Statewide political campaigns don't spend much on newspaper ads these days. However, a national gay-rights group says the Star Tribune will publish its ad Sunday protesting Target's and Best Buy's donation to MnForward, a big-business group supporting GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.

The Human Rights Campaign ad does not name Emmer, but notes that "MN Forward ... hopes to install one of the most strident opponents of equality in the Minnesota Governor’s mansion."

Emmer, a state representative, opposes gay marriage and in 2008, his House campaign donated to a punk-rock ministry critics say affirmed gay and lesbian executions. Emmer's gubernatorial campaign issued a statement opposing such violence in late May.

HRC, which gives Target and Best Buy a consistent 100 percent rating on its Corporate Equality Index, walks the tightrope between the company's internal and external actions. Noting both corporations' diverse workforces, the ad states, "As a community, we are grateful for that commitment and we fully expect it will continue," while noting "you have severely damaged those carefully cultivated reputations and violated the spirit of the gold standards bestowed on you. In fact, the long-term effects on families that shop at Target and Best Buy throughout Minnesota and the U.S. will be devastating."

The group says "the very least" Target and Best Buy can do is "make equivalent donations togroups that support candidates who will put all Minnesota families first andfulfill the promises of our highest ideals."

In accepting the advocacy ad, the Strib is allowing HRC to criticize two of the paper's biggest advertisers. The paper recently spiked a campaign that attacked public officials in the Tom Petters case; that led to a court fight the paper easily won.

It will be interesting to see if groups supporting Emmer, MnForward, Target or Best Buy respond to the HRC ad and further swell the Strib's coffers.