As before, I will avoid controversy by not revealing any political affiliation of any sort, but I just thought it would be important to pass along that Patty Wetterling, mother of kidnapped Jacob Wetterling, is running for U.S. House of Representatives for a district representing Minnesota. She promises to be a child's advocate in Congress, if elected.

Well, I'm a Democrat and I'm rooting for Patty Wetterling. That race is Minnesota 6 and it's on all the lists of the most competitive House races. Wetterling ran for that seat in 2004 and had a good showing against Mark Kennedy, something like 46%. Now Kennedy has vacated the seat to run for senate, which he will lose.

I've seen some accounts indicating this will be the most bitterly contested House race ever between two women. The GOP says Wetterling isn't qualified for office and I think the Democrats are portraying her opponent as too far right. It's a slightly Republican leaning district but in the political climate this year that edge is probably nullifed, especially since there are high percentage of independents in the district and since the more conservative Republican won the primary.

Very intriguing race that is considered a virtual tossup.

Update on the Wetterling race. An independent poll puts her behind by 9 points, but supposedly an internal (perhaps biased) poll has her ahead by 2 or 3. Based on the natural partisanship of the district I would guess the truth is somewhere in between, Wetterling down by maybe 3-5 points.

I think her 46% showing against Mark Kennedy in '04 has been overplayed in its significance. Kennedy was considered a rising star but he dramatically underperformed Bush's percentage in his own district and he has been disappointing in his current senate race against Klobuchar, down double digits in a race that was supposed to be a virtual tossup.

Initial predictions from way back had Kennedy winning the senate race, but I believe that was from before Klobuchar had entered. A poll from a couple days ago had Klobuchar leading Kennedy 56% to 32%. I don't know if she really has that huge of a lead, but this definitely appears to be her race to lose now. The Republicans had high hopes for that seat as outgoing Democrat Mark Dayton was very unpopular, and that they have made signiciant gains in this state as of late, but unless something unforseen happens, Amy Klobuchar will be the next Senator from Minnesota. I should add that it's weird to have a Republican named Kennedy.

Initial predictions from way back had Kennedy winning the senate race, but I believe that was from before Klobuchar had entered. A poll from a couple days ago had Klobuchar leading Kennedy 56% to 32%. I don't know if she really has that huge of a lead, but this definitely appears to be her race to lose now. The Republicans had high hopes for that seat as outgoing Democrat Mark Dayton was very unpopular, and that they have made signiciant gains in this state as of late, but unless something unforseen happens, Amy Klobuchar will be the next Senator from Minnesota. I should add that it's weird to have a Republican named Kennedy.

You are right, Dayton was very vulnerable and Democrats have actually benefitted by a new candidate in that race. The 56-32 poll is bunk but other polls have her lead in high single digits to low double digits and they sound accurate. I watched the recent debate on CSPAN and Klobuchar was much more impressive than Kennedy. In fact, I couldn't believe how meak and mealy mouth he was, allowing Klobuchar to seize the tone and course of the debate while doing little besides saying she was repeating talking points. In this political climate a Republican needs to be aggressive and Kennedy was anything but that.

As an aside, the independent candidate, Robert Fitzgerald, cracked me up simply via his appearance. It's like Dennis the Menace running for senate. Fitzgerald is 29 but he looks like a teenage Jay North.

BTW, the next Minnesota senate race in '08 could be extremely intriguing. Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman will be targeted by Democrats after comments he made concerning how he compares to the late Paul Wellstone, but there doesn't appear to be a logical candidate other than perhaps Al Franken. Yes, that Al Franken. He's from Minnesota and has hinted he may try for the Democratic nomination. I guess another high profile possibility would be Alan Page, the former Viking great who I believe has been in the Minnesota Supreme Court. His name pops up but I'm not sure he has any plans to run.

OK, sorry for all the poli-chat. :)

An update here: While the Democrats had an extremely good day nationally yesterday, Patty Wetterling was unable to latch on to the wave. While she came somewhat close again, she lost to Michele Bachman by about 8 points.