Free Republic

Ron Paul might be striking out in his pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination, but the activist energy his campaign unleashed in Minnesota is positioning one of his followers as the party's unlikely favorite to take on U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November. Kurt Bills is a rookie state representative from Rosemount and a high school economics teacher. Until he made a late and unexpected entry into the race in March, Bills was never mentioned as a Republican prospect to challenge Democratic incumbent Klobuchar. But in recent weeks, an increasing number of Republicans have pegged him as the frontrunner to...

The legal fight between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is headed to the desk of Gov. Tim Pawlenty — a no-win predicament for a Minnesota Republican with his eye on a White House run in 2012. Franken won big Tuesday when a three-judge panel allowed the review of no more than 400 absentee ballots in a race he currently leads by 225 votes. Coleman’s camp says an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court is coming; once that’s done, the dispute lands in Pawlenty’s lap. If Franken’s ahead at that point, Pawlenty will have a choice: sign the election certificate that...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton's campaign committee spent most of the $440,000 it raised last year, and the freshman Democrat reached the midpoint of his term with $111,832 in cash, his latest campaign finance report showed. Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-Minn., a possible challenger to Dayton in a 2006 Senate campaign, raised $657,718 in 2003 and ended the year with $458,610 in cash.Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist, said Dayton's year-end report to the Federal Election Commission "raises a question . . . about how well equipped he is to run for reelection." "This is the time...