Polinaut: July 24, 2006 Archive

Poll has governor's race dead even, Klobuchar leads Kennedy

Posted at 9:03 AM on July 24, 2006 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

The Wall Street Journal's Zogby poll has the governor's race in Minnesota as a dead heat. Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty leads Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch 43.1% to 42.9%. The margin of error is 4.2%. The poll says Independence Party Candidate Peter Hutchinson is polling in the single digits. (I originally wrote that the poll didn't include him - that was wrong - and I apologize for the mistake).

There's also a poll on MN's U.S. Senate race. The poll also has Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, a DFLer, leading Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy by six percentage points.

The poll shows Klobuchar with 49.4% and Kennedy with 42.9%. The margin of error is 4.9%.

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Fraternal Order of Police endorse Mark Kennedy

Posted at 1:25 PM on July 24, 2006 by Tom Scheck

Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy received the Fraternal Order of Police endorsement today (Monday) in Plymouth. Kennedy, who has his party's endorsement, is running for Minnesota's open U.S. Senate seat.

Here's a quote from the news release:

On behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police, I’m pleased to announce our full support of Mark Kennedy in his bid for U.S. Senate,” said Chuck Schauss, Minnesota National Trustee of the Fraternal Order of Police. “Over the years, the FOP has always found a friend in Mark Kennedy. Not only has he listened to the concerns of the law enforcement community, but he has delivered on the issues that are important to us.

Schauss added that Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, the DFL endorsed candidate, did not seek the group's endorsement.

DCCC makes $400,000 ad buy for October

Posted at 1:41 PM on July 24, 2006 by Tom Scheck

WCCO-TV's public file says the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has purchased $403,425 in television ads during the last month of the election. The 271 ads will run on the daily newscasts, Oprah, the soaps and the NFL pregame shows. KSTP-TV didn't show a similar buy. I didn't check the other stations.

An official with the DCCC says they have no comment on the ad buy but it's safe to assume that they're targeting Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District where DFLer Patty Wetterling and Republican Michele Bachmann are running for the open seat.

This obviously means the DCCC thinks they can win the seat being vacated by GOP Congressman Mark Kennedy (who's running for the U.S. Senate) but the buy doesn't mean the ads will actually run. If the DCCC sees Bachmann well ahead in the polls, they may pull the buy and put it into a more competitive seat.

The Daily Digest: 7-24-06

Posted at 6:12 PM on July 24, 2006 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

This hasn't been too daily since I was on vacation.

Anyway there were some interesting things of late.

First off, Attorney General Mike Hatch isn't too happy with the state's largest newspaper snooping around. The Strib and AP have stories.

Four of the DFLers in the 5th Congressional District debate the issues. We'll try to have the entire debate audio up later.

MDE has something else on State Rep. Keith Ellison..

The four candidates have another debate scheduled for Tuesday night. It's hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council. It's at Temple Israel on Emerson Ave S. from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm.

The Wall Street Journal says you shouldn't expect too many changes to the nation's farm subsidy programs. WSJ and the NY Times say farm issues broke down talks over global trade.

Get ready to hear the candidates talk about this at FarmFest on August first, second and third.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an interesting take on the Red State/Blue State divide and why few things matter more than green. Here's a quote from the story:

There's an apparent paradox in American politics: Rich people vote for Republicans, but rich states vote for Democrats.

Eight of the 10 states with the highest per capita incomes (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Delaware) voted for Kerry; all 10 states with the lowest incomes (Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama) went for Bush.

Mark Kennedy received the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. Amy Klobuchar didn't seek the endorsement. Klobuchar is ahead in several polls including the Wall Street Journal's Zogby Poll and a poll by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (Do you think they would have released it if they didn't like the numbers?)

Congressional Quarterly reports that the DSCC continues its fundraising dominance over its GOP counterpart.

That basically leaves GOP Senator Norm Coleman to say "I told you so..."

The Washington Post created a bellwether site to examine the nation's competitive races. The first site talks about eight issues that will shape '06. Get that pen and pad out.

MN's Sixth is profiled. Basically it says pocketbook concerns may not have an impact on the race between Republican Michele Bachmann and DFLer Patty Wetterling. That hasn't swayed the DCCC who seem ready to put some tv $ in the race (tootin my own horn here).

Finally, espn.com has an interesting analysis on Joe Mauer's swing. What does it have to do with politics, you ask? Nothing. It's just a cool interactive tool. I can't link to it directly so you'll have to find it on your own (it was the top link when I was there).

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