Sen. Norm Coleman has rolled out another 30-second TV spot, his second. While the first-one was serious bordering on doleful, this one is light-hearted with background music that reminds me of a "Leave It To Beaver" score. The story is set in a kitchen. Coleman lurks in the background pouring and sipping coffee, while his wife, Laurie, does the talking, trying to preempt and rebut various things that "people will say" about her husband during a political campaign, such as that he has been "a rubber stamp for the president" or "in the pocket of big oil."

Her evidence against such statements will get serious scrutiny as time allows. But the gag is that, as Mrs. Coleman says, "there is a special interest that Norm will answer to." She asks him to take out the trash and he does, in a snowy alley, while smilingly approving this message. Is it me, or does the camera intentionally zoom in on Laurie Coleman's left hand so we can see the wedding band? Check it out for yourself.

Several bloggers also notice something strange about the appearance of the ad. It looks as if the image of Laurie Coleman has been dubbed into a kitchen with Sen. Coleman in the background. I see what they're talking about, and the interactions between them do come across as unnatural. I asked Team Coleman about it got this response, attributed to campaign communications director Erin Rath:

"These left-wing, liberal, Al Franken bloggers are as goofy a bunch as I've ever seen. They've spent too much time concocting a conspiracy theory, wasting valuable bandwidth on the Internet. The senator and his wife were both in the kitchen of their home where the commercial was filmed."

I take them at their word, although if you read it carefully, Rath doesn't quite rule out the possibility that Mrs. Coleman's image was dubbed into her shots, even if they were both in the kitchen where the commercial was filmed.