Minnesota's lefty bloggers have noted that the open seat created in the Third by Ramstad's retirement adds to the GOP's job in next year's election. Today, Chris Cillizza at the WaPo's "The Fix" repeats this emerging conventional in his rankings of the ten House seats most likely to switch parties.
He writes:
6. Minnesota's 3rd District (Currently Republican): We'll be honest: We never expected Rep. Jim Ramstad (R) to retire. But now that he is heading for the exits in 2008, his district will play host to a very competitive race. The 3rd, which takes in much of the suburbs west and south of the Twin Cities, was carried by President Bush with 51 percent of the vote in 2004 and 50 percent in 2000. But anti-war sentiment in Minnesota is strong -- witness the upset victory by Tim Walz (D) in the 1st District and Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D) huge win statewide in 2006, making it tough sledding for the eventual Republican nominee. The fields on both sides are somewhat unformed; state Sen. Erik Paulsen (R) has formed an exploratory committee. This is a headache Republicans never expected to have. (Previous ranking: N/A)
As much as Minnesota's Republicans bluster about Walz, the First isn't showing up on anyone's top ten list.
Comments