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2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota
← 2000 November 7, 2006 2012 →
  Senator Amy Klobuchar 2006.JPG Mark Kennedy, official photo portrait, color.jpg
Nominee Amy Klobuchar Mark Kennedy
Party Democratic (DFL) Republican
Popular vote 1,278,849 835,653
Percentage 58.1% 37.9%
2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota results map by county.svg
County results
Klobuchar:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Kennedy:      40–50%      50–60%
U.S. senator before election

Mark Dayton
Democratic (DFL)

Elected U.S. Senator

Amy Klobuchar
Democratic (DFL)

Elections in Minnesota
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Mayoral elections

The 2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 2006. One-term incumbent DFL U.S. Senator Mark Dayton announced in February 2005 that he would retire instead of seeking a second term. The primary elections took place on September 12, 2006. DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar won the open seat.

Discover more about 2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota related topics

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2023, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, and all other statewide offices, including the governorship, making it the dominant party in the state.

Mark Dayton

Mark Dayton

Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1995. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.

Primary election

Primary election

Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the country and administrative divisions within the country, voters might consist of the general public in what is called an open primary, or solely the members of a political party in what is called a closed primary. In addition to these, there are other variants on primaries that are used by many countries holding elections throughout the world.

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Jean Klobuchar is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minnesota's affiliate of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the attorney of Hennepin County.

DFL primary

Candidates

  • Amy Klobuchar, Hennepin County Attorney
  • Darryl Stanton, businessman

Campaign

Klobuchar gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota. A poll taken of DFL state delegates showed Klobuchar beating her then closest opponent, Patty Wetterling, 66% to 15%. As of June 30, 2005, Klobuchar had more cash on hand than any other candidate, nearly $1,100,000.

Klobuchar was endorsed by EMILY's List on September 29, 2005. On January 20, 2006, Wetterling dropped out of the race and endorsed Klobuchar.[1]

Former Senate candidate and prominent lawyer Mike Ciresi, who was widely seen as the only other serious potential DFL candidate, indicated on February 7, 2006 that he would not enter the race. That removal of her most significant potential competitor for the DFL nomination was viewed as an important boost for Klobuchar.[2]

The only other serious candidate for the DFL endorsement was veterinarian Ford Bell. Bell, a staunch liberal, ran on a platform of implementing single-payer healthcare and immediate withdrawal from Iraq.[3] Klobuchar won the official DFL endorsement on June 9, 2006.[4] Bell dropped out of the race on July 10 citing inability to compete financially and also endorsed Klobuchar.[3]

Results

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party primary results[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic (DFL) Amy Klobuchar 294,671 92.51
Democratic (DFL) Darryl Stanton 23,872 7.49
Total votes 318,543 100.00

Discover more about DFL primary related topics

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Jean Klobuchar is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minnesota's affiliate of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the attorney of Hennepin County.

Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed, and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation. Roughly a third of the state is covered in forests, and it is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" for having over 14,000 bodies of fresh water covering at least ten acres. More than 60% of Minnesotans live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", the state's main political, economic, and cultural hub. With a population of about 3.7 million, the Twin Cities is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the state include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and St. Cloud.

Patty Wetterling

Patty Wetterling

Patricia Lynn Wetterling is an American advocate of children's safety and chair of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Her advocacy particularly focuses on protecting children from abduction and abuse. In recent years Wetterling has become one of the most vocal critics of current sex offender registry laws pointing them as overly broad and unnecessarily causing tremendous harm to many. Her advocacy began after her son Jacob was abducted in 1989 and culminated in passage of the federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. She was a candidate for the Minnesota Sixth District seat in the United States House of Representatives as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate in 2004 and 2006, losing to Republicans Mark Kennedy and Michele Bachmann respectively. In September 2016, the remains of her son Jacob were discovered and positively identified.

EMILY's List

EMILY's List

EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast". Malcolm commented that "it makes the dough rise". The saying is a reference to a convention of political fundraising: that receiving many donations early in a race helps to attract subsequent donors. EMILY's List bundles contributions to the campaigns of Democratic women in favor of abortion rights running in targeted races.

