3rd District

Politico shares highlights from its phone interview today with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in which she said she’s “extremely grateful that we have an African-American who has won this year.” Surprisingly, that’s in reference to President-elect Barack Obama, a man to whom three weeks ago she appended a different descriptor: Anti-American. She continued:
“In my district, I don’t [...]

Democrat Ashwin Madia and Republican state Rep. Erik Paulsen fought one of the fiercest battles for a U.S. House seat this year, while Independence Party candidate David Dillon brought the lion’s share of the laughs to the 3rd Congressional District race. With the race over today, maybe Ash and Erik can share a laugh over drinks sometime. In fact, they already have, in this short clip from the candidate debate at Edina High last month. Video after the jump.

A new Survey USA poll shows for the first time a spread between the two leading candidates in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District that’s greater than the margin of error. It’s a sudden swing that Survey USA suggests might be due to a TV ad that darkens Democrat Ashwin Madia’s skin. But if so, the effect would seem to arise more from recent news reports about the ad than from the ad itself, which came out a full week before the first of Survey USA’s latest pair of back-to-back polls. Another way Republican Erik Paulsen’s ahead: KSTP gave Paulsen’s campaign an early preview of the poll results, according to Joe Bodell. And David Dillon’s camp says the poll is a re-do because the Survey USA left the Independence Party candidate’s name off last time.

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. A scan of the piece and more after the jump.

In the race to replace retiring 3rd District U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, Democrat Ashwin Madia has released a new TV ad titled “Check It Out,” contrasting his own economic positions (identified on screen with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s) with those of Republican state Rep. Erik Paulsen, whose policies it ties to President Bush. The ad [...]

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza places Minnesota’s two hottest congressional contests back to back in his list of the 26th–50th U.S. House seats most likely to swap parties — a category consisting of 24 seats currently occupied by Republicans and exactly one held by a Democrat. The Top 25 he released last week had only [...]

While the country turned its fickle eyes to Minnesota’s suddenly compelling 6th Congressional District contest, the race for the state’s 3rd District didn’t stop being hot. Over the last two days, both major parties’ congressional committees unveiled new TV ads. Big male guns vouched for the Republican candidate, state Rep. Erik Paulsen, and big female guns tried to widen a gender gap for DFLer Ashwin Madia — while heaping derision on another female office-holder, state Rep. Michele Bachmann. All this and more, with video and details about tonight’s candidate debate in Edina, after the jump.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visits Minnesota today to campaign for 3rd District DFL congressional candidate Ashwin Madia. Republican state Sen. Erik Paulsen’s new TV ad is called “Disturbing.” Independence Party candidate David Dillon held forth for an hour at the Humphrey Institute on Friday, and that night KSTP hosted a debate for all three contenders. Video and audio after the jump.

The three candidates vying for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District seat raised nearly $2 million in the third quarter, according to reports they filed today with the Federal Election Commission, with a combined take of $1,946,000. And spending for TV in the 3rd is outpacing the presidential contenders in the Twin Cities market and running at nearly a third of the total TV outlay in Minnesota’s uber-spendy U.S. Senate race. More inside, including Dillon’s radio debut and a Madia TV spot gets caught in U.S. Rep. John Kline’s cross-district crossfire.

The cash differential is really starting to show in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District race, as evidenced by four new pieces of video today. Two are paid ads intended for TV: a positive ad from Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate Ashwin Madia called “Discipline,” which highlights his service as a U.S. Marine and argues for fiscal discipline, and a negative ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that attacks Republican candidate Erik Paulsen for coddling offshore dummy corporations.

The other two are free media: a three-minute YouTube video posted by the Paulsen campaign that features testimonials from veterans who support the state representative’s congressional bid, and a four-minute interview that Fox 9 conducted with Paulsen as part of its morning news show… which was followed minutes later by the new Madia ad. See videos after the jump.