Kennedy trailing in Minn. Senate poll

Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor county attorney running for the Senate, leads Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) by two percentage points, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released yesterday.

While Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Vice President Al Gore narrowly won Minnesota in 2004 and 2000, the state has trended Republican in statewide elections. Sen. Norm Coleman (R) and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) won in 2002.

But Democrats are confident that they can hold onto Democrat Sen. Mark Dayton’s seat. He is retiring after one term in the upper chamber.

Klobuchar still has to win the primary against Democrat Ford Bell. The poll showed that Klobuchar draws more support from Democrats than Bell, who lags behind Kennedy by 11 points, 44 to 33 percent.