Norm Coleman is contemplating another campaign against a recognized comedian. No, he’s not going after Al Franken’s Senate seat: he’s thinking of taking on RNC chairman Michael Steele.
Politico reports that Coleman, currently the CEO of the 501(c)3 American Action Forum and its 501(c)4 political arm the American Action Network, has had several conversations with highly-placed Republican officials to suss out his prospects — which, given Steele’s tenure, might just be pretty good, even from far outside the GOP — and will likely do more of that at the August meeting in Kansas City.
Coleman, naturally, issued a non-denial denial.
In an e-mail, the former St. Paul mayor said only that he was working to help Republicans in 2010.
“My focus is on the 2010 elections,” Coleman wrote in response to questions about his interest in the RNC post. “We have a huge opportunity to stop the Democrats’ out-of-control spending and losing the opportunity would be devastating for the country.”
However, a “close confidant” totally not put up to the task of talking to Politico in order to float Coleman’s potential candidacy told Politico that Coleman is “intrigued.”
“He sees tremendous longing for donors who want to invest in an organization that will be critical to the 2012 cycle,” said the Coleman confidante. “And he has a proven track record of being able to raise money from the party’s traditional key constituencies and constituencies the party doesn’t always have.”
The RNC considers its chairmanship mostly a fundraising position — and the latest news indicates that RNC insiders are far from satisfied with Steele’s performance on that score — let alone his reported fudging of those numbers by failing to pay invoices on time.
Of course, the same sources floating Coleman’s candidacy are quick to point out the reasons he might not run after all, if his now-public flirtation with the RNC is unrequited. The RNC, it’s said, loves its no-name insiders; Coleman only just took the reins at AAF/AAN and they probably want to keep him; Coleman might be too liberal for the hard-liners; and, of course, he does love his current job.
Basically, it sounds a lot like Coleman asked a friend to pass a note to Politco to pass to the RNC which says, “Do you like me? Circle YES or NO.” And now we’ll all just have to wait for it to get passed back again.
