David Dillon

Minnesota’s U.S. Representative-elect for the Third District, Republican Erik Paulsen, ran one of the best five House campaigns in the country, according to the Washington Post blog The Fix. Paulsen “beat back the anti-Republican trend,” writes Chris Cillizza, “by focusing on his own accomplishments in the state legislature.” The Fix tracked the Third District contest closely throughout the campaign season as one of the nation’s most competitive congressional contests. But in several ways Cillizza’s summary this morning doesn’t exactly square with how home-state observers might recall the race.

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.

In e-mails to the Minnesota Independent this afternoon, KSTP-TV’s Tom Hauser responds to reports that the station gave Republican state Rep. Erik Paulsen’s campaign an early heads-up yesterday about the results of the latest 3rd Congressional District poll that Survey USA conducted for KSTP. Hauser also confirms that the latest poll was a re-do of one just two days earlier that left out the name of David Dillon, Independence Party candidate.

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.

For decades, Republicans have won the battle on wedge social issues at the polls in suburban districts, while Democrats quietly tried to shoo those wedge issues away. But Democratic candidates in tough districts are slowly coming to openly support equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and they are being led by a new crop of unlikely pioneers — military veterans. DFLer Ashwin Madia is one such candidate.

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.

Erik Paulsen has diminished his record on a number of issues and present himself as moderate, so much so that any mention that he’s running as a Republican is absent from his campaign website. But his past is catching up with him: Focus on the Family’s James Dobson is throwing his support behind the candidate based on Paulsen’s conservative record on controversial wedge issues.

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 [...]

CQ Politics crunched the latest financial filings by candidates for Congress and put Minnesota state Rep. Erik Paulsen, with $2.2 raised so far in his campaign (as of Sept. 30), at No. 7 in the country for most cash raised among candidates for open House seats. His DFL rival, Ashwin Madia, is at No. 12 [...]

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.