GOP Accused of Playing Up Racial Angle Against Ashwin Madia (MN-3)

[Lunar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hOKbgnFnPg&eurl

As many of you know, Ashwin Madia is running for the open seat held by a retiring GOP congressman in MN-3, one of the top ten districts in the entire country likely to switch parties.

Interesting angle, do you think the code words are a little too obvious?

The Minnesota Democratic Party is circulating this video.

"I'm just saying from a demographic standpoint, Erik Paulsen fits the district very well,"

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

He's not running in my district, but MN-3.

[Lunar]

He's not running in my district, but MN-3.

Oops, my bad.  Ashwin was living in MN-5 previously, but when the seat became available he moved back to Plymouth.

[Sam Spade]

These races are starting to get ugly and will only get uglier.  It's the season.

OTOH, I got my DSCC e-mail today (as I'm sure you did) asking for money saying that we're close to sixty seats and that we're leading in six races currently held by GOPers.

Right now, I have seven races at toss-up or better for the Dems.  I am sure they are not talking about Minnesota, Kentucky or Mississippi (regardless of what the Star-Tribune (lol) says).  Which seat on my list are they not leading in?

I also read the Politico article today with a McCain advisor saying that Liddy Dole is dead in the water and that Democrats will probably start advertising more in KY now (not surprised) and that Georgia may be problematic.

Food for thought.  Your thoughts?

[Lunar]

I suspect the Democrats will advertise in Kentucky, partly because it's such an exciting prospect, both for the DNC and for fundraisers, and partly because it's looking a lot more favorable to them than ME, TX, etc.

Georgia is out of the question unless Obama has maintained his organizational machine there (I'm not sure), and even if he has, probably not.

I'm kind of offended by the anti-Madia comments put out by that dude in the Youtube.  I'm pretty sure that Ashwin is going to win after seeing how incompetent his opponent's spokesmen are.  It's so easy to race-bait, how can they screw that up?  It's like riding a tricycle.

You know things are bad if your Indian-American opponent is willing to remind voters that some white voters don't like Indians in order to point out his opponent's mistake.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Paulsen's anti-Madia attacks weren't even really racially based, he basically attacked Madia for being "un-suburban", I kid you not. I think his spokesman even used that term. Basically said Madia lives in an apartment, is single and has no family and lived in Minneapolis until the election. I suppose the carpetbagger charge is valid, (which is the base of it), but the rest is downright comical. And plays right into my stereotype of what suburbs are like.

I mean, even I can't imagine a candidate from downtown Minneapolis attacking a candidate from New Hope in the DFL primary in this district over the opposite grounds. I doubt it would even fly really (regional voting would, but no one's going to vote for someone based on if they rent or own a house.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Paulsen's anti-Madia attacks weren't even really racially based, he basically attacked Madia for being "un-suburban",

I'm surprised that you missed the obvious subtext to that. Twin Cities Suburbia is utterly white.

[minionofmidas]

Paulsen's anti-Madia attacks weren't even really racially based, he basically attacked Madia for being "un-suburban",

I'm surprised that you missed the obvious subtext to that. Twin Cities Suburbia is utterly white.

Might be because the cities are majority-white too.

[MarkWarner08]

 It seems that Madia's ads are resonating with voters and he's been effectively winning over moderate Republican voters. If naked race-baiting is the last option for the Paulsen campaign, he must be falling in the polls.

[minionofmidas]

It seems that Madia's ads are resonating with voters and he's been effectively winning over moderate Republican voters. If naked race-baiting is the last option for the Paulsen campaign, he must be falling in the polls.

Probably, yes.

I'd want to see a GOP ad making that point though, not ever-and-ever-replayed statements by a GOP spokesman, edited by a Democrat.

[ilikeverin]

He's not running in my district, but MN-3.

Oops, my bad.  Ashwin was living in MN-5 previously, but when the seat became available he moved back to Plymouth.

He's running in my (I suppose ex-)district.  I've been a bit separated from what's going on there, for obvious reasons, besides a Google News feed, though I do know there was recently a minor scandal that the wife of Ash's communications director was videotaped ripping out Paulsen posters (a Paulsen staffer "happened" to be in a nearby restaurant... though I happen to know said restaurant is within walking distance of Madia's campaign offices, so he may have been waiting around trying to eavesdrop on Madia staffers, or something ), though the Paulsen posters themselves were placed illegally in the public right-of-way (I should know that's illegal- I did the research in the Madia office about political sign regulations!).  Anti-Madia push polls were being conducted at about the same time.

And, yes, I'm completely aware that all people who come from this district are 100% racist, which is why we allowed Madia to earn the DFL nomination... when we defeat him with a resounding 80-20 victory, that'll teach those gosh darned immigrants, hah!

In reality, I'm rather a fan of those theories that implicate Minnesota's (and MN-03's) resounding victories for Obama in the primaries to our quite low proportions of non-white residents: the percentages of non-whites are too low for there to be significant racially-based politics.  Perhaps I'm just being hopeful because half my friends in the schools were Asian, but I really couldn't see "anti-Asian bias" playing too much of a role in the election; the vast majority of Asians in this district are of the "South Asian/Chinese prosperous engineer" variety, and so trying to make Ash into some SCARY SCARY ASIAN BOOGEYMAN doesn't make sense.  Odd as it sounds, I don't think this is some "thinly veiled racial attack"... they are really just attacking him for being un-suburbanite, odd as it may seem.

[Fritz]

I know Ashwin's little brother.  Nic guy, he's in med school now.