The Schultz Report: Obama and Clinton wonder what to do; Franken v. Coleman gets underway

On this week's David Schultz audiocast, we discuss the impasse at which the Obama and Clinton campaigns have found themselves after Mississippi; the launch of the main event--Franken versus Coleman--in the US Senate race; and the status of Tim Pawlenty's VP aspirations.

"It's limbo for both candidates," Schultz says of the long interregnum between the Democratic primaries in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. In light of the widespread distaste for the nasty turn the race has taken, he adds, both Clinton and Obama "are grasping to figure out, what's the message? What do I need to do? I don't think either of them figured to be still fighting this far down the line. They were hoping, probably, to be able to catch their breath, having tied up the nomination by now." 

Continued: Click on Read More for excerpt's of Schultz's remarks
On fantasies of a Democratic "dream ticket:"

"I can't see [an Obama/Clinton ticket]. First off, it's gotten so nasty between the two of them, I just can't see them on the same ticket. In their own respective ways, both of them are rock stars. I can't see either of them wanting to have the other maybe eclipsing them as vice-president. Finally, I think you have very different motives going on. I think Clinton is saying, well, I'd be happy to have Obama be my running mate as a way of grabbing some of his supporters and portraying herself as the frontrunner."

On Ciresi's exit and Franken v. Coleman:

"For the longest time, Franken was both trailing Ciresi in head-to-heads with Coleman, and had tremendous negatives compared to Ciresi. But I think what Franken did was the product of a two-year effort. In 2006, he did an exceedingly good job at fundraising efforts, did a great job in terms of speaking engagements, and really started building party support.... He also benefited from Coleman, in a way. The Coleman campaign, very early on, threw out all the garbage that people anticipated would be thrown at Franken. They brought up things he'd written in his book, and things he'd said. But the fact it came out early, and Franken responded by saying, 'well, everybody knows that--it's out there,' I think that helped him get beyond it. And he's been very aggressive in the last few months, going to the unions, going to all the community meetings. He's done a very good job campaigning. Ciresi, I think, never really had the heart to be a campaigner. He never really put his whole effort into it.

"In the next two to three weeks, I suspect we're going to see [Franken and Coleman] engage each other more. More importantly, somebody--one of the campaigns, or a third-party interest group--will run the first attack ads. The basic rule of political advertising is, define before you get defined. I'm suspecting we'll see ads trying to tie Coleman to Bush and the war, versus efforts to define Franken as too liberal and an outsider. This is one race where character and personality are going to be a big factor."
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