Norm Coleman has decided to explicitly make Al Franken’s crude language and bad behavior an election issue. Prior to this ad, the Minnesota Senator had allowed the NRSC to pursue the temperament issue in a series of ads running in the state. This time, Coleman introduces it himself, telling voters that it’s important for them to see for themselves:

The NRSC put out this companion ad:

Normally, Chris Cillizza focuses his Washington Post blog on national politics, but he notes the escalation at the Fix today, calling the ad a “howitzer”:

Earlier this week, we wrote about a terrific ad being sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee against Sen. Norm Coleman (R) in Minnesota.

Today, Coleman struck back — hard. Really hard, in fact, questioning whether Democratic nominee Al Franken has the temperament to be in the Senate and using Franken’s own words against him.

Interestingly, I ran into Senator Coleman at the airport yesterday. I introduced myself just as he was about to get into the security line, and it occurred to me a moment afterwards that he was in a hurry. Nonetheless, as soon as I stuck out my hand, Coleman stopped and chatted a moment and accepted my encouragement. Coleman never gets flustered.

In comparison, Franken often loses his cool under pressure. He famously melted down at the 2004 Republican convention with Laura Ingraham’s producer and had to be physically restrained. (That’s the picture on the front page, taken by Michael Brodkorb.)  He also got into a heated exchange, loud enough to turn heads, with Michael Medved, part of which is shown in the ad.  I can attest to the fact that it made heads turn in the room, as we were just across from the Salem Radio booth when that occurred.  Franken also assaulted a demonstrator at a Democratic campaign event that same year.

Will Minnesota voters care about Franken’s bad temper?  Perhaps not, but it does make him look at lot less Minnesotan, and underscores the many years he spent out of state before deciding to run for political office.  Voters care about both policy and character, and they’re familiar with the unflappable Coleman.  Franken looks more and more like someone who has stayed outside of Minnesota for too long for anyone to feel comfortable with him.