Politics

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) ― It's been so long since residents of the western Twin Cities suburbs have seen a real campaign for Congress, some don't know what's hit them since Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad decided to step down.
  
The TV airwaves in Minnesota's 3rd District are filled with accusatory ads painting Republican Erik Paulsen as a career politician who favors golfers over veterans and Democrat Ashwin Madia as a tax-raiser despite never having held office.
  
The wife of a Madia staffer was caught on video taking Paulsen lawn signs the day before a Democratic canvasser was fired for stealing a child's scooter while door-knocking. Madia has attacked Paulsen for failing to mention Iraq on his Web site, which also omits his Republican Party affiliation.
  
"I've never seen anything like what's going on now," said Lance Olson, Ramstad's congressional district director. "It's breaking a lot of tradition. It's usually an issues-oriented district."
  
The district now features one of the biggest toss-up races in the country. The contest pits Madia, an Iraq war veteran, against Paulsen, a former state House majority leader. Also in the mix is Independence Party candidate David Dillon, a businessman.
  
Economic issues including taxes, jobs, gas prices and retirement security are paramount.
  
In a district that usually backed Ramstad, a respected moderate, by two-to-one or better, President George W. Bush beat John Kerry 51 percent to 48 percent in 2004. Two years later, Democrat Amy Klobuchar easily carried the district on her way to the Senate, and Democrats now hold more than half the district's seats in the state Legislature.
  
In an unsettled year, many voters are frustrated. The onslaught of campaigning isn't helping.
  
"I'm swing right now," said Glenn Hofer Jr., 49, of Bloomington, who said he usually votes GOP. "I've never been in that mood before, but especially now with the Congress, what they're pulling out right now."
  
"Frankly, I'm not sure I like any of them up here this year," said Richard Liebo, 78, of Bloomington, a Ramstad fan.
  
Democrats hope Madia, 30, will help them break the GOP's nearly half-century hold on the seat.
  
The son of Indian immigrants, Madia would become the first minority to represent the district if he wins. A lawyer and former Marine who served in Iraq, Madia wrested the DFL endorsement from a better-known state senator earlier this year and has attracted support from national Democrats.
  
Paulsen surrogates held news conferences this week to criticize Madia's inexperience and question his ties to the district, where he went to high school and now rents an apartment.
  
"Raising a family in the district, sending your kids to the public school, owning a home, working in the 3rd District, paying property taxes in the 3rd District -- Erik Paulsen has done all these things and Ashwin Madia has not," said state Sen. Geoff Michel, a Republican from Edina.
  
Madia -- who has energized some younger voters -- downplayed that line of attack.
  
"Look, nobody cares who lives in an apartment, who lives in a house. Nobody cares who plays soccer games. What they want to know is how do we get this economy moving again, what we're going to do for this country," he said.
  
Republicans are betting that Paulsen, a 43-year-old state representative, will keep the seat in GOP hands. Paulsen served four years as state House majority leader.
  
Paulsen held a news conference in front of his Eden Prairie house last month, standing before a two-car garage stuffed with a minivan, children's bicycles, life jackets, a canoe and other trappings of suburban family life. His English cocker spaniel, Koko, ran around wagging her tail.
  
"As a homeowner, as a husband and as a father of four, my family -- like other families in the 3rd Congressional District in particular -- face more and more challenges each and every day," Paulsen said as he outlined positions on energy, food, taxes and education.
  
Madia and his allies are painting Paulsen as a political insider. Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a Washington-based group called Patriot Majority Midwest are running TV ads attacking his legislative voting record.
  
It's unclear how the third candidate, Dillon, will affect the race. He has been participating in debates but isn't running TV ads and has raised a fraction of the cash brought in by the others.
  
The race is so competitive because moderates and women have migrated from the GOP over social issues like abortion, said both DFL state Rep. Melissa Hortman and former Republican state Sen. Ed Oliver.
  
Ramstad -- who often crossed party lines -- had a lock on those voters, but they're in play this year.
  
Hortman, a Madia backer, said Paulsen is too far right for them.
  
"Paulsen fits that very conservative, harsher new Republican Party. I don't know that he's the rightful heir to the Ramstad moderate throne," she said.
  
Not so, said Oliver, a moderate Republican who praised Paulsen for downplaying his conservatism.
  
"Basically, the 3rd District is a moderate district. It is not heavy left or heavy right," he said. "That's why Ramstad was able to get re-elected easily every time."

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