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Dec 8, 2005 1:53 pm US/Central
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Reality Check: Passing The Plate
by Pat Kessler
Minneapolis (AP) ―
Millions of dollars are already pouring into Minnesota's U.S. Senate race and Republican Mark Kennedy is leading the pack.
The latest campaign records show Kennedy's raised more than $2,109,000 so far in 2005.
That's slightly ahead of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar at about $1,755,000.
And Kennedy could raise a quarter of a million dollars more in one lunch on one day. He's getting help from President George Bush, who's the headliner at a $1,000 per plate fundraiser in Minneapolis on Friday.
It's the President's first visit to the state since 2004 when he was campaigning for reelection.
The fundraiser comes at a difficult time for Bush, whose approval ratings plummeted this year to an average of about 42 percent.
And about 63 percent of Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction.
Kennedy's started to separate himself from the administration, but said he is still a strong Bush supporter.
"I have a hundred percent voting record with my mother," Kennedy said. "It just so happens the president agrees with my mother most of the time."
The President will make no other public appearances in Minnesota. That's unusual for a chief executive.
Earlier this year, Vice President Dick Cheney also headlined a private Kennedy fundraiser. All we could see was the security outside as there were no public pictures of the event inside.
But despite the President's domestic troubles, he continues to be a big draw among Republican contributors.
In recent weeks he's campaigned for U.S. Senate candidates in Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland and now Minnesota.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)