“Minnesota showed civic resilience in a year when much of the nation saw a sharp drop in civic effort,” the report found.

Its findings show that the state continues to lead in civic participation:

1st in voter turnout, with 77.8 % of those eligible voting, 14.2% higher than the national average.
1st in citizen consciousness of having a “strong civic tradition,” with 26.5 % saying it is strong compared to other states, compared to 13.2% for the national average.
3rd in donations to charitable organizations, with 60.2% donating $25 or more.
4th in statewide volunteering, with 60.5% volunteering in the last year.
6th in working with others to fix something in the neighborhood, with 12.4%.

Despite economic problems, the state fared better than most:

72.2% nationally said they had cut back in volunteering; in Minnesota the figure was 58.6%
41.4% of Minnesotans said they had increased volunteering – compared to 27.8% for the nation as a whole.
40.3% reported being involved in community discussions about the effects of the economic recession.
50.9% of Minnesotans say they would be willing to “work less” if doing so would create more jobs for those who are unemployed.
Almost 53% say they are willing to volunteer more.

And support for efforts to increase civic participation is still high:

86.4% believe that young people should be able to earn money for college through community service projects.
80.8% believe that young people should be required to do community service in higher school.
71% believe that students in high school need to pass a new civics test.
43.7% support training opportunities to learn skills as part of volunteer activities.
15.3% value the opportunity to learn and to be challenged as the first priority for their career, while 9.3% of Minnesotans seek to make a “public benefit” as the first priority. The quarter of the population who prize civic and educational aspects of jobs contrasts to 18.7% for the nation as a whole.

Coleman wrote his own fundraising letter on behalf of Bachmann in September. Franken was a listed co-host for a fundraising event for Clark, a DFL Party state senator, in Minneapolis last week. Maureen Reed is also mounting a 2010 challenge to Bachmann.

Coleman’s comments Tuesday came in response to a question from his Harvard audience about whether “death bed” rhetoric and “Nazi imagery” were hurting the Republican Party. “I don’t think that the signs you mention are part of the party or central to the discussion,” Coleman countered.

In the course of his response, Coleman brought up “the Michele Bachmanns out there.” He disputed a link between extreme rhetoric and elected officials or the Tea Party movement. “Your basic notion is mistaken,” he said. “You’re taking something way out on the fringe and you’re applying it to the legitimate anger that folks have.”

But earlier, Coleman seemed ready to harness anger himself with this line in his speech: “Pity the politician who comes between a citizen and their constitutional Second Amendment rights.”

Coleman, a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, is treading on Franken’s former stomping grounds: the Minnesota funnyman-turned-statesman was a math major at Harvard.

He has cast himself as someone who can bring young people into the Republican Party, showing off his savvy by naming things like travel agents and 8-track tapes that the students in his audience don’t use. Besides, he asserted, young people don’t deal with social issues on a day-to-day basis. “Very rarely are you going to think about what’s going to happen on Roe v. Wade today,” Coleman said.

Coleman said he looks for middle ground on social issues. He advocated “doing those things that support young women so they don’t have to have an abortion.” Gay marriage is “a pretty narrow issue,” he said, citing civil unions as a possible compromise on the more contentious issue of how to define marriage.

“The philosophy of conservatives really is more in line with your generation,” Coleman said. “I just think we haven’t done a good job of articulating it.”

Coleman articulated this reason for having lost his re-election battle to Franken last year: his yes vote on bailout bills to stave off a depression in October 2008. “But for the collapse of the economy, I don’t think the race would have been close,” he said.

“[I]t seems these days that the American dream is fading,” the Minnetonka resident wrote. “And without responsible, accountable, and informed leadership in Washington, this dream is in serious jeopardy for future generations. I am running for congress to restore these qualities to leadership, to raise up the middle class, and to make sure our children and grandchildren have even better opportunities than we had. I am running for Congress to revive the American dream and I ask for your support to do this.”

Last week, the Cook Political Report listed the seat as “likely Republican.” Early this month, fellow DFLer Jim Meffert also filed to run for the CD3 seat.

Only one other Minnesota contest makes the list of competitive House races. Freshman Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen’s seat is categorized as “likely Republican.” The assessments are unchanged from Cook’s prior analysis.

Both incumbents face a pair of Democratic challengers. Maureen Reed and Tarryl Clark are taking on Bachmann, while Paulsen faces opposition from Jim Meffert and Maureen Hackett.

Crist was initially expected to easily win the Republican nomination. But he’s come under attack from conservative activists for supporting President Obama’s stimulus package. Earlier this week, the Club for Growth announced its support for Rubio and launched a television ad attacking Crist.

Pawlenty could be gun shy about wading into local political battles after his experience pontificating about the recent congressional contest in upstate New York. T-Paw backed conservative stalwart Doug Hoffman over the GOP-endorsed candidate, only to see the district won by a Democrat for the first time in more than a century. Pawlenty has since taken some knocks from national pundits for too blatantly pandering to the conservative base.

Florida Democrats are looking to put Pawlenty on the spot. In a press release, state party chair Karen Thurman called on him to make his allegiance in the senate contest known.

“From looking at his record of pandering to the radical right in recent months, you might think Rubio has the upper-hand, but Pawlenty may have learned his lesson from endorsing the far-right candidate in New York,” Thurman said. “Then again, Pawlenty’s pandering to the Sarah Palins and Glenn Becks of the world could be too important to his national ambitions.”

