politics

The female candidate with establishment credentials fell to a youthful candidate with a message of change and a somewhat unusual name, after a lengthy, hard-fought contest.

Saturday’s DFL endorsement battle resembled the Democratic presidential primary, but it all happened in Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, where State Sen. Terri Bonoff conceded to upstart lawyer and Iraq War vet Ashwin Madia after eight ballots.

They were competing for a shot at the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn.

Sensing a tide of Democratic support nationwide, and noting changing demographics in the western Twin Cities suburbs, Democrats are salivating over the possibility of winning the open seat -- and with it a spot in Congress from the district for the first time since Dwight Eisenhower was president.

Conventional political analysis would have seen the contest as a cakewalk for Bonoff, 50. An energetic former business executive, she won a special election for the state Senate in 2005, among the first of a host of suburban DFL women recently swept into office.

But even Bonoff admits that she has found herself in the fight of her political life. She suggests that her reputation as a moderate may hurt her among more ardent DFL activists.

"I don't know that I could have won the hearts of the activists in the party," she said.

Madia, 30, seeking office for the first time, has hustled to attract supporters, showing an innate comfort in front of crowds even as his business suits appear to become disheveled before your eyes. He quit his job as a lawyer to campaign full time while Bonoff has been locked in the goings on at the state Capitol.

Madia actually began knocking on delegate doors to seek support, a largely unheard-of tactic that Bonoff has been forced to emulate.

"My message from the very beginning has been that we are facing a number of very serious problems that can only be solved if we have leaders that call on all of us to be part of the solution. That message resonated with a lot of people," Madia said.

Actual issues differences between the two are subtle. On Iraq, for example, both oppose the war, but Madia favors a more gradual withdrawal while Bonoff wants a quicker pullout and efforts to engage neighbors in a diplomatic and economic development solution.

A split district

Change, a central Democratic theme in 2008, describes the Third District and especially its DFL voters. More than eight out of ten of those attending the DFL's February precinct caucuses were first-time participants.

As many as two-thirds of the delegates to Saturday's congressional district convention will be first-timers as well.

Many say they are inspired by the national need for change and a feeling that now is the time to make a difference. Edina resident Steve Domke, for example, has never before participated in the political process beyond voting. At his caucus, he found himself volunteering to help in leadership and then agreed to be an alternate delegate for Madia.

"I just felt it was time to do more. This was the time I could make a change. This is kind of like my own personal civics lesson," he said recently at a Madia meet-and-greet in a Bloomington apartment building community room, where Madia staff went over convention floor tactics.

Bonoff, as well as Madia, claims the change theme for her own. At a recent fundraiser at the home of Democratic rainmakers Sam and Sylvia Kaplan, no less a member of the political aristocracy than for Vice President Walter Mondale suggested that viewing Bonoff as the candidate of the establishment is a mistake, citing the "insurgency" that allowed her to win her 2005 special election against popular Republican Plymouth Mayor Judy Johnson.

Despite battling the establishment label, Bonoff has picked up the endorsement of the DFL House and Senate leadership as well as 28 state Senators and House members. Madia was endorsed on Thursday by U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the only member of the state's congressional delegation to weigh in on the race.

The Third District, the state's most affluent, is closely divided. Considered generally conservative on tax and spend issues, Third District voters have also shown concern about stem cell research, the environment, education, transportation and the war, issues which some Democrat strategists suggest make the district ripe for the taking.

President Bush won the district in 2004 with 51 percent of the vote. But Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar carried it with 55.5 percent in 2006.

"In the '80s and '90s, it was definitely an area that was trending Republican but now essentially it's a split district. They are not at home in the Republican Party anymore," said Ben Goldfarb, Klobuchar's former campaign manager. "I don't think they feel any allegiance to the Democratic Party but I don't feel they feel that allegiance to the Republican Party, either. At a minimum, they are much more open."

The influential Rothenberg Political Report lists the district as one of 11 "pure toss up" congressional races.

Bonoff has argued that she is the candidate who can bring in national money in a general election race against Republican Erik Paulsen, a seven-term state representative from Eden Prairie who had almost $364,000 at the end of the last reporting cycle with no primary opposition.

Bonoff had raised $304,000 through the last reporting cycle, with 98 percent of the individual contributions coming from Minnesota. Madia has raised $166,000, with 53 percent of his individual contributions coming from Minnesota.

Heated competition

The race for delegates has gotten heated, at least by Minnesota standards. Bonoff recently sent a letter to delegates pointing out that Madia was a Bob Dole supporter while at the University of Minnesota and worked for John McCain in 2000. She also criticized him for writing anti-union articles while a college student.

Madia acknowledges he was a moderate Republican as a student at the U but said he left the Republican Party in 2002 after becoming disenchanted with President Bush's position on Iraq and the federal budget; he says his stances may fit with moderate Republicans and independents in the district. He admits writing articles critical of labor but chalks it up as the naivete of an 18-year-old.

It may all be decided Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. Both Madia and Bonoff have pledged to abide by the party endorsement, meaning they won't run in the September primary unless the convention makes no endorsement.

Neither will be going into the convention with the 96 delegates necessary to secure the party's endorsement, but most believe Madia has a lead.

The convention promises to be intense, with several rounds of balloting expected.

"It's a crazy year, I don't know what going to be on people's minds," said Marge Hoffa, DFL Third Congressional District chairwoman. "Their understanding is that you're going to have to be in this for the long haul."