The Daily Digest: 10-10-06

Posted at 11:12 AM on October 10, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

Minnesota's Senate race leads the digest today. Democrat Amy Klobuchar, Republican Mark Kennedy and Independence Party member Robert Fitzgerald debate in Moorhead tonight at 8. I'm told it will be webcast live on mpr.org. MPR has a story saying the national parties appear to be rethinking the Minnesota Senate race.

MSNBC has a story saying the RNC, not the RNSC, is buying ads in Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama held a fundraiser for Klobuchar on Monday. KARE-11 does a story on the Obama visit without having Obama in the story. The event was closed to the press.

ABC's "The Note" says several Republican senators hold a rally for Kennedy in Woodbury today.

MPR's Laura McCallum has a story that focuses on where the candidates for governor stand on jobs and the economy.

The Washington Post's "The Fix" says Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is in a pretty good fight. They rank the governor's race as the 11th most competitive in the nation:

11. Minnesota: At the start of the cycle, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) was not on anyone's list of top targets. Young and ambitious, Pawlenty was seen as a potential national star for the GOP. He may well end up there, but state Attorney General Mike Hatch (D) is running a surprisingly competitive race against Pawlenty, benefitting from the sour mood of state voters about Republicans nationally. Hatch has spent much of the last two weeks polishing his own image, which even Democrats privately admitted needed a bit of a spit shine. Pawlenty has been trying to cast Hatch as a favoring a tax increase on middle class voters. Polling shows the race nip and tuck. (Previous ranking: 12)

Minnesota Republican Party Chair Ron Carey is quoted in a Washington Post story that says the GOP could lose between seven and thirty seats in the U.S. House. He says the Foley flap will dissipate between now and election day.

Survey USA has a poll out saying Republican Michele Bachmann still leads DFLer Patty Wetterling in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. The poll was done between October 6th and October 8th. It's the first poll done after Wetterling started running ads addressing the Foley scandal. KSTP-TV has a story saying the Foley scandal may be helping Wetterling. She picked up ground from the previous Survey USA poll that had Bachmann up by nine percentage points.

The Star Tribune has stories on the congressional races in the 3rd and 4th districts. They have candidate profiles of GOP Congressman Jim Ramstad and DFLer Wendy Wilde in the third and DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum and GOP challenger Obi Sium in the fourth.

The Bemidji Pioneer has a story saying Democrats in the region like the Second Amendment.

Finally, the candidates for attorney general met in a debate this morning. You can listen to the debate here.

Comments (1)

I was a little suprised to see John Binkowski moved up in the latest poll to 7%. Given how heavy the attention to that race has been recently I would have expected his poll #'s to if anything go down. Maybe he has something going for him afterall, or maybe people are simply sick of the lies from Patty Wetterling.

Posted by Mike Grimes | October 10, 2006 1:01 PM

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