Reply #66: Ashwin Madia, MN-3. [View All]

Not mine, but my sister is a MN state convention delegate for him. Anyway,

MN-3 is an affluent, largely-white suburban district southwest of Minneapolis, with a median income of $63,816. This seat has been held by Jim Ramstad since the 1990 election; Ramstad is a moderate Republican (voting "liberal" 20% of the time and "conservative" 80% of the time) who is retiring.

The district's Cook Partisan Voting Index is +1R, meaning the Republicans are favored by a single percentage point. Along those lines, the district voted for George W. Bush 51-49. The Republican candidate for this district is Erik Paulsen, who was House Majority Leader for the MN legislature for several years; Paulsen is a dyed-in-the-wool party-line Republican, and so is unlikely to gain the moderate support Ramstad enjoyed.

Ashwin Madia is a first-generation American, an attorney, a Marine, and an Iraq veteran. (He's also gorgeous, but that's beside the point.) He was until 2002 a moderate Republican; like many in MN-3, he was driven from that party by Iraq and the recent Republican emphasis on hardline social conservatism (most specifically on gay rights). His principal issues are Iraq, the budget, global warming, health care, and education--which are the five issues for which opinion polling shows MN-3 residents most agree with the Democratic party.

He is an impressive speaker and an excellent organizer; he ran a clean but hard-charging primary campaign against State Senator Terri Bonoff. Bonoff started the race with the backing of most of the party insiders, and with a strong infrastructure; Madia out-campaigned her (and made the most of an active, energetic base) to capture a majority of the delegates and the nomination.

This is going to be a tight race, and it's one that both parties are likely to pour resources into. Every dollar is going to count.