Washington, D.C. (rightcommentary.com): I had reported in a previous story about Al Franken’s tax debacle, and later on an update at MNPublius.com stating that perhaps the Dem’s were suffering buyer’s remorse over Franken. I lived in Minnesota for 25 years before moving to the Beltway and suffered through numerous DFL debacles and campaigns - relying on the fact that in the end, I was definitely a red-voter living in a blue state. The last time I was in Minnesota - Christmas - I heard nothing but vitriol about Sen. Coleman and how the next Senator would be a democrat - most likely at the time, notable trial lawyer and a legend in his own mind - Mike Ciresi (Union Carbide disaster and Tobacco plaintiff’s lawyer).  After Ciresi imploded, the heir apparent to Sen. Coleman’s seat was none other than - I’m smart enough, I’m good enough, and doggonite - no one else is in the race - Al Franken.

So I was pretty sure that Franken was going to topple Coleman - and quite frankly so were most observers over in DC whom I’ve talked to. Some of whom even had worked with Coleman at one time or another. I am, however, a Coleman fan and have been since I worked in St. Paul ages ago when Coleman was first elected mayor.

St. Paul is the capitol of Minnesota. Like many states - the capitol city is not the hotbed of excitment and commerce. That honor goes to sister city - Minneapolis. St. Paul is a quaint city of big mansions, winding roads, and maintains much of its character from being a hub of river commerce in the 18 and 1900’s. It is much smaller than Minneapolis, however, it had a vibrant economy and a rather stable population. All in all - as far as capitol cities go - it was pretty good.

And then - West Publishing Company was purchased by Thompson legal, and the West plan downtown shut down. And Minnesota Mutual left. And business after business left… and St. Paul was dying… a slow bleed out.

Mayor Coleman stopped all of that and began to turn St. Paul around. As Coleman took office, the economy began to rebound. Under his leadership, St. Paul enjoyed a development boom that included construction of the new Science Museum of Minnesota, the arena that’s home to the new pro hockey team, a new convention center, downtown office buildings, and a variety of smaller projects. And now, the GOP is hosting their convention there in August…. quite a change from what it was when he arrived.

I should have had more faith in Sen. Coleman - anyone who could turn around St. Paul deserved at least the benefit of the doubt against Al Franken.

… and it looks like Coleman has (for the first time I believe) put Franken on the defensive.

In the latest SurveyUSA poll Coleman comes out pretty well against Franken:

Of those people, 59 percent said the recent troubles made them less likely to support Franken and 31 percent said it made no difference.

When asked whether Franken should withdraw from the race, 51 percent said he should withdraw while 38 said he should stay in the race.

According to a separate SurveyUSA poll, Coleman now leads Franken by 10 points — the same margin Coleman had in March. But since the last poll, Coleman has solidified his base with 99 percent of Republicans saying they support him. That’s up seven points.

Franken has support from 67 percent of Democrats, which is down eight points.

… RUN NORM RUN! I’d rather not give up that seat to the Democrats in the fall. Sen. Klobuchar is enough… thanks.