Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, which encompasses the wealthy suburbs west of Minneapolis, should be competitive. Political strategists have often rated the district a tossup, but Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen has managed to keep the district in Republican hands following the 2008 retirement of moderate Rep. Jim Ramstad, even winning by double digits in 2010. As district resident Sharon Sund aims to change that, Paulsen is getting renewed attention from national Democrats, who are launching a new round of ads against him.

“I never thought I’d be a politician,” Sund told the Minnesota Independent. “And I said I wouldn’t be if anyone asked. I was adamant.”

But Paulsen’s vote in favor of the GOP budget, orchestrated by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, changed that.

“Erik Paulsen decided that he was going to vote on this Ryan budget, which destroys Medicare as we know it. He was just hellbent on doing whatever the Republicans wanted to do,” she said. “They insisted that they best way to do things was to cut taxes and continue to fund corporations. He was going to do this because he believe it was the right thing to do. The only way that we were going to get something different was to get someone different in that position, so I decided I should run.”

A scientist, businesswoman and soccer mom, Sund’s resume is likely similar to those of many in the suburban district. It’s the wealthiest and most educated among Minnesota’s eight congressional districts. A large number of biotech companies, such as Medtronic, are headquartered there.

And it’s a district that should be relatively friendly to Democrats. The Cook Political Report has consistently rated the 3rd as “even” between Democratic and Republican voters. President Obama carried the district with 52 percent in 2008 – but that same year Paulsen won 48 percent to DFLer Ashwin Madia’s 41 percent. In 2010, a landslide year for Republicans, Paulsen won by double digits with 59 percent to DFLer Jim Meffert’s 37 percent.

Since then, Paulsen has kept his head down and avoided controversy, unlike Republicans in neighboring districts. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a persistent target for progressive activists over her frequent gaffes and decidedly right-wing positions, is on the northern boundary with Paulsen’s district. To the district’s east, DFLer Rep. Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress, a fact that has brought right-wing attacks, and he’s quickly risen to become a leader on the left.

While Paulsen hasn’t made headlines, he votes have been largely in lock-step with the new, more conservative Republican majority in the House. And his vote for the Ryan budget has grabbed the attention of national Democrats who have bought gas station ads attacking him for trying to “end Medicare.”

In terms of campaign cash, Paulsen has $679,000 in the bank. Sund, whose campaign was only recently organized, hasn’t yet posted fundraising numbers.

A focus on veterans, green technology

“The thing that perhaps informed my early life the most was growing up in the military,” Sund recalled. “My dad was in the military and served two tours in Vietnam”

She said a recent DFL veterans event was “like old home to me.”

“Veterans issues form a special place with me. We owe it to them be careful when we go into wars, be clear about how we are going to get out, and consider the families of veterans.”

Sund also has a passion for green energy technology, a field she’s worked in. She said she started visiting Paulsen’s office to talk about the industry a few years ago, with little success.

“A lot of people are latching onto [green energy technology],” she said. “We really need to be forward thinking as a country and that’s one of the problems with Paulsen.”

On health care, Sund said any reforms must benefit job creators.

“We need to set up a system that benefits small business, and we need to be encouraging innovators,” she said.

And she feels that tax reforms should not disproportionately favor corporations.

“I think that we need to put people first. The way I see Paulsen doing things is supporting corporations, giving tax breaks to corporations, allowing them to not even pay taxes yet putting the burden on the elderly, children and the disadvantaged.”

Paulsen, as the Minnesota Independent has reported, Paulsen is a member of the federal affairs arm of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a controversial and secretive group that helps lawmakers draft business-friendly legislation, often without disclosure about the group’s involvement in the process.

Sund says her campaign has received financial and volunteer support from people who have never voted Democrat, particularly those that supported Ramstad, a moderate Republican.

“One of the tipping points for my decision to run was a dad at the kids’ soccer field. He had gotten wind that I was going to run, and he says, ‘Are you going to run? Are you going to run? We need you,’” she recalled. “Then he tells me, ‘You know? I’ve never voted Democrat until Obama. We need you.’”

This report is part of collaboration with WNYC’s “It’s a Free Country” to cover the 25 most captivating congressional races from around the country.

Photo: Jim Meffert for Congress

While most eyes are focused on Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District and the spectacle that is already Rep. Michele Bachmann vs. Sen. Tarryl Clark, some political watchers see a potential battle in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District between freshmen Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen and his DFL challenger Jim Meffert. Though some say it’s a long shot, others think the DFL would do well to invest resources there in support of Meffert.

The New York Times’ political prediction maker Nate Silver has Paulsen the likely favorite, predicting he will finish the race comfortably with 62 percent and Meffert at 35 percent, and the Cook Political Report doesntt see it as a competitive race. It’s not even on their radar.

But the popular election tracking website Electoral-Vote.com rates the race as a pure tossup. According to the site’s author, Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Paulsen should be vulnerable even in a good year for Republicans.

Freshman Erik Paulsen won this exactly evenly split district [between Democrats and Republicans] with only 48% of the vote in a three-way race in 2008. There is some evidence that the Independence Party candidate hurt the Democrat more than he hurt Paulsen. Furthermore, Obama carried the district with 52% of the vote. All in all, Paulsen will definitely be on the Democrats’ radar in 2010. Their candidate is Jim Meffert, the executive director of the Minnsota Optometric Association, who has never run for public office before. He is clearly not as strong a candidate as the Democrats would have liked, but in an evenly split district he has a shot at it.

