Posted on 03/01/2006 4:52:50 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
Since last month, support for Democrat Ford Bell has jumped 7 points in a match-up with Republican Mark Kennedy. He now leads Kennedy 43% to 40%. In the Rasmussen Reports January poll, Kennedy led Bell 41% to 36%.
Democrat Amy Klobuchar also gained ground, but only a couple points. She now leads Kennedy 45% to 42%. Last month the two were neck-and-neck
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
A poll that is this close, this early is largely meaningless. Were it a 10% or 20% margin I might pay a little closer attention.
If you are offended by this post, please consider the possibility of sarcasm.
Clearly, this race could go either way. It's not going to be the automatic pick-up many had hoped.
You did not listen. What every one said is it is a POSSIBLE pick up. We have a VERY good chance of wining it. NO one ever claimed it was an automatic. MN is a BLUE state. However, as the poll shows, this is not an safe Democrat seat any more.
What alarms me a bit is seeing how well Ford Bell is doing.
Not much money, not a lot of name ID, hasn't ran one TV or radio ad...and he's polling pretty closely to Kennedy.
It strikes me as though there's a significantly aroused (no Clinton pun intended) Dem voter base in Minnesota. They're willing to vote for just about anyone but Kennedy.
In this race, the battle will be won in the suburbs - Richfield, Eden Prairie, Maplewood, Elk River, Chaska, etc. That's how Bush lost Minnesota in '04. He underperformed in the suburbs. Kennedy will need to do well in these areas.
Not surprisingly, many of the key suburbs are also in Hennepin County, a place where Amy Klobuchar has strong name ID. My take is that Kennedy will spend a significant amount of time in these areas - while Klobuchar spends lot of time in out-state Minnesota, trying to build her name ID and convince voters she's not a flaming liberal (which she is).
Bell worries me. He's got the ghost of Paul Wellstone floating around him.
By that, I mean, nice, solid guy by any mesure, but an absolute flaming nutjob idologically, but so consistantly so, that he comes of as a 'principled' nice guy, even if his principles are far, far, far left. That's how Wellstone was around for 2 terms, and probably would have been around for 3 had he not died.
That would make him a LOT harder to beat then Kochabar, who's not likable, and is all over the place on the issues.
Automatic pick-up? Many? If anyone was silly enough to be saying that, I probably didn't pay them any mind. This is certainly a pick-up opportunity, but Minnnesota ain't exactly a GOP stronghold. It's gonna be a good race.
I've been following this http://joelrosenberg.livejournal.com/158842.html for the past couple of days. Follow the links back for the whole story. No media coverage, yet. I think the story is still a work in progress, but should be quite interesting once all has been discovered.
I'm sharing this here, knowing that FReepers know that loose lips sink ships. For now, let's keep this amongst FRiends.
He's a Republican, but [pardon me for the implied insult to Mark]this is politics and they are are political animals: Is Mark any relation to Fat Ted?
No relation. Mark has voted with the president very consistently.
Thanks. GJ
I agree.
I met Bell once - about 6-8 months ago. He is a personable, though not flashy, guy. He is intelligent too. But I agree with you. His politics are far Left.
I do believe that Amy Klobuchar will win the endorsement though.
I hope so, I think Bell is the tougher opponent, and this will be a tough race anyway.
This is the kind of vulnerable winnable race that deserves FR support. Send the GOP candidate money and if you live close enough, volunteer your time.
No, send the money and support to Wisconsin, so a Republican candidate can be Herb Kohl's sacrificial lamb.
I think it did and truth be told, the shut-down should be blamed on the Democrat-controlled state senate who sat on their butts and let it happen.
Since then, Pawlenty's approval ratings have risen - but it's not up to the pre-shutdown levels it was.
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