UPDATED: Roll Call reports that the National Republican Congressional Committee is putting $11,200 into mailings meant to reduce voter support for David Dillon, the Independence Party candidate who’s running a distant third in the 3rd Congressional District race. While that’s a puny figure compared to the fortunes spent for TV ads by both major party candidates and their allies — which this morning stands at $7,095,101 — Roll Call sees significance in the move because the latest poll showed Republican state Sen. Erik Paulsen and his Democratic opponent Ashwin Madia effectively tied at 45 and 44 percentage points, respectively, with 9 percent of likely voters preferring “some other candidate.” A scan of the piece and more after the jump.

After naming him in the question posed in a poll earlier this month, Survey USA oddly dropped a direct reference to Dillon when it polled 642 likely voters Oct. 26–27. (The pollster hasn’t yet responded to MnIndy’s request to explain why references to third party support have been inconsistent in its three surveys of the 3rd District.) If you get an anti-Dillon mailing, please share it with MnIndy.

UPDATE: Joe Bodell at Minnesota Campaign Report has this high-contrast scan of the mailer and speculates writes that it’s being sent to Democrats. His theory goes that the NRCC might be using reverse psychology (if “reverse” is quite the right term in a three-way race) to draw Dems to Dillon by chargin him with being too far left politically.