Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) is partly to blame for the US Senate results.

[Eric J in MN]

The ad smearing Franken as "unfit for office" was played over-and-over on Minnesota televison for the past month.

It relies on the implication that even Democrat Betty McCollum finds Franken "unacceptable."

After the NRSC starting quoting her in a TV ad calling Franken's behavior "unacceptable," McCollum could have:

a) Called a press conference denouncing the ad,

and

b) sent an open letter to NRSC asking them to stop running it,

and

c) put a denunciation of the ad on the front-page of her website for the rest of the campaign.


She did none of these.

[electron_blue]

1. My neighbor who voted for Obama, voted against Franken bcs of these ads

[mzmolly]

3. I knew of several people who believed Franken was "offensive" due to

those ads. :(

[dpbrown]

2. McCollum is the consummate insider

Since she saw Franken as coming from "out of town" she thought she didn't have to keep her mouth shut.

If that would have been her buddy Ceresi I think you can bet she would have never made that gaffe.

[bjb]

4. blame

I agree. She does share some of the blame. She could have kept her big mouth shut.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

5. I know someone who was part of her campaign, and from his words, that's EXACTLY what she felt.

He was an outsider, and didn't "do things" they "way they were supposed to be done".

The whole "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" thing.

Supposedly, Franken didn't want to play the game she wanted to play.

[eyepaddle]

6. Wow, if that is the case, that's a real bummer

But, I suppose pettiness can crop up in any group and knows no party lines. :(

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

7. Yeah. He was convinced Franken would lose big.

And he's been working for political campaigns for nearly six years now. He'll probably be a recognizable name in about 5-10 years in DC.
But he's very "old school" in his political thinking. And for all the posturing about Betty being a schoolteacher, she's got the standard political behavior down pat.

I think DC really needs someone like Franken in there. Wellstone did fine, and he didn't play the games they wanted him to play.

[kikiek]

8. I blame the delusional Lord Faris too

[MNReformer]

9. Didn't know this...

It makes me sad. Betty has done a "few things" lately that made me and others angry. I voted for her but I don't think she worries much about being booted out and that's a shame because maybe she would think twice about doing things like this.