And Hamline University professor David Schultz, says the DFL should pull resources from trying to defeat Bachmann and lend them to Meffert.

“Since election, Paulsen has spoken moderate but voted right,” Schultz wrote on his blog. “He has a voting record nearly identical to Bachmann’s voting with her over 90% of the time. He has no real accomplishments to show, and about the only news about him has been how he appeared to gouge the House franking privilege by sending out hundreds of thousands of dollars in mail to his constituents, at taxpayer expense.”

The district, he said, is more moderate than Paulsen.

Too many people have heard me argue that campaigns are won or lost based on how well you capture the swing voter. The most critical swing voter in Minnesota remains the suburban mom with kids – the soccer mom. These women are less and less likely to vote GOP because of its agenda. These women are worried about family issues–early childhood ed, K-12, jobs, and health care for their children. Minnesota’s third district is soccer mom heaven. It is heavily dominated by soccer moms in the suburbs, and they are ready to swing.
Some analysis and polls suggest Paulsen’s agenda is way out of line with voters here. Less than half have a favorable view of him, with many outright unwilling to vote for him again were there a choice. This is where Jim Meffert comes in.

Schultz says Meffert fits the district but does not get the attention needed to be competitive.

Jim Meffert is a terrific candidate for the third district, if only he could get the attention of the media, Democrats, and the voters. He is a St. Olaf grad, serving there as the president of the college Republicans. He became a Democrat because, like the soccer moms of his district, he saw the GOP moving in a direction he did not like. Jim has worked with the PTA and on education issues, he comes from peace and justice wing of the religious community, and he talks of government and business working together to solve problems. All of these are perfect themes for this district.

Dan Powers, Jim Meffert

At party conventions this weekend, DFLers Jim Meffert and Dan Powers advanced to the general election to take on Reps. Erik Paulsen and John Kline, respectively. Meffert’s DFL opponent, Maureen Hackett, said she is backing the endorsed candidate and Powers’ opponent, Shelley Madore, will also abide by the endorsement.

Meffert, head of the Minnesota Optometric Association and past Parent Teacher Association president, won the DFL endorsement in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District and will take on Paulsen in November, barring any primary challengers. He told the convention after winning the endorsement, “I will fight for the 180,000 Minnesota children living in poverty. I will fight for the 480,000 Minnesotans without health insurance. And I will never stop fighting for our children. I will never stop fighting for our families. And I will never stop fighting for you.”

Maureen Hackett, his DFL opponent for the endorsement, sent a message to her campaign supporters saying, “While today didn’t turn out as I would’ve liked for our campaign, it was a great day for our party as we united behind Jim Meffert as the DFL candidate who’s going to beat Erik Paulsen this fall.”

The UpTake captured a number of scenes from the convention, including reactions from Meffert:

Dan Powers, a Burnsville construction contractor, was endorsed by 2nd Congressional District DFL activists over former legislator Shelley Madore. Madore conceded on the second ballot and, barring a late entry into the race for the primary, Powers will be taking on Kline in the fall.

“John Kline is vulnerable — he’s an obstacle to middle class prosperity and he refuses to listen to our community’s concerns. He’s voted against reforming our health care system and ensuring our parents and grandparents aren’t bankrupted by the high costs of Medicare Part D,” Powers said in a statement following the endorsement. “He’s voted against student lending reform. His town hall meetings are barely publicized and he turns people away if they don’t agree with him ideologically.”

Here’s Powers’ reaction to the endorsement:

U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., came to the Twin Cities today to support DFL congressional candidate Ashwin Madia in his bid to replace retiring Republican 3rd District U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad with a Minneapolis fundraiser and a joint visit to Axonom, Inc., a small Edina technology firm.

The two pols discussed the need to reform health care to lessen businesses’ burden as well as the importance of education in building a skilled work force — a point Axonom CEO Clark Dircz stressed during an office tour he led. In a news conference afterward, Emanuel pitched a plan to make mandatory one year of post-secondary education.

But they could hardly ignore the current economic crisis, and Madia sketched a five-point economic plan that Emanuel duly applauded, lavishing praise on Madia as the sort of practical politician who would be welcomed in the House Democratic caucus, which Emanuel leads.

Emanuel and Madia make an interesting pair: Both are sons of immigrants with names that not everyone can spell and, after last week’s slams on Madia by Minnesota Republicans, they have both been called “carpetbagger.” In Emanuel’s case, the term was applied during an extremely rough 2002 campaign in which it took an all-faiths rally to silence harsh rhetoric many saw as anti-Semitic. In the Edina office building lobby after today’s event, Emanuel quietly counseled Madia on how to handle attacks that carry messages of racial or ethnic divisiveness.

Emanuel’s visit came on a day that Ramstad — speaking for himself as well as quoting from a statement by his predecessor, Bill Frenzel — said Madia and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are conducting a campaign of “gutter politics” against state Rep. Erik Paulsen, the Republican candidate for Ramstad’s seat. Among what Ramstad characterized as “utter fabrications” was a DCCC flyer linking Paulsen to a Las Vegas strip-club event held by a political action committee that also donated to his campaign (Paulsen campaign video and MPR audio below). A new Paulsen ad has this for a theme: “Madia lies a lot.”

Here’s a three-minute highlight reel from today’s Madia-Emanuel news conference:

Paulsen campaign video of Ramstad press conference:

MPR audio of Ramstad press conference: