WSJ: "Minnesota May Be Tip of Political Iceberg"
Democrats See Chance to Gain Three House Seats as Republicans Fight Back
By DAVID ROGERS
Wall Street Journal; March 30, 2006; Page A4

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- From the governor's mansion to Congress, everything's up for grabs in Minnesota this year, and if a political tidal wave is coming in November it will surely be felt here.

With the lakes still frozen white from winter, Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidates already have begun the spring ritual of nominating conventions in school auditoriums across the state. In three races in Republican House districts that Mr. Bush carried in 2004, Democrats hope for upsets given the president's faltering ratings.

To understand the currents ahead, forget about staid Scandinavians; remember this is the state that elected Jesse Ventura governor.

The Republican nightmare here in the First District is a burly,
high-school teacher and coach who is running as a Democrat but evokes
House Speaker Dennis Hastert as a younger man. The Democratic
candidate in the Second District is a former Federal Bureau of
Investigation agent with the maiden name of Cheney who is waging an
antiwar campaign. Her Republican opponent, a Marine veteran, opined
on radical Islam and attacks on the Easter Bunny while on the
campaign trail recently at a Lutheran school whose sports teams are
the "Crusaders."

http://voxverax.com