Word: minnesota
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...basso profundo bluster, Ventura waged a campaign well within the mainstream of Minnesota political thinking. Outsiders view the state as a bastion of liberalism--witness Eugene McCarthy, Vice Presidents Humphrey and Mondale--but insiders disagree. Carleton College's Schier says Minnesota "is actually a quirky populist state. It gave 24% of its vote during the 1992 presidential election to Ross Perot." Ventura's fiscal conservatism--no tax increases, the return of all future state budget surpluses to taxpayers--struck a responsive chord. So did his moderate-to-libertarian views on keeping government from meddling unduly in private lives...
...doll doing battle with the Evil Special Interest Man. ("I don't want your stupid money," growls the Ventura doll.) Some may call it the Revenge of the Couch Potatoes, but Ventura's campaign galvanized younger Minnesotans. They swarmed to the polls to register and vote on Election Day--Minnesota law allows same-day registration--in such numbers that some polling places ran out of ballots and had to run off copies. This surge of new voters explains why Minnesota's 61% election turnout was the highest in the nation...
...this were a normal election year, Norm Coleman probably wouldn't have much trouble winning a second term representing Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. Granted, Coleman is a Republican, and Minnesota tends to be a Democratic state. But both classifications are deceptive...
...former popular mayor of St. Paul, Coleman was a Democrat before he switched parties in 1996, and he remains a fairly moderate Republican today. And for all its history as a bastion of liberalism, Minnesota morphed into a quirky swing state in the mid-1990s, bestowing statewide office to politicians of every stripe, from doctrinaire conservatives (Rod Grams) and old-school liberals (Paul Wellstone) to a flaky, funky former professional wrestler (Jessie Ventura). Al Gore and John Kerry both beat George W. Bush in Minnesota, but by surprisingly slim margins. And in the 2006 midterms, when Democrats were knocking...
...challenger, comedian turned author turned liberal radio host turned politician Al Franken. In the most expensive Senate race in the country, Coleman portrayed himself as ordinary, wholesome and dull - which he not unreasonably assumed would go over well in a state culture known, with both affection and derision, as Minnesota Nice. For Coleman's purposes, being safe and boring seemed especially wise when contrasted with the loud, funny, inexperienced and sometimes offensive Saturday Night Live alumnus he was running against. Franken is very smart, but he's the opposite of boring. And given his résumé, he couldn...