Minnewisowa
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The Weekly Standard has a Barry Casselman article on the Senate race. You can only get about 4 paragraphs of it online, thus it doesn't make sense to link to it as I normally would when articles appear. But Barry sent his work along and I'm posting it here. Whether that gets me into trouble or not, we'll see. Nobody has yelled at me yet today, so ...
AS MINNESOTA GOES.......
High political stakes in northern states
by Barry Casselman
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Minneapolis
Minnesota is at the center of a political superstate
I call "Minnewisowa" (Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Iowa), which could be a vital battleground for the
presidential elections of 2008, as it was in 2004.
Minnewisowa has 28 electoral votes (more than
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, or Michigan), and its
component states not only vote similarly, but, since
2000, are also among the most competitive "swing"
states in the nation.
In this year's midterm elections, all three states have
competitive contests for governor. The GOP could
pick up the executive posts in Wisconsin and Iowa,
with two sitting congressmen as candidates: Mark
Green (if he wins the Wisconsin GOP nomination)
and Jim Nussle in Iowa. That's the good news for
Republicans. The bad news is that both these House
seats, now vacated, could be won by Democrats.
The incumbent Republican governor of Minnesota,
Tim Pawlenty, is favored to win reelection in a
three-way contest that will feature a candidate from
the state's Independence party (which previously
fielded Jesse Ventura). While it remains to be seen
if this candidate can win anything like the 37 percent
Ventura achieved, his presence will make it difficult
for any Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) candidate to
win. The major battle in Minnesota and the region
will be for the Senate seat being vacated by
incumbent Democrat Mark Dayton. Congressman
Mark Kennedy successfully warded off an intra-party
fight for the GOP nomination, and this seat is probably
the best opportunity for a GOP pick-up in 2006.
Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Attorney Amy
Klobuchar had originally planned to run as the DFL
candidate for state attorney general, but when Dayton
unexpectedly decided to retire after one term, she
entered the Senate race. Patty Wetterling, who became
well-known in the state for her efforts on behalf of
children following the kidnapping of her son, and
who ran a strong race for Congress against Kennedy in
2004, was Klobuchar's main opponent until she
abruptly withdrew to run again for the 6th district
Congressional seat. Ford Bell, a liberal philanthropist
with his own financial resources, but politically
unknown, also entered. Almost by default, Klobuchar
thus became the almost-certain DFL nominee, and a
costly primary was avoided. Bell remains in the race,
but polls show him far behind Klobuchar.
Klobuchar does have problems. Although she has
raised substantial funds, she is not well-known
outside the state
