Rep. Chip Cravaack is a top target of Democrats and reproductive rights advocates in 2012 even if the Republican freshman has yet to draw a challenger. Cravaack is one of 14 vulnerable Republicans the Democrats hope to unseat in 2012, and EMILY’s List has announced that Cravaack is one of its top five targets.

“While Minnesota families struggle in the tough economy, what’s Cong. Cravaack’s first priority after taking office?” EMILY’s List wrote on Tuesday. “Forget job creation – it was redefining rape. Cravaack was an original co-sponsor of H.R. 3, which actually attempted to redefine rape and led to incredible outrage over such a crass, inhumane act toward survivors of sexual assault.”

The group has added Cravaack to its “You’re on notice” list.

Meanwhile, Cravaack represents one of 14 district that went for both John Kerry and President Obama in past presidential contests, and those are ones that Democrats are making a strong play for in 2012.

“The Kerry-Obama districts should be at the top of any Democratic target list because they are historically Democratic seats,” Mark Putnam, a Democratic strategist, told Politico. “Those seats should turn Democratic.”

Politico notes that Democratic strategists are waiting to see how lines are drawn in redistricting before making any serious moves in those 14 districts.

Though Cravaack is seen as vulnerable — he defeated Rep. Jim Oberstar by just 4,200 votes — he has yet to draw any challengers.

Matt Entenza, Robyne Robinson, Margaret Anderson Kelliher

While Margaret Anderson Kelliher has the distinction of being the first woman to get a major party endorsement for governor in state history, it’s the campaign of Matt Entenza that got the nod from the state chapter of the National Organization for Women. Calling Entenza a “great champion of women’s rights,” Minnesota NOW head  Shannon Drury said in a statement to Entenza’s campaign that she was impressed “immediately by [runningmate Robyne Robinson's] intelligence, her candor, and her compassion for all the citizens of this state.”

The group’s political action committee met Saturday, the Star Tribune reports. “The nod might not be the most powerful out there — the PAC had less than $1,000 cash-on-hand, according to recent campaign finance records,” writes reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger.

Kelliher, the only woman in the governor’s race, has backing from another women’s group: the national pro-choice organization EMILY’s List has given her its endorsement.

Stephanie Schriock

Franken for Senate campaign manager Stephanie Schriock is headed to the top of the EMILY’s List organization with the exit of founder and president Ellen Malcolm. Schriock has Minnesota links beyond steering Al Franken to the U.S. Senate: She was born and attended college in Mankato.

It’s a changing of the guard at EMILY’s List, which is marking a quarter-century of helping pro-choice women get elected across the country. Schriock is 36.

In Minnesota, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (for governor) and state Sen. Tarryl Clark (for the congressional seat held by Michele Bachmann) are recent recipients of EMILY’s List support.

Calling herself “an outsider with a reputation as a straight-shooting moderate,” Gaertner said:

This doesn’t mean that I have given up on anyone in the DFL. Like other candidates who have stated their intention to run in a primary, I respect the party process and will continue to work to gain the support of delegates to the DFL convention. I will be working hard, however, to gain the support of the many loyal DFL voters who don’t always get engaged in the caucus and convention process.

Despite her long time in the trenches, Gaertner isn’t ranked as a leading candidate for endorsement among the nearly dozen DFLers now seeking the post Tim Pawlenty will vacate a year from now.

Last month EMILY’s List announced funding for the only other woman in the Democratic field, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, leading Gaertner to issue a press release explaining why being passed over by the pro-choice women-candidate organization wasn’t that big a deal.

In picking Clark over fellow Democrat Maureen Reed, EMILY’s List delivered a put-down to both Bachmann and Reed: “[Clark's] strong reputation of getting things done for Minnesota families is what sets her apart from her opponents.”

The emergence of challengers to Bachmann and Paulsen hasn’t dented their status as “favored” on Rothenberg’s ratings of 2010 congressional races. And in Rothenberg’s estimation, the picture continues to look fairly rosy for the GOP nationally, with 21 seats moving to the GOP in this quarter’s report:

While Democratic control of the House is not yet at risk, losses of 15-20 seats are likely, and that target range could well grow with additional Democratic retirements and voter anger.

[Via Politics in Minnesota]

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

TWIN CITIES: Second Moussaoui tipster gets $100,000 reward. The first got $5 million in 2008; a third from the Pan Am flight school is “flabbergasted” to have received no money. [Associated Press]

MINNEAPOLIS: EMILY loves Margaret. Is House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher using her EMILY’s List and other endorsements to spread a “veneer of inevitability” in the governor’s race? [Political Animal]

SIXTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: The “fuzz ball” that roared. A ho hum interview with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann gets lambasted, and her fuzzballness gets seriously questioned. [MinnPost; City Pages; Talking Points Memo]

WHITE TOWNSHIP: What would have helped keep the local barber in business? Copper mining. [Duluth News Tribune]

FRIDLEY: One thousand four hundred and sixteen voters brave blizzard to preserve status quo. They denied city officials the right to ask those same voters for tax or fee hikes to deal with state cuts to local-government aid. [Star Tribune]

STATEWIDE: Trivia … or fate? Seven Minnesota governors have come from newspaper work of one kind or another; Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a former reporter and publisher, would be No. 8. [Smart Politics]

The ads say, in part (MP3):

In Minnesota, 39 innocent children are lost every day, 39 children every day. And what does comedian Al Franken want to do about it? Nothing. Franken says he supports abortion on demand. It’s no wonder radical pro-abortion groups have embraced Al Franken. They want to overturn the ban on gruesome partial birth abortions, force you to pay for abortions with your tax dollars, and allow young girls to get abortions without their parents consent. Al Franken and his allies are wrong. Call Al Franken right now at 612-344-2008 and tell him MN deserves leaders we can trust to protect life. tell him every life counts and this is no laughing matter.

“While Senate candidates like Al Franken in Minnesota and Kay Hagan in North Carolina hide their extreme support for abortion on-demand from the voters, we are there to expose it,” SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told the religious right website Lifesite.com. “American voters deserve to know the truth about who really is – and isn’t – on the side of unborn children.”

The group opposes any and all abortion, including those resulting from rape or incest. Like the name suggests, SBA List’s original focus was on progressive pro-life candidates who opposed abortion, but promoted social welfare policies that reduce the need for abortion.

In the late-1990s and early-2000s, the group underwent a transformation as Republican insiders took over the group, aligning its activities close to those of the religious right.

The group is also focusing three other states: Colorado, New Hampshire and New Mexico.