Tomorrow's the day

July 15 is D-Day for candidate filing for legislative, congressional and senate races in Minnesota. That's when Jesse Ventura will have to decide whether he is running for the Senate. Over at Minnesota Independent, Steve Perry has put together a laundry list of reasons for and against running, but nobody really knows what Jesse will do--and that's just the way he likes it.

At the end of last week, Politics in Minnesota reported that Duluth's House district 7B had the most candidates running– Republican Allan Kehr and Democrats Marshall Stenersen, Brandon Cloke, Roger Reinert, John Derbis and Daniel Maryland. (The Secretary of State's candidate Web site didn't show Cloke as a candidate.) More than two dozen House races showed only a single candidate, but that's likely to change by Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Green Party had fielded two candidates, Allan Hancock in District 46B and Farheen Hakeem in 61B, and the Independence Party just one—Paul Gaston in 54B. Politics in Minnesota maintains a list of candidates for each Minnesota House race, and the Secretary of State's office has a polling place finder that will tell what district you live in. Politics in Minnesota also names its top ten house districts to watch.

Right after all the politicking of the Republican National Convention ends, it's time for Minnesotans to rush to the polls for the September 9 primary. With proper ID, you can register and vote on election day. If you'd like to be prepared ahead of time, see the complete instructions here and register early.