Smear

[Disclaimer: This post was first published on Coleen Rowley's campaign weblog.]

Al Franken and other Democratic luminaries were kind enough to hold a fundraiser for Coleen this past Sunday in Brainerd. Tyler Rushmeyer of the Minnesota Daily, the U of M campus newspaper, reports on Coleen's remarks and the odd response from John Kline's campaign spokesman:

Rowley, who took the stage midway through the event, said Kline has the worst voting record in the state on environment, education, disabled veterans and working family issues, which she specifically selected for their nonpartisan nature.

"The 2nd District is Republican-leaning," she said. "But these issues are all things that any person should find important and Kline has done nothing to support them."

Marcus Esmay, spokesman for the Kline campaign, described Rowley's campaign as a "smear" against Kline's record.

"Congressman Kline is a 25-year Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, was Military Aide to both Presidents Carter and Reagan and received Four Legions of Merit," Esmay said via e-mail. "John Kline doesn't need to talk about having integrity and ethics, he has lived it."

Note how Esmay responds to criticisms of Kline's record in Congress by discussing Kline's military record. It's almost as if Esmay wants people to forget that John Kline has been their congressman for nearly four years.

Sadly, this has been John Kline's strategy during this campaign: to talk about anything and everything but what he has and hasn't done in Congress. It says a lot about both John Kline and his record as a congressman that an honest assessment of his record on the issues is deemed a "smear".