United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2006

United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2006

2000 ← November 7, 2006 → 2012

Nominee Amy Klobuchar Mark Kennedy Party DFL Republican Popular vote 1,278,849 835,653 Percentage 58.1% 37.9%

County results

U.S. Senator before election Mark Dayton DFL Elected U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar DFL

The 2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 2006. The incumbent DFL U.S. Senator Mark Dayton decided in February 2005 that he would retire instead of seeking a second term. The primary elections took place on September 12, 2006. DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar won the open seat.

DFL primary

Candidates

• Amy Klobuchar, Hennepin County Attorney
• Darryl Stanton, businessman

Campaign

She gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota. A poll taken of DFL state delegates showed Klobuchar beating her then closest opponent, Patty Wetterling, 66% to 15%. As of June 30, 2005, Klobuchar had more cash on hand than any other candidate, nearly $1,100,000.

Klobuchar was endorsed by EMILY's List on 29 September 2005. On January 20, 2006, Wetterling dropped out of the race and endorsed Klobuchar. [1] [2]

Former Senate candidate and prominent lawyer Mike Ciresi, who was widely seen as the only other serious potential DFL candidate, indicated on February 7, 2006 that he would not enter the race. That removal of her most significant potential competitor for the DFL nomination was viewed as an important boost for Klobuchar. [3]

The only other serious candidate for the DFL endorsement was veterinarian Ford Bell. Klobuchar won the official DFL endorsement on June 9, 2006. Bell dropped out of the race on July 10 citing inability to compete financially and also endorsed Klobuchar.

Results

Democratic Party primary results[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic	Amy Klobuchar	147,091	90.21%
	Democratic	Darryl Stanton	23,872	7.49%
Totals			318,543	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• Mark Kennedy, U.S. Representative from Minnesota's 6th congressional district
• Harold Shudlick, military veteran
• John Ulrich, military veteran

Campaign

Kennedy had faced potential challenges from former U.S. Senator Rod Grams, as well as U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht, but both men were persuaded by national GOP leaders to run for the House instead. (Grams lost to Representative James Oberstar, while Gutknecht lost his reelection bid to Tim Walz.)

Results

Republican primary results[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Mark Kennedy	147,091	90.21%
	Republican	John Uldrich	10,025	6.15%
	Republican	Harold Shudlick	5,941	3.64%
Totals			163,057	100.00%

Independence primary

Candidates

• Robert Fitzgerald, public-access television executive
• Miles W. Collins
• Stephen Williams, salesman

Results

Republican primary results[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Independence	Robert Fitzgerald	5,520	51.61%
	Independence	Miles W. Collins	2,600	24.31%
	Independence	Stephen Williams	2,575	24.08%
Totals			10,695	100.00%

General election

Candidates

Major

• Mark Kennedy (R), U.S. Congressman
• Amy Klobuchar (D), Hennepin County Attorney
• Robert Fitzgerald (IPM), public-access television cable TV show director

Minor

• Michael Cavlan (G), nurse and independent journalist
• Ben Powers (C), quality control technician
• Peter Idusogie (I), businessman (write-in)

Campaign

Klobuchar with Barack Obama and Tim Walz.

Major party candidates: Kennedy, Klobuchar, and Fitzgerald.

Candidates Mark Kennedy, Amy Klobuchar, and Robert Fitzgerald debate on November 5, 2006.

Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes appears to be a central issue for Democrats in the senatorial campaign. In June 2006, allegations were made that many references to and photos of Bush had been removed from Kennedy's official house website; in rebuttal, Republicans said that there were 72 references to Bush on the website and that the changes noted by critics had been made some time ago, as part of the normal updating process. [4] Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not to be invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Mr. Powers' offer to fill the space left unfilled by Ms. Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the 2006 campaign as a special guest.

