First the back story:
I've been told by two sources that [local businessman and political contributor Nasser] Kazeminy has in the past covered the bills for Coleman's lavish clothing purchases at Nieman Marcus in Minneapolis. The sources were not certain of the dates of the purchases; if they were made before Coleman joined the Senate in 2003, he obviously would not be required to report it under senate rules. But having a private businessman pay for your clothing is never a good idea if you're a public official (Coleman was mayor of St. Paul from 1994 to 2002).
When pressed by reporters Wednesday on whether or not Coleman, in fact, accepted these suits from Kazeminy, spokesman Cullen Sheehan repeats the phrase "the Senator has reported every gift he has ever received" no fewer than nine times.
HuffPo has the excruciating transcript.
Ouch. Isn't it really a simple "yes or no?" question? No wonder Coleman is running around blaming the evil bloggers and canceling press conferences.
Also remember that Coleman was busted earlier for getting a sweetheart rental deal on his pad down in DC. Does the guy pay for anything?
The best news, of course, is that this all helps Al Franken, who has drawn the Minnesota Senate race to a dead-heat. Go show him some love if you can spare it.