Madia and Paulsen campaigns decry “push-polling”
It looks like outside spending and negative campaigning may have begun in Minnesota's highly competitive 3rd District congressional race.
DFL candidate Ashwin Madia's campaign says it has received numerous reports of so-called "push polling" from voters in the district. Push polls masquerade as scientific polls, but are actually telemarketing efforts designed to disseminate negative messages about a candidate.
In a press release the campaign said the calls "distorted Madia's position on Iraq and falsely stated that Madia was impeached when he was the president of the University of Minnesota student body."
Campaign Manager Stu Rosenberg sent a letter to his counterpart at Republican Erik Paulsen's campaign calling on Paulsen to disavow the tactics.
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Michael Brodkorb, who's filling in as a spokesman for the Paulsen campaign, said Paulsen is not behind the calls, and countered that he also has heard reports of anti-Paulsen push polling.
"We're both victims of these outside groups," Brodkorb said, adding supporters told the Paulsen campaign that the AFSCME union was behind the anti-Paulsen calls. Brodkorb also noted that AFSCME has endorsed Madia, and called on Madia to "distance himself" from them.
As of this posting, Minnesota AFSCME Council 5 had not responded to an voicemail message seeking comment, and the Madia campaign said it was not aware of any push polling by AFSCME.
Update 6 pm: Eliot Seide, executive director of Minnesota AFSCME Council 5, says his organization is not push-polling in the 3rd Congressional District. He says AFSCME members are calling other AFSCME members, urging them to support Madia, and he says the phone bank script does not even mention Erik Paulsen.
The Madia campaign said Houston-based Promark Research was behind some of the anti-Madia calls, according to supporters who had received the calls. The receptionist who answered the phone at Promark said the public relations representative was out of the office for the day.
Bruce Anderson, campaign manager for Independence Party candidate David Dillon, said as far as he knows Dillon has not been the victim of any push polling, "but we expect to be, because we are going to be successful."
Madia and Paulsen have each said they will need to raise around $3 million in one of the most closely-watched congressional races in the country -- and that doesn't count the money that will be spent by outside groups.
--Curtis Gilbert