Erik Paulson is now the official Republican endorsee for the third congressional district, and Ashwin Madia is the DFLer. I was going to write up this lengthy post about why this race was going to be interesting this year, but Doug Grow at MinnPost beat me to it.

The problem Paulsen faces is that the good old reliably Republican 3rd no longer is so reliable. Voters in the district twice voted for Bill Clinton and nearly opted for John Kerry in presidential races. District voters gave DFLer Amy Klobuchar a healthy margin in her U.S. Senate victory over Mark Kennedy. And there now are more DFL legislators from the district than Republicans.

The one thing I have to add is that, in 2006, Jim Ramstad (the outgoing Republican in this race) implicitly supported fifth congressional district Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee. While that doesn’t mean his constituents endorsed her, implicitly or otherwise, it does reinforce the moderate/independent tendencies this particular electorate has.

I was going to get all cocky and call this one right here and now, but I think I’ll wait a little while on that. One prediction I will make, however: it’s going to be an interesting race.