I had a conversation on Friday night with a friend who does a lot of work in Minnesota about the nasty attack ads Norm Coleman has been running against Al Franken in the Senate race. Specifically, Coleman used video of Franken telling a heartwarming story about deceased Senator Paul Wellstone and his son to make Franken look angry. I tracked down the ad Franken put up in response and it truly is appalling how Coleman’s campaign twisted this footage for political purposes.

Coleman has since pulled down all negative ads, though he didn’t have the courage to tell Minnesota voters that it was because his campaign smears have failed and he can no longer chance voters responding to his attacks.