Coleman Opens Up Lead in Minn. as Franken Goes to D.C.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) has opened up a small lead over Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Al Franken in his reelection bid as both campaigns ratcheted up their campaigning this week.

A Quinnipiac/Wall Street Journal/Washingtonpost.com poll released Tuesday showed Coleman leading with 49 percent in the race, topping Franken, who drew 42 percent. The poll did not ask about Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley, a thorn in Franken’s side in earlier polls. Three percent of respondents said they would vote for “someone else” in the Quinnipiac poll, while six percent said they were undecided.

The Quinnipiac poll, which included voters who “leaned” toward one candidate, was conducted between September 14 and 21, and had a 2.7 percent margin of error.

Coleman’s lead was much smaller in a Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday, however, in which he led Franken 48-47 with Barkley at three percent. The Rasmussen poll, conducted September 18, had a 4 percent margin of error.

The polls come on the heels of a recent flurry of campaigning, with Coleman telling voters in Minnesota this past weekend that the assistance to the financial industry under consideration may be profitable to the government.