Mondale instant front-runner
Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale had an 8-point lead over former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman Wednesday before he accepted the nomination of the Democrat Farm Labor Party to replace the late Sen. Paul Wellstone on Tuesday's ballot.
The DFL Central Committee was poised to make Mondale its nominee at a meeting Wednesday night at a Minneapolis hotel. Mondale, 74, told party leaders Wednesday to make the offer and he'll do it.
"I am writing to inform you that, if nominated, I will accept the DFL nomination for U.S. Senate tonight," Mondale wrote in a letter to DFL Party Chairman Mike Erlandson. "It is with a heavy heart, but a great hope for the future, that I will pick up the campaign where Paul Wellstone left off."
Mondale, who served 12 years in the Senate, is regarded as the elder statesman in Minnesota politics and 66 percent of the 639 people surveyed in the Minnesota Poll had a favorable image of him. The poll had a 3.9 percent margin of error.
The Star Tribune-Minnesota Poll was conducted for a single day 24 hours before a memorial service for Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, daughter Marcia, three campaign workers and two pilots at the University of Minnesota. They were killed in a plane crash Friday on Minnesota's Iron Range as Wellstone was en route to a friend's funeral.
Mondale did not speak at the three-hour memorial Tuesday evening. Emotions ran the gamut from sadness at the death of the 58-year-old two-term liberal to the foot-stomping spirit of a populist campaign rally, with 20,000 people chanting "Wellstone, Wellstone, Wellstone."
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, a former Wisconsin governor, represented President Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney stayed away at the family's request because of the added security and protesters his attendance would have prompted.
Coleman resumed his campaign Wednesday after a four-day hiatus leaving St. Paul Airport on a fly-around to northern and southern Minnesota.
Democrats have promised Mondale the money and volunteers he would need for a six-day, door-knocking, get-out-the-vote campaign until Election Day.
Wellstone and Coleman had raised nearly $20 million over the last 17 months setting a fundraising record for a Minnesota Senate race.
Pawlenty takes lead in Minn. gov race
Republican Tim Pawlenty has taken the lead in the hotly contested four-way Minnesota governor's race, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Pawlenty had been locked in a statistical tie with Independent Party candidate Tim Penny, and Democrat Roger Moe.
In the latest Minnesota Poll of 639 likely voters conducted on Oct. 28, Pawlenty had 33 percent, Moe remained steady at 29 percent, and Penny slipped 8 percentage points to 19 percent. The error rate was 3.9 percent. Penny is backed by outgoing Gov. Jesse Ventura.
Green Party candidate Ken Pentel had 5 percent.
Final Mass. gov. debate a draw
There was no clear winner in Tuesday night's fifth and final debate in the tight Massachusetts governor's race.
Neither candidate scored a knockout blow nor committed an embarrassing gaffe.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien faced off for an hour, comparing and contrasting positions and exchanging barbs as moderator Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" tried, with general success, to keep them on the issues.
Taxes, jobs, the economy, abortion and the death penalty provided each with fodder to put their views before the voters in the televised debate.
Romney, the former head of the Winter Olympics, appealed directly to undecided voters, warning that electing O'Brien would mean a return to one-party government in a state dominated by Democrats.
"I don't think that's healthy," said Romney, who seeks to continue the GOP's 12-year hold on the governor's office. "I don't think it's good for the economy. Everyone knows if you are elected governor, we are going to have another massive tax increase."
O'Brien, calling Romney a greedy "corporate captain of industry," insisted she has the skills and experience as a legislator and state treasurer to work with the Democratic-controlled Legislature "to cut expenditures as much as we can ... to work to find efficiencies." She said raising taxes would be a "last resort" for solving the state's fiscal problems.
Going into the debate, a Boston Herald poll of 421 likely voters showed O'Brien narrowly leading Romney, 44 percent to 38 percent. The poll was taken Oct. 25-27 and had a margin or error of 4.8 percent.
Baldacci leads Maine gov polls
Maine's Democratic candidate for governor John Baldacci says people are "excited and enthused" about his chances of winning the statehouse next Tuesday.
Baldacci received endorsements from the state's two largest newspapers this week and two polls released Tuesday showed his big lead remains solid.
The retiring congressman from Bangor led Republican Peter Ciachette 46 percent to 36 percent, with 8 percent undecided, in a statewide telephone poll of 504 likely voters conducted for Maine Pubic Broadcasting by RKM Research Oct. 23-26. The survey had a margin of error of 4.4 percent.
The second poll by Strategic Marketing Services gave Baldacci an even bigger 21-point lead, 44 percent to 23 percent with 11 percent undecided. SMS queried 500 likely voters Oct. 24-27 and the poll had 4.4 percent margin of error.
Support soft for Florida education amendment
A poll of likely Florida voters showed they still favor the state's constitutional amendment to reduce class sizes in public schools, but the margin has shrunk significantly because of fears of higher taxes.
Respondents favored reducing class sizes by 51 percent to 32 percent. That compares with 66 percent to 17 percent reported after a similar survey nearly five months ago. The poll shows 73 percent thought the amendment would result in a tax increase and only 42 percent said they would support a 1-cent sales tax to pay for it.
If the measure is approved, class size would be reduced to 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 students through the eighth grade and 25 students in high school. The poll was taken for the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel by Florida Voter. It was conducted among 600 people Oct. 22-25 and has a margin of error of 4 points.
Political dirty tricks dept.
Illinois Republican candidate for governor Jim Ryan is crying foul.
The state's attorney general said the Illinois AFL-CIO sent out about 10,000 pamphlets to households in central and southern Illinois on behalf of Democratic nominee Rod Blagojevich.
The flyers identified embattled outgoing Gov. George Ryan as the GOP candidate and used his picture instead of Jim Ryan's photo.
The union said the misprint was an honest mistake by an out-of-state art studio, and was not proofread before mailing.
Ryan isn't buying it.
He said Democrats have tried to capitalize on voter confusion over the two Ryans since the start of the campaign. The Ryans are not related.
"Nearly every newspaper in the state says that Jim Ryan is better suited to be governor of Illinois than Rod Blagojevich," Ryan campaign spokesman Dan Curry said. "No wonder the Democrats want to fool people into believing Blagojevich is running against George Ryan. It is beyond believability this was an honest mistake."
George Ryan decided against seeking a second term partly because of a driver's license for bribes scandal during his tenure as secretary of state. More than 100 state employees have been convicted.
