Minnesota Moments

This is a bit bizarre:

When asked which party would best be able to deal with the problem that concerns them most, almost 40 percent picked "Democrats" and only about a fourth chose Republicans.

Approval ratings have slumped for both Gov. Tim Pawlenty and President George Bush.

The percentage giving Pawlenty "poor" or "only fair" marks rose to 50 percent from 41 percent in 2003. When asked whether they would vote for Pawlenty, 39 percent said yes and 42 percent said no.

Close association with Bush might not be too helpful. Bush finished dead last among elected officials and candidates on a "feeling thermometer" and those rating his job performance "excellent" or "pretty good" dropped to 33 percent.
[...]
Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, a DFL candidate for the U.S. Senate, and First Lady Laura Bush got the highest ratings.

Association does not, I think, get a lot closer than "wife." But aside from Laura Bush's polling power, things look bad for the GOP in Minnesota. Pawlenty was being mentioned as a dark horse presidential candidate just last year, now he's fighting for reelection. Republicans were gleefully predicting a rightward shift in the purple territory, turns out it's lurched left. The open seat vacated by Mark Dayton was touted as a prime GOP pickup, now their strongest candidate languishes at the bottom of surveys. If this trend holds nationwide, and there's little reason to believe it isn't, 2006 is going to roil the landscape.