Mark Dayton (D-MN) won’t run again for the Senate, giving the GOP a major opportunity to pick up a Senate seat. Rod Grams, who held the seat for one term before losing a close race to Dayton in 2000, is said to be in the running to seek the GOP nomination. (via regular commenter Large Bill). Dayton is one of three Senators whose seats are up for election in 2006 who were elected with less than 50% of the vote; the others are fellow Democrats Maria Cantwell of Washington and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan (yes, this reminds me I’m overdue to do my early roundup on the 2006 races).
UPDATE: Minnesota conservatives John Hinderaker and Ed Morrissey, unsurprisingly, have more.
SECOND UPDATE: The Dayton v. Kennedy blog will need a new URL.