A new poll shows that all three potential DFL candidates for governor are leading the Republican candidate, Tom Emmer. It’s still months before the election and anything can happen, but GOP activists can’t be happy with Emmer’s inability to gain traction against any of his Democratic candidates. Perhaps they’re having second thoughts about ceding the nomination process to Tea Party zealots who couldn’t be bothered to find a candidate that possessed even a thin veneer of moderation.
It’s also worth noting that Pawlenty’s name has been frequently mentioned in DFL campaign ads; almost as much as Emmer’s name. It’s something of a repeat of the 2008 national election in that Dems are trying to portray Pawlenty as mini-Bush, the guy who let everything go to hell and is now leaving us in a big mess. Pawlenty was never that unpopular, but Minnesotans seem to have a diminished appetite for another Republican in the governor’s mansion. If the eventual Democratic candidate can avoid having any paranoid outbursts (cf. Mike Hatch in 2006), he or she might actually win this thing.
