Branding in CD 3 begins

Caught Mitch over at Shot in the Dark railing about "Centrist" Erik Paulsen while ripping into "liberal" Ashwin Madia.

Now, I wouldn't recognize Berg if I ran into him, but I don't believe I saw him at the CD 3 DFL Convention, or at any other pre-convention events.

This is great; while the media will do their best to portray Madia as a moderate, the fact is that he has had to run far to the left to outflank Terry “Don’t Call Me Karla” Bonoff, leaving the unopposed Paulsen plenty of room in the middle.

Actually, Madia has a moderate position on Iraq. As a Marine Corp Officer who actually had "boots on the ground" in Iraq, his position for a responsible timeline makes sense.

"Centrist" Paulsen, has no mention of Iraq on his campaign website.

Gavin Sullivan reports:

The convention featured an invited speaker, Lieutenant Colonel [Ret.] Michael Baumann, author of Adjust Fire: Transforming to Win in Iraq. No other speaker addressed Iraq during the convention. Baumann believes the war was a great idea and supports Pres. Bush's open-ended US commitment in that country. The CD3 GOP convention rewarded Michael Baumann with a standing ovation; it seems fair to infer that Baumann's full-speed-ahead view on Iraq is supported by the delegates.

And

Paulsen is ducking the main issues. He refuses to speak on the topic of Iraq;

That last one has been clear for some time now, he won't fare well if he continues to duck key issues in the race.

Taking a look at the "centrist" voting record of Erik Paulsen is an interesting affair.

During the 2005 session, the "centrist" Paulsen voted against an increase to the $5.15 minimum wage, which had remained stagnant since 1997. He joined other "centrists" like Laura Brod, Mark Buesgens, Matt Dean, Randy Demmer, Tom Emmer, Phil Krinkie, and other "centrists".

As the race continues, we'll continue to fisk Paulsen's voting record. It's not the record of a "centrist", although the right wing blogosphere will do everything they can to paint Paulsen in this picture, while painting Madia as an unabashed liberal.

Saying Madia is "left of Bonoff", withtout any facts, is the status quo for the right wing blogosphere, desperately looking to control the branding of the candidates in the 3rd CD.