Polling

After the release of the Minnesota Poll on 17 September, 2006, showing Klobuchar ahead by 24%, Kennedy's campaign issued a statement[5] from Joe Pally, the campaign's communications director. He claimed that the margin was exaggerated because of bias by the Star Tribune and that the poll "is clearly more about discouraging Kennedy supporters than on reflecting the true status of one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country."^[4]. This press release came in the wake of news that the Republican party was scaling back funding for Kennedy's election campaign to shore up campaigns in states seen as winnable. Kennedy's campaign frequently accused the Star Tribune of bias in favor of Klobuchar, whose father was an editorial columnist and sports writer for the "Strib" until his retirement. As noted below, a subsequent poll by Rasmussen Reports showed a similar margin of victory for Klobuchar and the St.Paul Pioneer Press also showed Klobuchar with a 15% lead in September. Klobuchar ultimately won the November 7 election with greater than a 20% margin of victory.

Source	Date	Klobuchar (DFL)	Kennedy (R)	Fitzgerald (IPM)
SurveyUSA	November 6, 2006	56%	40%	2%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll	November 4, 2006	54%	34%	4%
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute	November 1, 2006	55%	33%	3%
Rasmussen	October 25, 2006	54%	39%
SurveyUSA	October 24, 2006	55%	39%	3%
Zogby/WSJ	October 19, 2006	50%	43%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll	October 15, 2006	55%	34%	3%
Rasmussen	October 4, 2006	53%	36%	6%
SurveyUSA	September 28, 2006	51%	43%	2%
Minnesota Public Radio/Pioneer Press/Mason-Dixon	September 25, 2006	52%	37%	1%
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute	September 21, 2006	52%	36%	7%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll	September 17, 2006	56%	32%	3%
Zogby/WSJ	September 11, 2006	49%	40%
Gallup	September 5, 2006	50%	40%
Rasmussen	August 28, 2006	47%	40%	8%
Zogby/WSJ	August 28, 2006	50%	42%
Rasmussen	August 7, 2006	50%	38%	5%
SurveyUSA	July 24, 2006	47%	42%	8%
Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal (D)	July 24, 2006	48%	30%
Zogby/WSJ	July 24, 2006	49%	43%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll	July 16, 2006	50%	31%
Rasmussen	June 30, 2006	47%	44%
Zogby/WSJ	June 21, 2006	49%	41%
Rasmussen	May 10, 2006	45%	43%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Poll	May 9, 2006	50%	42%
Zogby/WSJ	March 31, 2006	49%	41%
Rasmussen	February 28, 2006	45%	42%
Rasmussen	January 28, 2006	43%	42%
Rasmussen	December 23, 2005	48%	41%

Results

General election results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DFL	Amy Klobuchar	1,278,849	58.06%	+9.23%
	Republican	Mark Kennedy	835,653	37.94%	-5.35%
	Independence	Robert Fitzgerald	71,194	3.23%	-2.58%
	Green	Michael Cavlan	10,714	0.49%	n/a
	Constitution	Ben Powers	5,408	0.25%	+0.15%
	Write-ins		954
Majority			443,196	20.2%
Turnout			2,202,772	70.64%
	DFL hold		Swing

References

1. ^ http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20060912/ElecRslts.asp?M=S&R=all&P=A&Races=
2. ^ http://sos.mt.gov/Elections/archives/2000s/2006/elections/primary/2006_State_Primary.pdf
3. ^ http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20060912/ElecRslts.asp?M=S&R=all&P=A&Races=
4. ^ Mark Kennedy for Senate^{[dead link]}

External links

• Klobuchar's campaign website
• Kennedy's campaign website
• Fitzgerald's campaign website
• Powers' campaign website
• Pro-Kennedy weblog covering the MN Senate Race
• DFL website covering the MN Senate race
• Full list of U.S. Senate Candidates in Minnesota - From E-Democracy.Org
• Election results

See also

• Minnesota United States Senate election, 2008
• United States Senate elections, 2006
• Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2006
• U.S. midterm elections, 2006

Preceded by 2002 Norm Coleman (R)

Minnesota U.S. Senate elections 2006 Amy Klobuchar (DFL)

Succeeded by 2008 Al Franken (DFL)