Patty Wetterling has announced her plans to challenge Republican incumbent Mark Kennedy.
This is worth watching. Patty Wetterling has huge popular appeal in Minnesota. She is the mother of Jacob Wetterling, a young boy who was abducted in 1989 and has never been found. She's spent the last 15 years raising awareness of missing children through the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. Patty travels the state speaking and helping other families with missing kids and it seems as though everyone in Minnesota has met her at least once.
There's virtually nothing the GOP can do to tarnish her. She's a strong woman, a faithful mother to her remaining children, and has cultivated a very comforting and positive image in the minds of Minnesotans. The Wetterlings are from a small town and have a lot of appeal, even in their "safe Republican district."
Mark Kennedy will probably challenge Sen. Mark Dayton for his seat in 2006.