Election world turned on its head in Minnesota

Veteran Republican wonders why he's in such a tough re-election battle
By Tom Curry
MSNBC.com

Updated: 10:16 p.m. CT Oct 31, 2006

ROCHESTER, Minn. - The first place to see the electoral impact of Sen. John Kerry’s remarks about education and Iraq is here in Minnesota.

Kerry may have benefited Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht, who is in a tense battle with Democratic challenger Tim Walz. Kerry had been scheduled to appear at a rally for Walz in Mankato, Minn., on Wednesday.

But the Walz campaign announced Tuesday night that Kerry had cancelled his Mankato appearance.

A few hours earlier Gutknecht said Kerry had expressed “(the) Left's contempt for our military.” And Gutknecht had urged Walz to send back the $1,000 contribution his campaign had gotten from Kerry's political action committee and to cancel the Kerry rally.

In 2004, Gutknecht, who represents the First Congressional District, which stretches across southern Minnesota, won re-election with a fat margin of 78,000 votes.

But now he is in an unexpectedly tough battle for survival with Walz. Before the Kerry furor exploded Tuesday, we asked Gutknecht if he wondered how he could be in such a struggle for another term.

(The rest is here.)