue to backfire. With no positive message to run on, Republicans continue to resort to misleading and flat-out false attack ads.
“The outrageous falsehoods that the Republican party continues to peddle are pathetic,” said DFL Chair Ken Martin. “From accusing decorated combat veteran Dan Feehan of being hostile to our Armed Forces, to suggesting that well-regarded civic leaders took part in a sexual harassment cover-up, the GOP has stooped to new lows in a last-ditch attempt to hold on to their fleeting Congressional majority. Republicans are refusing to talk about their policy positions because they know that DFLers are on the winning side of the issues voters care about, like ensuring access to quality affordable health care, getting dark money and special interests out of politics, and creating an economy that works for all Minnesotans.”
Yesterday, The Star Tribune published an op-ed penned by several respected Twin Cities civic leaders condemning Third District Rep. Erik Paulsen for the “unprecedented” and “outrageous” lies in his latest attack on DFL candidate Dean Phillips. Unlike other attack ads this year from outside groups, the spot in question is paid for an authorized directly by the Paulsen campaign. Continue reading “With Three Weeks to Election Day, Desperate GOP Attacks Continue to Backfire”
To the Editor:
For several months I’ve watched as Erik Paulsen’s campaign, PACs, shadow groups, and even the Congressman himself resort to lie after lie about Dean Phillips and wonder why he resorts to such dishonest attack ads to win reelection.
After all, the facts are clear and verifiable:
Continue reading “Have dishonest political ads become the norm?”
Excelsior, MN — In a stunning editorial yesterday, Minnesota business and community leaders joined together to condemn Erik Paulsen’s outrageously negative and dishonest campaign. The influential group issued an incredible rebuke of Erik Paulsen’s campaign, labeling it “reckless,” and “inappropriate,” and saying that “he has exhibited some of the worst behavior and judgment that we have ever seen in a congressional campaign.”
Paulsen, who has previously worked hard to craft a “nice guy” image, has repeatedly doubled down on this, and other false, out of context and distorted attacks, in his 2018 campaign against Dean Phillips. And while Republican outside spending groups have garnered national attention for their strategy of coordinated personal attacks based on falsehoods, Erik Paulsen himself has paid for and approved five straight ads containing these lies. Paulsen has even refused to acknowledge a request made by an attorney on behalf of the sexual harassment survivors that he stop using them as political pawns and take the ad down and apologize.
They write: Continue reading “Minnesota Leaders Join Together to Condemn Erik Paulsen’s Unprecedented Negative Campaign as “Reckless,” “Inappropriate” and “Desperate””
The scene is straight from Campaign Cinema 101. Natalie Mihalek, self-proclaimed “working mom,” appears in a nice-but-not-too-nice living room, making her seem just like you.
She never says where she’s from. But since this is an ad for suburban Minneapolis Congressman Erik Paulsen, the implication is she’s just an everyday mom from, say, Plymouth or Osseo. The kind who brings lemon bars to science fairs and cheers supportively at her daughter’s T-ball games.
She’s here to talk about how “thrilled” she is with Erik Paulsen’s “middle-class tax cut.”
View the complete October 16 article by Pete Kotz on the CityPages website here.
To the Editor:
Political candidates should talk about what they are going to do for our district instead of trashing their opponent. I am disgusted by Erik Paulsen’s negative TV ads opposing Dean Phillips. They constitute a Trump-worthy, personal smear campaign.
I cringe and mute the TV or change channels every time they come on. Based not on factual information but partial truth and innuendo, I see traces of antisemitism at the margins of these ads. I hope my district will not be fooled by the special interests funding them. We are smart enough to see through the tactics of using character assassination to get votes.
The Minnesota I know and love deserves representation for all of us in the 3rd Congressional District, regardless of party. We deserve and should demand a representative with civility who examines the issues, listens to all sides of an argument and builds consensus. Erik Paulsen won’t meet with his constituents, publishes strategic photo ops with veterans and makes school visits to court the 18-year-old vote. These are all superficial attempts to portray himself as Mr. Nice Guy. He is not. He votes the conservative Republican agenda 97.8 percent of the time, according to ABC’s FiveThirtyEight. We do not need Donald Trump representing the 3rd District. Please vote for Dean Phillips.
Mary Jane Miller, Minnetonka
MInnetonka Sun-Sailor, October 15, 2018
Excelsior, MN – Dean Phillips for Congress released a new TV ad this week. The ad, entitled “New Way,” showcases the broad support Phillips is generating in his campaign, with Democrats, independents and Republicans of all backgrounds joining together to help repair our politics and change Washington.
While Congressman Erik Paulsen continues to wage one of the most dishonest and negative campaigns in Minnesota history, Phillips is running a campaign built on honesty, decency and radical hospitality. In the ad, Phillips is seen with more than 200 of his campaign’s 2,000+ volunteers, all of whom are doing the work of the campaign – phone banking, communicating with voters via social media, assembling lawn signs and even writing handwritten thank you notes to the campaigns now more than 66,000 contributors.
“Our campaign is one where everyone’s invited – Democrats, independents and Republicans who know that we can do better,” said Dean Phillips. “Not only can we clean up corruption in Congress, but we can get past the lies and political distortions that blanket the airwaves, and return to a time when we were able to disagree without being disagreeable. I’m excited by the response to our message, and for voters seeking a new way forward, I welcome them to join us.” Continue reading “New Phillips Ad Offers a “New Way” Forward, Showcases Broad Support in Race for”
A national Republican political group attacks Democratic candidate for Congress Angie Craig in a TV ad for supporting repeal of the federal medical device tax, even though her Republican opponent also supports repealing that tax.
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen’s latest ad hitting his opponent, Democrat Dean Phillips, over a sexual harassment scandal draws a public rebuke from an attorney in the case who says Phillips had nothing to do with it.
As Election Day draws closer, the TV ad wars in these two suburban Twin Cities districts are growing more intense. Paulsen and Rep. Jason Lewis, the Republican in the neighboring congressional district, are facing Phillips and Craig in two expensive, hard-fought races that are among a handful likely to help determine which party controls the U.S. House next year.
On Friday, attorney Lori Peterson — who represented a group of women who sued Allina Health for sexual harassment in 2007 — blasted Paulsen for making it a campaign issue against Phillips.
Bad political ads are everywhere. You know the ones — footage of a candidate walking down a quaint Main Street, touring a construction site wearing a hard hat, or shaking hands at a senior center while a disembodied narrator intones their life accomplishments.
Those ads make veteran political filmmaker Mark Putnam’s eyes glaze over.
“Without singling out any particular — I don’t need to — there are so many like that,” Putnam told me in a recent interview.
View the complete October 11 article by Ella Nilsen on the Vox.com website here.
