Iraq war fires up Minnesota's Senate race

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Kennedy spent the Memorial Day weekend visiting small groups of Republican loyalists in western Minnesota, an area he once represented in the House before the 2000 redistricting. He now represents the northern Twin Cities suburbs and St. Cloud.

In an interview as he ate ice cream at a Dairy Queen in Montevideo, Minn. Saturday, Kennedy said that his battle with Klobuchar — who he presumes will be his opponent — won’t be a referendum on President Bush.

“There are people who don’t like President Bush; there are people who like President Bush,” Kennedy said. “Whether he’s campaigning for me or not, I don’t think it’s going to influence the outcome….There’ll be a lot of folks trying to make the campaign about President Bush, but the real issue will be the stark contrast on the issues” between himself and Klobuchar.

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And there is a divide: he is staunchly anti-abortion.

He also voted for a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriages. She opposes the amendment.

Kennedy slams Klobuchar for opposing the nomination of John Roberts to be chief justice.

She also opposed Bush Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito partly because he was replacing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor “who was a swing vote.”

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She fends off questions about whether she’d support a future Democratic president using his or her Supreme Court appointments to move the court to the left just as Bush has moved the court to the right.

The Conventional Wisdom among political operatives is that voters don’t like to see a male candidate rough up — rhetorically and in his ads — a woman opponent.

Klobuchar is going to be a delicate assignment for Kennedy: she has a witty, self-deprecating personality; she’s at ease with herself; she doesn’t seem doctrinaire or brittle, as some Democratic women candidates do.

She does have potential liabilities — she favors abortion rights in a state where the anti-abortion movement is strong and where two of the state’s four Democratic House members, James Oberstar and Collin Peterson, have solid anti-abortion voting records.

She won’t rule out filibusters of Republican presidents’ future Supreme Court nominees, “I’m not opposed to ever using a filibuster by any means,” a stance which will give conservative groups fodder to attack her.

And unlike some Democratic candidates this year she forthrightly says she will seek to raise taxes on people who make over $200,000 – “rolling back the Bush tax cuts” is how she phrases it.

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