Politics

(WCCO) He calls it "The Hope Express."

It's an ordinary black SUV, but a deliberate detour for Norm Coleman from his customary U.S. Senate campaign -- notable for it's go-for-the-throat, take-no-prisoners operating procedure.

Now on TV and out on the campaign trail it's the new "Norm-light."

"Because I gotta tell you," said Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, "that I have never seen the level of anxiety, concern, fear in my 32 years of public service that I've seen in the last week traveling this state."

Coleman's political epiphany came during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. After a day of fasting and reflection, he somberly announced an abrupt political-about-face. Abandoning all negative campaigning.

"At times like this," Coleman said, "politics should not add to negativity. It should lift people up with hope and a confident vision for the future."

But Coleman and national Republicans have spent millions of attack dollars on character-based negative ads against Democrat Al Franken.

And if maverick is this year's political catch-word, Norm Coleman has made a political career out it. Adapting, as necessary, to survive.

Coleman's transformation from Brooklyn, N.Y. to Minnesota Senator came full circle at the state's Republican Convention 2002. He was endorsed even after his off-key rendition of a Bob Dylan anti-establishment anthem.

"Come Senators, Congressmen please heed the call," Coleman sang at the podium, "For the times they are a changin' "

A one-time student agitator, Coleman led Hofstra University's Vietnam War protests. He attended Woodstock as a roadie for a rock and roll band. Then he moved to Minnesota to work in the Democratic Attorney General's office. He was elected St. Paul Mayor as a Democrat, and a second time as a Republican.

It was as a Republican that Coleman took on Sen. Paul Wellstone in a bitter campaign, turned tragic with Wellstone's death just days before the election.

Then, like now, Coleman reversed himself -- from negative to positive.

"Respectfully you did this when Paul Wellstone died also," asked WCCO political reporter Pat Kessler, "Can you understand why people might think that this is a strategy?"

"Actually almost similar circumstances," Coleman said, "I think that was a pretty unusual time, Pat. That's a fair analysis, but not because it's a strategy. It was an experience that time that it wasn't anger, that time it was grief. An emotional level that I've never seen in my life. We were dealing with ... I'm choosing the same course of action, maybe that's why in the back of my head I think this is the right thing to do. Because I realized six years ago that there was a level of grief and people didn't want to hear us beating up on each other after Paul died."

For some, Coleman is a symbol of eight years of President Bush. And until recently, even promoted his closeness to the President. However, Coleman's support for Bush has decreased every year he's been in office, from 95 percent his first year, to just 76 percent this year.

It's the economy people want to talk about now, sometimes loudly.

"This $700 billion bailout," said an angry voter when he met Coleman recently.

"Now you gotta listen," said Coleman, "you gotta give me a second now. The fact is I don't want to bailout anybody in Washington. I'm worried about folks here losing their jobs."

So Coleman's promoting himself as a Senator, independent from Washington -- newly "positive."

"I really believe that hope conquers fear, that light conquers darkness, and that we can tap into that and move forward from these most challenging, challenging times. Thank you and god bless."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)