Veterinarian

Veterinarian

A veterinarian (vet) is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal reproduction, health management, conservation, husbandry and breeding and preventive medicine like nutrition, vaccination and parasitic control as well as biosecurity and zoonotic disease surveillance and prevention.

Single-payer healthcare

Single-payer healthcare

Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system.

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2023, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, and all other statewide offices, including the governorship, making it the dominant party in the state.

Republican primary

Candidates

Campaign

Kennedy had faced potential challenges from former U.S. Senator Rod Grams, as well as U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht, but both men were persuaded by national GOP leaders to run for the House instead. (Grams lost to Representative Jim Oberstar, while Gutknecht lost his reelection bid to Tim Walz.)

Results

Republican primary results[6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Kennedy 147,091 90.21
Republican John Uldrich 10,025 6.15
Republican Harold Shudlick 5,941 3.64
Total votes 163,057 100.00

Discover more about Republican primary related topics

Mark Kennedy (politician)

Mark Kennedy (politician)

Mark Raymond Kennedy is an American businessman, politician, and university administrator. Following a career as a business executive, he was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007. Kennedy did not seek reelection in 2006, instead running in the 2006 election for U.S. Senate. He lost to Democratic–Farmer–Labor nominee Amy Klobuchar.

Minnesota's 6th congressional district

Minnesota's 6th congressional district

Minnesota's 6th congressional district includes most or all of Benton, Carver, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright, and Anoka counties. Many of the Twin Cities' northern and northwestern suburbs are included within the boundaries of this district, such as Blaine, Andover, Ramsey, St. Michael-Albertville, Elk River, Lino Lakes, Forest Lake, Otsego, Buffalo, Anoka, Ham Lake, Hugo, Monticello, Waconia, East Bethel, and Big Lake. The St. Cloud Area is the other major center of population for the district, including the cities of St. Cloud, Sartell, and Sauk Rapids. The district is Republican-leaning with a Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI) of R+12. It is currently represented by Republican Tom Emmer.

Rod Grams

Rod Grams

Rodney Dwight Grams was an American politician and television news anchor who served in both the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. A local news anchor, Grams became well-known for working at Twin Cities station KMSP-TV from 1982 until 1991. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Gil Gutknecht

Gil Gutknecht

Gilbert William Gutknecht Jr. is an American politician. Gutknecht was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives first elected in 1994 to represent Minnesota's 1st congressional district. Gutknecht lost his 2006 reelection bid to DFL candidate Tim Walz, and his term ended in January 2007.

Jim Oberstar

Jim Oberstar

James Louis Oberstar was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2011. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, he represented northeastern Minnesota's 8th congressional district, which included the cities of Duluth, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, International Falls, and Hibbing. He was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2007 to 2011, and ranking minority member prior to that. In November 2010, he was defeated by a margin of 4,407 votes by Republican Chip Cravaack. He is the longest-serving member ever of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Minnesota.

Tim Walz

Tim Walz

Timothy James Walz is an American politician and retired educator. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019.

Republican Party (United States)

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. It has been the main political rival of the Democratic Party since the mid-1850s. Like them, the Republican Party is a big tent of competing and often opposing ideologies. Presently, the Republican Party contains prominent conservative, centrist, populist, and right-libertarian factions.

Independence primary

Candidates

  • Robert Fitzgerald, public-access television executive
  • Miles W. Collins
  • Stephen Williams, salesman

Results

Independence primary results[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Independence Robert Fitzgerald 5,520 51.61
Independence Miles W. Collins 2,600 24.31
Independence Stephen Williams 2,575 24.08
Total votes 10,695 100.00

General election

Candidates

Major

Minor

  • Michael Cavlan (G), nurse and independent journalist
  • Ben Powers (C), quality control technician
  • Peter Idusogie (I), businessman (write-in)

Campaign

Klobuchar with Barack Obama and Tim Walz.
Klobuchar with Barack Obama and Tim Walz.
Major party candidates: Kennedy, Klobuchar, and Fitzgerald.
Major party candidates: Kennedy, Klobuchar, and Fitzgerald.
Candidates Mark Kennedy, Amy Klobuchar, and Robert Fitzgerald debate on November 5, 2006.
Candidates Mark Kennedy, Amy Klobuchar, and Robert Fitzgerald debate on November 5, 2006.

Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes appeared to be a central issue for Democrats in the campaign. In June 2006, allegations were made that many references to and photos of Bush had been removed from Kennedy's official U.S. House website; in rebuttal, Republicans said that there were 72 references to Bush on the website and that the changes noted by critics had been made some time ago, as part of the normal updating process. [1] Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Powers's offer to fill the space left unfilled by Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Kennedy and Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the campaign as a special guest.

Debates

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[7] Likely D November 6, 2006
Sabato's Crystal Ball[8] Likely D November 6, 2006
Rothenberg Political Report[9] Safe D November 6, 2006
Real Clear Politics[10] Lean D November 6, 2006

Polling

After the release of the Minnesota Poll on September 17, 2006, showing Klobuchar ahead by 24%, Kennedy's campaign issued a statement [2] from Joe Pally, the campaign's communications director. He claimed that the margin was exaggerated because of bias by the Star Tribune and that the poll "is clearly more about discouraging Kennedy supporters than on reflecting the true status of one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country.".[11] This press release came in the wake of news that the Republican party was scaling back funding for Kennedy's election campaign to shore up campaigns in states seen as winnable. Kennedy's campaign frequently accused the Star Tribune of bias in favor of Klobuchar, whose father was an editorial columnist and sportswriter for the paper until his retirement. A subsequent poll by Rasmussen Reports showed a similar lead for Klobuchar and the St. Paul Pioneer Press also showed Klobuchar with a 15% lead in September. Klobuchar won the November 7 election by more than 20 percentage points.

Source Date Klobuchar (DFL) Kennedy (R) Fitzgerald (IPM)
Rasmussen December 23, 2005 48% 41%
Rasmussen January 28, 2006 43% 42%
Rasmussen February 28, 2006 45% 42%
Zogby/WSJ March 31, 2006 49% 41%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Poll May 9, 2006 50% 42%
Rasmussen May 10, 2006 45% 43%
Zogby/WSJ June 21, 2006 49% 41%
Rasmussen June 30, 2006 47% 44%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll July 16, 2006 50% 31%
Zogby/WSJ July 24, 2006 49% 43%
Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal (D) July 24, 2006 48% 30%
SurveyUSA July 24, 2006 47% 42% 8%
Rasmussen Archived August 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine August 7, 2006 50% 38% 5%
Zogby/WSJ August 28, 2006 50% 42%
Rasmussen August 28, 2006 47% 40% 8%
Gallup September 5, 2006 50% 40%
Zogby/WSJ September 11, 2006 49% 40%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll September 17, 2006 56% 32% 3%
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute September 21, 2006 52% 36% 7%
Minnesota Public Radio/Pioneer Press/Mason-Dixon September 25, 2006 52% 37% 1%
SurveyUSA September 28, 2006 51% 43% 2%
Rasmussen October 4, 2006 53% 36% 6%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll October 15, 2006 55% 34% 3%
Zogby/WSJ October 19, 2006 50% 43%
SurveyUSA October 24, 2006 55% 39% 3%
Rasmussen October 25, 2006 54% 39%
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute November 1, 2006 55% 33% 3%
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll November 4, 2006 54% 34% 4%
SurveyUSA November 6, 2006 56% 40% 2%

Results

The race was, as expected, not close, with Klobuchar winning decisively. She did well in major cities, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, while Kennedy did well only in smaller, less populated counties. The turnout was high, although not unusual for Minnesota, one of the highest voter turnout states. Official turnout came in at 70.64%.

