Stalled Minn. Senate Race a Home Run for Fundraisers

Groups for both parties reap cash by citing Franken-Coleman battle

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 6, 2009 9:21 AM CDT

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Stalled Minn. Senate Race a Home Run for Fundraisers — Al Franken attorney Kevin Hamilton, left, looks over an exhibit with Joe Mansky, election director for Ramsey County, during the Senate vote recount trial Friday, March 6, 2009 in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

For some political fundraisers, the longer the Franken-Coleman race barrels onward, the better: it’s helping them pull down huge sums, Politico reports. Groups from both parties are hitting up their constituents for cash, using the Minnesota race to spark sympathy. “We need to expose these illicit attempts to steal the election. You can help us today,” reads an email to supporters from a GOP group fundraising for itself.

Both parties also cite the Minnesota race in their bids for cash after this week’s tight upstate New York congressional election. “We've seen these kinds of tactics before—just look at Al Franken,” wrote a Democratic campaign committee head. “There’s just a high interest in the race,” said a GOP group that’s hired Coleman as a consultant. “Everywhere he goes, he’s like a rock star.”
(More Election 2008 stories.)

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