Don't read too much into the primary election results, warns a professor
How telling is it that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken witnessed a rival Democrat garner about 30 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary election?
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute Political Science Professor Larry Jacobs opined that it’s not a big deal, more or less.
Jacobs warned against reading too much into the primary — low turnout, low visibility, he said of these elections.
That Franken has struggled to unify Democrats was already known, Jacobs pointed out in an email.
A Humphrey Institute poll earlier in the summer showed that, he noted.
Still, there are more Democrats than Republicans so Franken can lose some Democrats and still do okay, Jacobs opined.
The presidential election will be critical, the professor pointed out.
A polarizing election could drive Democrats to Franken and a competitiveness in states that President Bush won four years ago could see Sen. John McCain sinking campaign dollars into Minnesota.
This, in turn, could hurt Sen. Norm Coleman, R-St. Paul, because Democrats in turn will pump more campaign dollars, more ads into the state, too, Jacobs theorized.
In recent days Republicans have been pounding on the primary election results in regard to Franken, arguing it showed the weakness of Franken as a candidate even among Democrats.
