Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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If Kurt Bills' latest ad seems familiar, that's because it is:

Frame for frame, Bills' web spot mirrors Paul Wellstone's "Fast Paced Paul" ad from his 1990 bid for Senate.

Like Wellstone's spot, Bills' starts off with a familiar line:

"Hi, I'm Kurt Bills. I'm running for the United States Senate here in Minnesota. I don't have millions of dollars in lobbyist and Wall Street money, so I'm going to have to make this quick," Bills says in a shot of him standing in front of a converted school bus he is using to tour the state - 

From there, Bills jumps from shot to shot introducing his family (so did Wellstone), his house (again, Wellstone), and Rosemount High School, where Bills teaches (Wellstone was a teacher, too.)

Though Wellstone narrowly beat incumbent Rudy Boschwitz in 1990, he was long considered an long-shot in the race.

Fast forward to 2012, and Bills is an underdog in his bid to unseat DFL incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar, too. According to a recent SurveyUSA/KSTP poll, Bills is trailing Klobuchar by 24 percentage points.

School buses and underdog status aside, Bills and Wellstone share little in common. Before his death in 2002, Wellstone was one of the most liberal lawmakers to have represented Minnesota in the Senate. Bills is running to the right on a platform of lower spending, lower taxes and smaller government.

Politics and Government News

Capitol View®

Catharine Richert

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Conservative hopes to use liberal template for campaign

“Quick Kurt” of 2012 echos “Fast Paced Paul” of 1990

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