By Sheila Kihne

Terri Bonoff's campaign must be worried, what else would explain nasty push-polling this early in the game?

Her opponent, Norann Dillon, has been all over the District for months now meeting withcommunity organizations, local business owners, and voters at their doors.   A PTO President and "soccer mom" with a degree in Mathematics and years of work in the non-profit world, she's a great candidate and carries a Republican endorsement.  While Bonoff and the DFL may act like they have this one in the bag, their polling tells a different story.  They know very well that the district is conservative and voted Republican for some 20 years before Bonoff  won the State Senate seat in a special election in 2005.

According to residents of Senate District 43 (Plymouth, Minnetonka) phone calls have been coming in over the last few days from a Denver-based company with a script that started off by asking questions about voters and if they viewed the following candidates favorably/unfavorably/no opinion:

1. Tom Emmer
2. Sarah Anderson (Republican State Representative)
3. Anderson's DFL Opponent
4. State Senator Terri Bonoff
5. Norann Dillon
6. The job Tim Pawlenty has done as governor
7. The Tea Party

• Bonoff's support for the Dream Act (giving tuition breaks to students whose parents are illegals)
• Bonoff's vote for the Gas Tax.....the "gas tax"?  you mean the $6.6 Billion DFL tax increase from 2008? Not only did Bonoff vote for the bill that became law, she has proudly proclaimed that she lead the way to override Governor Pawlenty's veto...and now we have a what $5 Billion budget deficit.  Go figure.
• Bonoff"was not beholden to her party"   (gotta love the non-negative-negative)   She was sure beholden to her party this spring when she voted with her party to create the highest state income tax rate outside of New York City.

Here's another negative I'd like to add to the polll:  Bonoff campaigned hard for President Obama, she also raised "at least $50,000" for his race according to Ralph Nader's Public Citizen.  I wonder how Barack Obama is polling these days in SD43?

They then pushed negatives about Dillon, although I've received different reports about exactly what was stated, both people concluded that the poll ended with this gem:  "NorannDillon is a far-right extremist with no solutions to solving our massive budget crisis."

Of course the meaning of "far right extremist" is somebody who opposes the Democrats controlling all three branches of the federal government and acutally expresses an opinion about it.

And we all know Bonoff's solution to solving our massive budget crisis:  tax tax tax, spend spend spend, and hope hope hope that everything will get better.

Terri Bonoff's Minnesota Taxpayer's League Score this session was 8%, she's refers to the "global warming crisis" and is a staunch supporter of cap and trade both here in Minnesota and nationally, she led the charge to have cell phone usage COMPLETELY BANNED in the state of Minnesota, she brags about increasing taxes in billion dollar increments..,she does not "fit the district" she simply fit the bill for a while.  Maybe it's time for a change as they say.

They ended by asking the respondents if anyone in their household or immediate family was a member of a labor union.  Seeing as Bonoff's endorsed by the Government workers Union AFSCME, the last question comes as no surprise.  However I would be interested to learn if AFSCME had any role in this poll.  Our tax dollars at work?

Dillon is the underdog in this race, no doubt about it.  When you can raise $50,000+ for Obama, it means you are connected to big money liberal donors.  When you have the funds to have outstate polling companies running nasty push polls before the 4th of July, it means you're gearing up to spend that money on hard-hitting attacks.  Be careful Senator Bonoff, because money isn't going to buy this election....not this year.