Photo: Paul Demko, MnIndy

Senate Democrats are salivating at the prospect of attacking Republicans in 2010 who voted against an anti-rape amendment sponsored by Al Franken, reports Politico. The provision, which was supported by 68 senators, would prevent the Department of Defense from contracting with companies that prohibit employees from suing over workplace disputes — including complaints of sexual assault.

The amendment was inspired by the story of a 19-year-old KBR employee who was gang-raped by co-workers while detailed to Iraq. Upon returning to the U.S., she learned that she was unable to sue the company because of a clause in her contract. Thirty Republicans voted against the measure, often coming up with rather tortured explanations for their votes.

“I think anyone who voted against that has some tough explaining to do,” New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told Politico. “And I think particularly some incumbents already in a challenged position — it can be very detrimental to them because women voters are going to look at that and wonder, ‘Does this senator stand on my side?’”

But Politico posits that the amendment could also prove politically problematic for Franken as he attempts to complete the transition from liberal pitbull to respected legislator.

“Franken’s amendment may make sense for national Democrats in laying down lines of attack heading into the 2010 campaign — but this is not what Franken needs to build a base in Minnesota,” Larry Jacobs, of the University of Minnesota, told Politico. “Being a poster boy of a hard-hitting campaign against the Republican Party is the opposite of what he needs in Minnesota.”

Margaret Anderson Kelliher

Gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher picked up an endorsement from Minnesota’s largest union of state professional employees today. MAPE — the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees — announced its support for Anderson Kelliher, who is speaker of the state House of Representatives.

MAPE, which has nearly 13,000 members, interviewed each gubernatorial candidate in Roseville on Monday and Tuesday, before selecting the Minneapolis Democrat as its choice.

“We believe Speaker Kelliher’s proven leadership skills and her ability to manage the state in difficult times make her the strongest candidate,” said MAPE Statewide President Chet Jorgenson. “Speaker Kelliher is willing to bring people together to solve problems in a crisis. She has a history of respect for state workers and the jobs they do. It is for these reasons that MAPE’s elected officials endorsed Speaker Kelliher for governor of Minnesota.”

“We believe she is the most electable candidate in the race,” said MAPE Executive Director Jim Monroe. “Speaker Kelliher can raise the necessary money, has the necessary experience to guide this state in hard times and has a superior campaign structure.”

State Sen. Mike Jungbauer

When state Sen. Michael Jungbauer announced in August that he was running for governor, he stated that God was calling on him to seek the state’s top office. Apparently God had a change of heart.

The Republican from East Bethel announced today that he is dropping out of the governor’s contest. He cited fundraising struggles as part of the reason for the decision. Jungbauer will now seek re-election to his current legislative post.

“When I entered the governor’s race in July, I believed that God had opened the door to a new opportunity and that I needed to respond,” Jungbauer said in a statement announcing the decision. “I believe I did that to the best of my ability, but it was my human pride that made that job winning the race. As is so often the case, God’s plans aren’t our plans and I now realize that the job that needed doing was to learn a lot, listen even more, encourage and even teach a bit.”

Despite that divine directive, there was little indication that Jungbauer’s campaign was generating much momentum. A straw poll taken at last month’s state GOP convention showed little support for his candidacy. Perhaps his most notable contribution to the campaign: declaring that global warming is “pure, unadulterated BS.” There are seven remaining Republican candidates in the field.

Coming in at 12th dumbest, our Senate race (dubbed “Land of a Thousand Recounts”) is illustrated by the spoof pharmaceutical ad, which asks, “When the time comes to concede, will you be ready?”

The copy continues:

If you’ve already tried futile legal challenges and angry calls for recounts, yet continue to suffer from an inadequate vote tally, Democra-cialis may be right for you. Losing candidates who have used Democra-cialis have seen a marked reduction in electile dysfunction, leaving their opponents victorious and satisfied.

Also making the list are Illinois’ Rod Blagojevich (#15), corporate bailouts (#9), and “Angry Town Hall Meetings” (#6, “Birthers, deathers and other rightwing morons stopped any intelligent discussions about healthcare reform”).

The full ad, via NBC Chicago:

It’s not the first faux pharmaceutical ad created on behalf of Coleman. In April, Tildology came up with one for Dragra, an “oral argument for electile dysfunction.”

In particular, Balz criticizes T-Paw for his awkward refusal to embrace Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe as a member in good standing of the GOP during a recent television appearance. He also dings Pawlenty for eagerly wading into the recent congressional contest in upstate New York and for criticizing President Obama’s address to students on the first day of school. The awkward attempt to reposition himself for a Republican primary reminds Balz of Mitt Romney’s (doomed) 2008 presidential campaign.

The real risk for Pawlenty, as Romney learned in his unsuccessful 2008 campaign, is losing his true voice and his authenticity. Romney spent so much time trying to reposition himself and picking narrow tactical fights with his rivals that the qualities that might have made him a more attractive candidate were lost in the smoke. But once a candidate starts down that road, it can be hard to pull back.

This year, Romney has generally kept a lower profile. The view among strategists is that Romney has been shrewd in staying out of these flare-ups and wise to try to focus on big-picture issues of national security and the economy when he raises his profile. Pawlenty, being less known nationally and looking to attract attention to himself, has been reluctant to stay quiet.

Last week, another Washington Post political reporter, Chris Cillizza, made similar criticisms of Pawlenty.