Race Summary

In the seat once held by Paul Wellstone, Norm Coleman faces a well-financed and well-known candidate. Democrat Al Franken, the former Saturday Night Live writer and actor, has been ramping up to run for a few years now.

After Democrat Amy Klobuchar defeated Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy in the 2006 race for Minnesota's other Senate seat, Coleman's vulnerability became apparent, and he immediately began distancing himself from the unpopular Bush administration.

Coleman, the former Demcratic mayor of St. Paul, is well-known across the state and favored to hold his seat, despite the apparent national Democratic tide and Minnesotans' penchant for electing unconventional candidates. Still, Franken's fundraising accumen will allow him to defend and attack Coleman through the airwaves, and as long as the state can get past any transgressions in his former life as a satirist, a national anti-GOP mood could be enough to send Franken to Washington.

Previous Election Results

Senate
2006: Klobuchar (D) 58, Kennedy (R) 38
2002: Coleman (R) 50, Mondale (D) 47
2000: Dayton (D) 49, Grams (R) 43
1996: Wellstone (D) 50, Boschwitz (R) 41

President
2004: Kerry (D) 51, Bush (R) 48
2000: Gore (D) 48, Bush (R) 46
1996: Clinton (D) 51, Dole (R) 35

Demographics