New Paulsen ad accuses Madia of “lying”

The same day Republican congressional candidate Erik Paulsen appeared at a press conference decrying the negative tone of Minnesota's 3rd District race, he also released a new television ad accusing his DFL opponent Ashwin Madia of repeatedly lying.

One of the three alleged "lies" is based on a story broken right here on Polinaut.

It dates back to Madia's DFL endorsement battle with state Sen. Terri Bonoff. Madia won that endorsement even though some DFL delegates were suspicious of his Republican past.

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In talking about that issue, Madia often said he had supported John McCain during the Republican presidential primary in 2000. Two days before the DFL endorsing convention, I asked him about that:

MPR: 2000 election, of course, McCain wasn't the nominee. Did you actually vote for Bush in 2000?

Madia: No.

MPR: You didn't? You voted for Al Gore?

Madia: Yes.

But Madia told another reporter that he had voted for Bush that year. When I saw that article, I asked the Madia campaign which statement was true.

"He flubbed it with you," Madia's then-spokesman Chris Truscott said, explaining that Madia had, in fact, voted for Bush. Truscott said Madia had been distracted during our interview and misspoke.