Apr 10, 2008 12:29 pm US/Central
DFL Mulls Over Candidates For 3rd District
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
For years, the name on the 3rd Congressional District ballot barely mattered if the party label said Democrat. That candidate was lucky to draw a third of the vote.
This year, it matters.
The retirement of popular Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad leaves the seat without an incumbent for the first time in 18 years -- and just the third time since 1960. Democrats meeting Saturday in Wayzata to pick a candidate have a real contest for the first time in recent memory. Marge Hoffa, who heads the 3rd District DFL, can't remember anything like it.
"I'm not that old," said Hoffa, who has lived in the district for a dozen years.
Iraq War veteran J. Ashwin Madia is the acknowledged leader in delegates heading into the endorsing convention. Both he and state Sen. Terri Bonoff have promised to drop out if the other gets the party's support.
Ramstad's departure isn't the only thing giving Democrats hope. Voters in the western Minneapolis suburbs have sent more DFLers to the Legislature in recent elections and backed a Democrat, Amy Klobuchar, for Senate two years ago. Observers rate the race as one of the year's most competitive for the U.S. House.
In another sign of a heated race to come, national Republicans are throwing extra financial support behind the GOP candidate, state Rep. Erik Paulsen.
Bonoff represents the new wave of DFL blood in the district, having broken the GOP's long hold on her state Senate district in Plymouth, Minnetonka and Medicine Lake in 2005. But she trails Madia in delegates. His campaign claims the support of 87-1/2 delegates. If all the delegates show up as expected, he would need just shy of 100 to reach the 60 percent threshold and clinch the endorsement.
The 30-year-old former Marine captain paced his Maple Grove campaign office recently, cell phone pressed to his ear as he pushed a donor to write him a check and turn out others for a fundraiser.
Madia exuded confidence and a bit of impatience as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.
"I'm a moderate Democrat who served in Iraq," said Madia, an attorney whose parents immigrated to his hometown of Plymouth from India. "I think I've got a great shot at winning this district."
A campaign volunteer, Nikki Carlson, leaned out the window while calling another supporter to avoid disturbing Madia's call. Sticky notes plastered a 3rd District map on the wall, detailing delegate counts from smaller party units leading up to Saturday's decision.
Madia spent seven months in a noncombat role in Iraq, working to develop the country's judicial system. He left the military in 2006.
Bonoff spokeswoman Franny Starkey wouldn't release the campaign's latest delegate count, but acknowledged that earlier totals had Bonoff behind by about 15 delegates.
Bonoff, a 50-year-old former business executive and community activist, said her legislative duties have cut into campaigning but she focused on one-on-one contact with delegates in the days before the convention. Both she and Madia threw parties for the delegates last weekend.
"It will be a contest on Saturday, and I don't know how that outcome will turn out," Bonoff said. "But I am confident that we are in the race and I have every intention of winning the endorsement."
On Iraq and the economy, Madia and Bonoff differ on key details:
-- Bonoff wants to bring all U.S. troops home within 18 months, leaving no American military presence in the country except embassy guards. Madia wants a withdrawal lasting up to two years, with 10,000 to 20,000 troops remaining in Iraq to protect U.S. workers, target terrorists and prevent ethnic cleansing.
-- Madia opposes the $168 billion economic stimulus plan approved by Congress and Bush earlier this year, calling it shortsighted. Bonoff likes aspects of the package, although her Web site said she would have put more aid into food stamps and unemployment benefits.
On the GOP side, Paulsen has no rivals for his party's endorsement and declined to comment on his Democratic opponents.
Businessman David Dillon is the Independence Party candidate.
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