New Minn. poll: Franken 42, Coleman 38, Barkley 18 - undecided 4

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows DFLer Al Franken clinging to a slim lead over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman among likely voters, 42 percent to 38 percent. That's within the poll's 4.1 percentage point margin of sampling error.
Independence Party candidate Barkley, who held steady at 18 percent in the two previous Minnesota Polls, slipped three points to 15 percent.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/33698624.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

[charlie]

1. Fixed link

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/33698624.html

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the notion that the same people who sent Humphrey, McCarthy, Mondale, and Wellstone to the Senate might give oily Coleman a second term. It's hard to believe.

[nomorenomore08]

3. True. They do have Bachmann, but that's one just one district.

It's been said, though, that there really are no truly blue or red states - that every state is more or less a mixture of larger cities and surrounding areas that lean blue, and rural areas that lean red. Take a look at an electoral map of my native California sometime, and you'll see some big ol' splotches of red in the eastern and far northern parts of the state. And yet, thanks in large part to L.A. and the S.F. Bay Area, CA is overall majority Democratic.

So what I'm saying is, in this context, it's totally plausible that the same state that elected the aforementioned liberal Senators, could also elect a right-winger like Coleman, and then reject him for a comedian. It's all about which way the wind is blowing, and right now it's blowing in a liberal/Democratic direction...

[harun]

5. It would really help the numbers in the Senate to get Franken

in there.

[last_texas_dem]

2. Kick

God, I want to see Franken pull this one out...

BTW, do any Minnesota DUers have a feel for how strong Barkley's supporters are, and whether they are likely to vote for one of the two major party's candidates as a "lesser of two evils"? If so, would they be more likely to support Franken or Coleman?

[earthlover]

4. Jessie Ventura actually won as an independent, so I think fewer will go for lesser of 2 evils than

in other states. From what I have seen, Barkley hurts Franken more than he does Coleman.

Franken made some early mistakes. A stronger candidate, and it wouldn't be this close. Hope he wins though, because Coleman is pure slime.