http://kstp.com/...
Well Jessie finally made the announcement and said "he will not be running at the moment."  Al Franken sleeps a little easier with that news.  In a 3 way race we had:

SUSA for KSTP-TV
Senator Norm Coleman (R) 43%
Al Franken (D)  27%
Former Governor Jessie Ventura (I) 26%

more below

Ok, ok, I will finally give in. This Minnesotan was unsure of Al Franken for months. I was always basically neutral but I wanted to see a fair fight and contributed to one of his underfunded democratic opponents. I have met all of the DFL challengers to Norm Coleman. I could not go to a DFL fund raiser and not talk to a senate candidate even if I wanted to.

As this new phase of the general election begins, we all need to be prepared for the challenges ahead. I have never hid the fact that I was an Obama supporter to friends and family during the campaign. People would ask the basic question of why Obama, I would tell them, and that was the end of it most of the time. But, now that he is the nominee we need to all be prepared to answer the question: Who is Barack Obama and what is he all about anyway?

More after the fold.

I just thought I would put a nice reminder out to my fellow Jim Webb (D-VA) fans across the country: Jim Webb will be on David Letterman tonight 5/19/8, talking about his new book "A Time To Fight" and probably get ribbed by Dave about being a on the Democratic ticket in the VP spot.

No matter whom one backs in the Democratic primary, tonight was a great night for the Democratic party. With wins in MS-01 and in the NE-SEN primary, we all have reason to celebrate no matter whom your candidate was in West Virgina.

One thing we should all be happy about is how aggressive the DCCC has become in the last few months. Heck maybe the last few years! Back in the day they would not have touched a race like MS-01, yet alone the race in Louisiana.  Matter of fact they usually picked a few incumbents to defend and that would be the end of it. Not any more. They have the cash to take the fight to the gop and they are using it.

Coleman 47% Al Franken 46%

Norm Coleman moved into a staticall dead heat in the newest poll released last night (2/13/8). Although it’s somewhat small poll, 650 respondents, I remember Survey USA was pretty much spot on in 2006 with numbers here in Minnesota.  

Coleman 47%
Al Franken 46%

Coleman 51%
Mike Ciresi 40%

Coleman 58%
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer 30%

http://kstp.com/...

That is a hell of a swing considering everyone up against Coleman was down 20 points last year.

With Minnesota being one of the many states to hold Feb 5th contests, it is looking to be a nail bitter on our side. Here is a poll hot off the press this morning 1/31/8

Send the professor

That slogan could have been used in the 1990 U.S. Senate campaign of an unlikely candidate with the name of Professor Paul Wellstone.  Here is a man that never had a successful run for office and little money or name id against his well financed opponent in two term Senator Rudy Boschwitz.

Paul did not come to the fight for progressive values empty handed. He had spent years doing community organizing while a professor of political science at Carlton Collage in Northfield Minnesota. He know how to run, (and Wellstone Action later wrote the book on ) true grassroots campaigning.

Is it time to send another Professor?

Mike Ciresi announced today that he is officially a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Norm Coleman.

Ciresi is an affluent attorney who briefly ran in 2000 and came in second place in the primary, loosing to Mark Dayton whom went on to take out incumbent Rod Grams.

Ciresi v Franken endorsement battle to come......

From a Kennedy campaign email in response to the "Mark Kennedy scrubs website of all references to Bush" story.  http://www.dailykos.com/...    

From the email:
Instead, the Star Tribune runs a story fabricated by Daily Kos, an extremist website and fueled by the DFL.

To bad http://www.mnpublius.com/  broke the story, and it was picked up by National Journal, Political Wire, and more just as it was picked up by Kos.  But as Make Over Mark has done before: Attack Kos at all costs.

 The NRSC is upset at Minnesota Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar for advertising on dailykos. Says kos is full of extremists, hate-filled lefties, and Klobuchar pulled the ad due to prussure.  I have a hunch the ad expired, and now they think they can claim victory. Wingnuts.

Child safety advocate Patty Wetterling is going to withdrawal from the race today at 2pm central. http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/...

This leaves Amy Klobuchar, and Ford Bell as the two announced candidates. It is speculated that Patty Wetterling is leaving due to lack of fundraising. Amy Klobuchar has been killing both Wetterling and Bell in raising cash. I will guess that Wetterling's fourth quarter numbers were not to impressive.  Blogs are a buzz on what Patty will do next. Some say a run in MN-06 that she narrowly lost in 2004. Some say she might be joining up with an announced gubernatorial candidate as lieutenant governor.

     For some reason it seems to me that the Minnesota Senate race is not getting as much attention as it deserves. It is an open seat in a purple state that is vital to whom ever wins it. So I thought I would post some info and commentary on recent events. More below!

It has been a while so I thought I would offer some updates on my take here in Minnesota's sixth district. From what I hear the sixth district chair is going to put together a forum for Elwyn Tinklenberg and Scott Mortensen to have a debate, or perhaps a town hall meeting of some kind. Not sure of the details as of yet.

Scott Mortensen "who I am currently backing" is once again showing he is not afraid to fight. He will be on a right wing radio show to debate the hosts and listeners on Sunday!!

As you guys can tell I have been mostly writing about Minnesota's sixth congressional district race. This race will be the most contested in Minnesota for two reasons: First in 2004 it was the most expensive in the state, and will probably be again.  Secondly it is an open seat this time, hence the expensive part. Scotty Mortensen is running an open campaign for supporters to get info or chime in their two cents. Well some of the opposing candidates, be it Republican or Democrat has been taking basically public info and calling it insider information on Republican blogs

The dccc is king making a Congressional candidate that is a dino in Minnesota's sixth district. Donating and fund raising for Elwyn Tinklenberg while ignoring progressive Scott Mortensen for an OPEN SEAT! Check it out:

     It was once stated to me that Republicans know who can best defeat them, yes even better then the Democrats. This could be why they really pumped up the Dean scream slim machine, already have the attack machine going against Hillary, and now some are attacking Colleen Rowley and Scott Mortensen. Minnesota's CD-02 and CD-06 respectively As they say more in the fold below:

The race for the DFL "Democratic-Farmer-Labor party - Minnesota Democratic party" endorsement in the Sixth district is heating up. A Kool-Aid drinking freeper is making a senate run leaving an open seat. 2 Democrats and 4 Republicans are going for it. Here is my take below: