Tonight George W. Bush will take a break from surveying the damage to the Interstate-35 bridge to raise some large dollar donations for the reelection bid of Minnesota's freshman Republican Senator, Norm Coleman. MSNBC's First Read has a bit of background on what fundraising trips like this have meant in the past to GOP candidates.

One of the more interesting political stories in the run-up to last year's midterm elections involved every time an unpopular President Bush traveled to purple states (like Ohio and Pennsylvania) to raise money and campaign for Republican candidates, most of whom ended up losing on Election Day. Bush -- with even lower national approval ratings than he had before the midterms -- returns to electoral politics in the purple (yet still Dem-leaning) Minnesota, where he raises money at a closed-press event for vulnerable Sen. Norm Coleman (R), who's up for re-election next year. Before this evening's fundraiser, Bush holds a media avail in Canada with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. And then he heads to Minnesota attend a briefing on the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis. [emphasis added]

Coleman may believe that he can get off scot-free even though he is clearly hitching his wagon to George W. Bush by holding an event that is closed to the press, but he is completely wrong. As Chuck Todd and the folks at First Read note, during the last election cycle, when George W. Bush's approval rating was significantly higher than it is today, the purple state Republicans who sought the President's help found themselves out of a job even though the President helped bring in several hundred thousand dollars -- or more -- for their campaign.

So I say to Norm Coleman, go ahead. Bring George W. Bush in to Minnesota, where two-thirds of the population disapproves of the job he is doing as President. Let Minnesotans know that you, Norm Coleman, are a George W. Bush Republican. Let's see how that tactic works for you come November 2008.