From the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
This is great news for a true progressive. This is the most negative campaign that I have ever seen in my life. So much so that I have to laugh at some of the ads on both sides. I was concerned that Franken's comedic baggage might prevent him from truly challenging for this seat, but at this point it is anyone's race. The Star Tribune has traditionally been a very accurate pollster here, particularly in the Senate races.
DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken has moved into his first solid lead over incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.
The survey, conducted Tuesday through Thursday by Princeton Survey Research Associates International among 1,084 likely Minnesota voters, shows Franken leading Coleman 43 to 34 percent. Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley is supported by 18 percent of respondents.
Franken’s lead is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error, plus or minus 3.7 points.
Linky...
There's more.
I live in the historical conservative stronghold in Minnesota of Rochester. We are the home of the Mayo Clinic, and the 3rd largest city in Minnesota after the Twin Cities. In the decade here I have seen Rochester move so far to the left that we may actually be near the center...
As this area has changed, Minnesota has changed from a purple state to one that is more and more blue. Not surprisingly, because we have become more progressive in Rochester, Tim Walz was able to take the MN-01 seat from an incompetent GOPer in 2006, and looks very solid for re-election. Tim is a DFLer (what we call Dems here) that is both more and better. MN may lose a congressional seat after the next census (though you could argue we lost it when Michelle Bachman was elected) so winning across the state is important for redistricting.
Because to my proximity to Rochester, I have always seen a conservative lean here, even in our blowout senate win in 2006. But not this year, the vibe is different.
I have a hard time believing that the race here is really close between Obama and Jonah McPalin, however there are strong democratic portions of northern Minnesota that can also tend to be a bit on the racist side, so I don't rule it out.
The Minnesota Poll results suggest Franken may be riding the coattails of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who has widened a lead over Republican John McCain in polls across the country. But the advertising war in the race also appears to be a factor decidedly in Franken’s favor.
Barkley is a wild card in this race and does have a solid core of support. If anything I hope that Obama's coattails get Al over the top.
Barkley’s 18-percent showing represents a bump of five points from last month’s poll and an attention-getting show of support for the third-party candidate who has spent far less time and money campaigning than the two leading contenders.
We also have local races that are interesting in South Eastern Minnesota. Rochester went 30 years without electing a Democrat to our state house or senate. Then a early 20 something came along and took out the #2 Republican in the state house in a district that was about R+25. The flood gates opened and now 4 of our 6 local seats are safely in the hands of democrats. We have a chance to pick up the 5th this year. Further, because we are the fast growing area in slow growing state, we will be getting more representation after 2010.
11/1/08: It appears that someone has been manipulating my words. There are some changes below that I question...
And lastly a personal plug...
There are the city races. I must confess that I am not helping any of the aforementioned candidates because I am running a non-partisan race for city council. I am running against the longest serving flat earth conservative. She is the antithesis of responsible leadership and I am running as an independent in this non-partisan race. I was able to win a six person primary and am working hard for the general.
Rochester Post Bulletin
Challenger Michael Wojcik was the top vote-getter in Rochester's Ward 2, finishing ahead of incumbent Marcia Marcoux.
The two comfortably topped the six-person field, together collecting more than 80 percent of all the votes cast. Wojcik finished first with 834 votes (47 percent). Marcoux had 609 (34 percent).
"We worked very hard to get those votes out," said Wojcik, 30, a first-time political candidate. "I've still got a lot of work to do."
www.votewojcik.org