General election results
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic (DFL) Amy Klobuchar 1,278,849 58.06% +9.23%
Republican Mark Kennedy 835,653 37.94% -5.35%
Independence Robert Fitzgerald 71,194 3.23% -2.58%
Green Michael Cavlan 10,714 0.49% n/a
Constitution Ben Powers 5,408 0.25% +0.15%
Write-ins 954
Majority 443,196 20.2%
Turnout 2,202,772 70.64%
Democratic (DFL) hold Swing

Discover more about General election related topics

Mark Kennedy (politician)

Mark Kennedy (politician)

Mark Raymond Kennedy is an American businessman, politician, and university administrator. Following a career as a business executive, he was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007. Kennedy did not seek reelection in 2006, instead running in the 2006 election for U.S. Senate. He lost to Democratic–Farmer–Labor nominee Amy Klobuchar.

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Jean Klobuchar is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minnesota's affiliate of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the attorney of Hennepin County.

Public-access television

Public-access television

Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was created in the United States between 1969 and 1971 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under Chairman Dean Burch, based on pioneering work and advocacy of George Stoney, Red Burns, and Sidney Dean.

Michael Cavlan

Michael Cavlan

Michael Cavlan is a Minnesota political activist and registered nurse living in Minneapolis.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American former politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president of the United States. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and worked as a civil rights lawyer before holding public office.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American retired politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party and the Bush family, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

Ben Powers

Ben Powers

Alton Adelbert Powers, known professionally as Ben Powers, was an American actor. Powers was best known for his role as Keith Albert Anderson, the husband of Thelma Evans, during the sixth and final season of the CBS sitcom Good Times. Powers was also a cast member on the NBC television comedy series Laugh-In (1977–78).

Almanac (American TV series)

Almanac (American TV series)

Almanac is a weekly public affairs television program produced by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and distributed to other channels around the state via the Minnesota Public Television Association. It has aired weekly on Friday nights since December 7, 1984.

Sabato's Crystal Ball

Sabato's Crystal Ball

Sabato's Crystal Ball is an online political newsletter and election handicapper. It predicts electoral outcomes for the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, U.S. governors, and U.S. presidential races, with electoral and political analysis. A publication of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, the Crystal Ball was founded by political analyst Larry Sabato, the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia.

Media bias

Media bias

Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of many events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening of the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an individual journalist or article. The direction and degree of media bias in various countries is widely disputed.

Jim Klobuchar

Jim Klobuchar

James John Klobuchar was an American journalist, author, and newspaper columnist from Minnesota. Klobuchar was regarded as a regionally well-known and admired local sports and politics reporter during his long career working for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

Rasmussen Reports

Rasmussen Reports

Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, at national and state levels, of elections, politics, current events, consumer confidence, business topics, and the United States president's job approval ratings. Surveys by the company are conducted using a combination of automated public opinion polling involving pre-recorded telephone inquiries and an online survey. The company generates revenue by selling advertising and subscriptions to its polling survey data.

Source: "2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, December 16th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_United_States_Senate_election_in_Minnesota.

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Further Reading

Republican Party of Minnesota

Gil Gutknecht

Patty Wetterling

Amy Klobuchar

2006 Minnesota's 5th congressional district election

2006 Minnesota's 6th congressional district election

2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota

Ron Erhardt (politician)

Michael Cavlan

Elwyn Tinklenberg

2012 United States Senate election in Minnesota

2006 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota

2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election

2018 United States Senate election in Minnesota

2020 United States Senate election in Minnesota

2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota

2018 United States Senate special election in Minnesota

2022 Minnesota gubernatorial election
See also
References
  1. ^ "The latest from the StarTribune". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007.
  2. ^ "The Fix -- Chris Cillizza's Politics Blog on washingtonpost.com". blog.washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2006. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Scheck, Tom (July 11, 2006). "Ford Bell drops out of U.S. Senate race". MPR News. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  4. ^ Zdechlik, Mark; Bakst, Brian (June 9, 2006). "Klobuchar wins DFL Senate endorsement". MPR News. Associated Press. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "electionresults.sos.state.mn.us". Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "2006 Senate Race Ratings for November 6, 2006" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  8. ^ "Election Eve 2006: THE FINAL PREDICTIONS". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  9. ^ "2006 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  10. ^ "Election 2006". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  11. ^ Mark Kennedy for Senate Archived October 4, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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