Norm Coleman's outfit desperately tries to keep Ilhan Omar-bashing alive

From a couple of days ago:

A political organization closely aligned with the Republican establishment is launching an advertising campaign this week to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota over her comments earlier this year that were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

An official from American Action Network, a conservative advocacy nonprofit group, told CNN the organization will spend six figures on digital ads that criticize Omar...

AAN, which was founded by former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, also of Minnesota, and the recently deceased GOP donor Fred Malek, has close ties with Republican House leadership. The group is affiliated with the Congressional Leadership Fund, a well-funded political action committee focusing on supporting GOP House candidates. - CNN

I can understand this from the perspective of, what else are Minnesota Republicans supposed to do? I saw somewhere that they’re trying to get Doug Wardlow to run against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) in 2020, as Karin Housley is apparently not up for a rematch. That’s just one indication of how desperately thin - indeed, emaciated - the GOP bench is, in this state. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) seems uninterested in bigger game. Perhaps you see Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) as just dripping with political charisma, but I wouldn’t state the case that way. Anyway:

So my simple point is this: Whether or not you agree with Omar’s remarks, whether or not you were personally offended, anyone who tells you that these nonstop, bipartisan political attacks on her are about fighting anti-Semitism is gaslighting you. - The Intercept

If Republicans ran Minnesota - education, elections, &c.

This series is based mostly on what Party of Trump state legislators have been trying to do. It is not remotely meant to be anywhere near exhaustive. Just items I’ve chosen to particularly highlight, being brought together for easy reference. I may be adding stuff, from time to time. Part 1, finances and budget, here. Part 2, environment, here.

School funding issues would only get worse. That’s what you call a “lock bet.”

State aid to Minnesota school districts—properly adjusted for inflation—has fluctuated significantly over the last fifteen years, but the overall trend has been downward, as documented in a recent North Star report. Of course, long-term trends are not exclusively the result of changes enacted by state policymakers.* Using information compiled during the 2017 special legislative session, it’s possible to isolate the impact of legislative actions during the current fiscal year (FY) 2018-2019 biennium. And those actions led to a decline in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) per pupil general education revenue. - North Star Policy Institute

More here. And here, especially about how Republicans seek to backdoor public money for private schools.

- Election-rigging. Of course. Republicans have made numerous efforts to destroy Minnesota’s public campaign financing, and to potentially enable gerrymandering. In particular, they’ve sought to add riders to these ends to must-pass budget bills, apparently blissfully oblivious to just how obnoxiously childish - and cowardly - such tactics make them look.

- An effort to get the Appleton prison doing its thing died in the Senate, this time. Also from Bluestem Prairie, outstate locals do not in fact really seem to be on fire for the lock-em-up mentality. But a GOP legislature and governor would presumably quickly pass one of those override bills, mostly used in other states so far to reverse local minimum wage increases, to deal with such manifestations of intelligence and humanity.