am.mn logoTony Sutton, chair of Minnesota’s Republican Party, says this weekend’s GOP straw poll for gubernatorial candidates is giving the media what it wants: “The media likes a horse race, so we’re giving them a horse race.” (If that meant crushing earlier attempts at unofficial GOP straw polls beneath the party’s heavy hooves, so be it.) At least nine Republicans are in the race already.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning … 

NORTH BRANCH: Lawmaker has Obama’s ear. State Rep. Jeremy Kalin, who leads a White House working group on energy and climate, wants new federal laws limiting greenhouse gases.  [Associated Press]

MINNEAPOLIS: Vikings want new stadium. And now is good time to say so, apparently. [Star Tribune]

MINNEAPOLIS: The Metrodome’s future is … Monster Jams.  [Minnesota Public Radio]

ST. PAUL: New PAC to hit D.C. feedbag first. An Oct. 22 fundraiser in the nation’s capital will be the coming-out party for Gov. Pawlenty’s Freedom First committee, not a Nov. 4 jam in Minneapolis as previously thought. [CNN]

ST. PAUL: Next stop on the T-Paw Express is South Dakota. Where other potential presidential candidates, like Sen. John Thune, roam. [Associated Press]

ST. PAUL: Franken opens St. Paul office. The new senator’s first official home state place to work in on Plato Boulevard, named after another great thinker. [Forum Communications]