ShareThisBy ERIC BLACK
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The Mark Foley scandal has focused a national spotlight on Minnesota's 6th Congressional District race because of Democrat Patty Wetterling's background as a children's-safety advocate.
On Tuesday, Wetterling rushed a TV ad onto the air calling for a criminal investigation of Foley _ the Florida Republican who resigned his House seat on Friday over sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage pages _ and the expulsion of any members of Congress who knew about Foley's conduct but did not take action.
On Wednesday, she was chosen to the give the national Democratic response this Saturday to President Bush's weekly radio address.
In addition, TV networks lined up Wednesday for interview time with Wetterling, and The New York Times and The Washington Post, seeking the political repercussions of the Foley case, quickly discovered the race between Wetterling and Republican state Sen. Michele Bachmann.
Bachmann, who has also denounced Foley's conduct, accused Wetterling of rushing to judgment in the case and questioned whether her opponent is exploiting the situation.
Political scientist Steven Smith, who lives in the 6th District, said the Foley case offers Wetterling "about as fat a pitch down the middle of the plate as you can get in politics."
Amid evidence that the race is tight, Smith said the attention might rejuvenate Wetterling's flagging campaign. A new poll by the Zogby polling organization showed Bachmann ahead, 46 percent to 43 percent. The poll was taken over several days, both before and after the Foley story broke, and Zogby spokesman Fritz Wenzel said there was no discernible difference in the poll findings between the pre-Foley and post-Foley interviewing days.
If the Foley story is really going to help Wetterling politically, it would show up in the next round of polling, Wenzel said.
The 6th District, which stretches across the top of the Twin Cities area from the Wisconsin border to St. Cloud, has been considered a Republican stronghold.
Wetterling ran for the seat in 2004 and lost, 54 percent to 46 percent, to GOP incumbent Rep. Mark Kennedy. But Kennedy now is running for the U.S. Senate, and the prevailing political climate has raised Democrats' hopes that Wetterling could provide one of the 15 pickups they need to take control of the House.
Wetterling became famous in 1989 when her 11-year-old son Jacob was kidnapped. The case has never been solved, but it launched Wetterling on a career as an advocate for programs that protect children from violence and abuse. In her more recent career as a politician, Wetterling has sometimes struggled to show mastery of other issues.
Both parties have identified the race as crucial. The National Republican Congressional Committee had already begun advertising on Bachmann's behalf, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved over $1 million worth of advertising time to help Wetterling during the closing weeks.
Bachmann said voters should also know that she is the mother of five, was foster mother to 23 teenagers before her political career and, as a legislator, has supported many child-safety measures.
It's "very fair for (Wetterling) to talk about what's she done in her life on this issue," Bachmann said.
But "it's a shame that Patty has rushed to judgment with a political ad" that may really be more about "seeking political advantage" than helping children.
