Minnesota Disaster?

No, I'm not talking about the upcoming Republican convention in Minneapolis this week in the face of Hurricane Gustave. I'm talking about the Senate race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and his Democratic challenger, pundit and comedian Al Franken.

The latest Survey USA and Rasmussan polls in Minnesota show Barack Obama leading John McCain 47%-42%. With Democrats taking the last four presidential elections in that state, you would think they would have a good chance of coat-tailing its candidate for the Senate, Al Franken, but a look at those Senate race polls show Coleman leading Franken 44%-42%, a statistical tie.

Now, Minnesotans have a history of quirkiness in local elections. Who among us can forget the election of wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor of that fine state? But in this critical election year ( aren't they all?), can Minnesotans again be playing at the polls? More to the point, the Minnesota electorate seems to be decidedly unhappy with their current choices and they would rather have a third choice for the Senate seat, as the Associated Press reports in the Minneapolis StarTribune:

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A new poll finds that many Minnesota voters would at least consider voting for a third-party or independent candidate for president or the U.S. Senate.

The poll is sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio News and the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute.

It finds that 77 percent of the state's likely voters say they would consider voting for an independent or third-party candidate, while 21 percent would not and 3 percent didn't know.

The poll finds support in Minnesota for independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader at 3 percent, while 1 percent supported Libertarian Bob Barr.

In the U.S. Senate race, Independence Party hopeful Dean Barkley registered 8 percent in a tight contest between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken.

The telephone survey of 763 likely voters was conducted between August 7 and 17. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Considering the overall standing of the Republicans this year as well as the traditional liberalism of Minnesotans, Franken should have a healthy lead in the polls at this point. The Dems must be questioning themselves about their choice of Franken as their candidate.