That was the list on which Minnesota’s 3rd District race to replace U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad used to appear, but now it’s at No. 29, one notch behind that upstart competitive contest next door in the 6th District made famous by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s funny comments and DFL challenger Elwyn “Cash Magnet” Tinklenberg’s funny name. The relevant quote, with links, after the jump.

29. Minnesota’s 3rd district (R): Democrat Ashwin Madia appears to have edged ahead of state Sen. Erik Paulsen (R) in this race in the suburbs of the Twin Cities. In a neutral year, Paulsen would likely win. But Madia’s grassroots campaign, his service in Iraq and the strong year shaping up for Democrats in the state make him a slight favorite.

28. Minnesota’s 6th district (R): Note to vulnerable incumbents: Don’t go on national TV two weeks before an election. Just don’t do it.

Survey USA cautions that the poll is a snapshot from a volatile race that – with Tinklenberg’s lead within the margin of error — appears to be essentially tied. Indeed, the contest continues to develop as a national story on the news of Bachmann’s Oct. 19 remarks on MSNBC’s “Hardball” show. (On Friday MPR will release results from its own poll of 6th District voters’ current take on the race.) The day before Bachmann told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and possibly others in Congress held “anti-American” views, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released results of a survey taken Oct. 10–12 showing Bachmann with a narrow 42–38 lead.

In the poll released Thursday, women preferred Tinklenberg to Bachmann by a wider margin (53 percent to 41 percent) than men favored Bachmann over Tinklenberg (48–42). Tinklenberg takes 51 percent of independent voters to Bachmann’s 35 percent. And the DFLer gets the support of more Democrats (87 percent) than Bachmann does Republicans (79 percent).

That last figure demonstrates that Republican support for Bachmann has dropped by 9 percentage points from where it stood two years ago, as reported in a poll that Survey USA took for KSTP-TV on Oct. 24–26, 2006, just days before Bachmann won election to her first term in Congress.

Major media are reporting that Survey USA conducted this week’s poll on Monday and Tuesday, but that’s incorrect. It turns out it was actually Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning that some respondents gave pollsters their voting preference when the controversy over Bachmann’s “anti-American” statements and re-statements had had yet another 24-hour news cycle in which to curdle.

The problem: Survey USA’s original report listed two different date ranges (Oct. 20–21 and Oct. 21–22) as the period over which the poll was conducted. Jay Leve, an official at the polling organization, issued this clarification early Friday in response to a Minnesota Independent query:

SurveyUSA apologizes for the confusion. Data collected 10/21/08 + 10/22/08. Poll released 10/23/08. The incorrect reference has been changed.

Stillwater's Joyce Finney: "She represents the district I live in, but she sure doesn’t represent my feelings about things."

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s recent Hardball blowup has undoubtedly endangered her re-election prospects. The freshman legislator’s assertion that there should be an investigation into whether Barack Obama and other members of Congress hold “anti-American” views has become one of the top political stories in the country. Her opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, has raised $1.3 million in less than a week and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has committed to a seven-figure ad buy in the district. The most recent blow: the National Republican Congressional Committee decided to pull its TV spots from the 6th District.

But what do constituents in the 6th Congressional District think of Bachmann’s latest episode of foot-in-mouth disease? On Tuesday afternoon Chris Steller and I ventured into the northern suburbs to speak with voters about the controversy and their feelings regarding Bachmann.

We traveled first to Stillwater, on the eastern edge of the district, where Bachmann first rose to political prominence by winning a state House race in 2000. The anti-Bachmann chorus was unanimous. “Nutcase,” said Scott Zahren, owner of the Alesci Furniture Gallery. “I’m serious. It almost makes you embarrassed to be an American.”

Joyce Finney was slightly less caustic in her take. “I don’t feel like she represents me,” Finney said. “She represents the district I live in, but she sure doesn’t represent my feelings about things.”

We then traveled across the 6th Congressional District to Anoka. The view on Bachmann and her recent outburst was much more sanguine among the folks we encountered there. “I think she’s a little outspoken, but I think she’s got good values,” said Monica Schnack, who teaches at the Elim Christian Learning Center in Anoka. “I think she’s for the people. I think she’s trying to help.”

Paula Dwyer, whose vehicle sported a McCain-Palin bumper sticker, endorsed Bachmann’s views about the Democratic presidential contender. “As far as what she said about Obama being anti-American, I think you have to wonder, too,” she said. “He just hasn’t been out there in front of America for very long at all.”

Others simply expressed disgust at all politicians. “I won’t even vote any more,” said Eric Krueger. “I don’t even trust out government. I think they’re all crooks.”

But three other more costly contests — for U.S. president, senate and house (3rd District) — are already consuming $29.7 million of Twin Cities TV. What’s left for El?

I caught up with Tinklenberg campaign spokesperson John Wodele by phone on Monday morning while he was at WCCO-TV buying $182,000 of ads to be broadcast through Nov. 4. Yes, WCCO had ad time to sell, he said — “but it wasn’t always at the lowest rate.” (Aren’t political candidates supposed to receive the lowest rates? “It’s complicated,” Wodele said.) Wodele, a media consultant by trade who said he isn’t usually the one to buy media, was confident the Tinklenberg campaign would be able to buy what it needs, and he promised, “We’re going to increase this substantially over the next 24–48 hours.” He called such lavish outlays for TV a “luxury” the campaign hasn’t been able to afford — until now.