Half of Minnesota Republicans would back Republican former Sen. Norm Coleman, should he run for governor in 2010, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports conducted Nov. 10.

Coleman, who lost a seven-month recount battle to Democrat Al Franken for Minnesota's Senate seat, has not indicated that he intends to run. But if he does, he starts with a huge lead over the rest of the GOP field among likely voters, with 50 percent of the vote. In second, at 11 percent, is state Rep. Marty Seifert, who stepped down from his post as House minority leader to run for governor.

Seifert is followed by state Rep. Laura Brod, who received 5 percent of GOP support despite withdrawing from the race for medical reasons, and state Rep. Tom Emmer who came in at 1 percent. Seven percent of likely Republican voters supported another candidate and 26 percent remain unsure. The margin of error was 5.5 percent.

Minnesota governor candidate Marty Seifert took the lead in the first statewide measure of its Republican 2010 governor race, the Grand Forks Herald reported Sunday.

Siefert captured 37 percent of the vote in a GOP state convention straw poll, at the top of a nine-candidate field.

In the No. 2 spot was state Rep. Tom Emmer, getting 23 percent in the nonbinding poll. In third with 14 percent was former State Auditor Pat Anderson.

Seifert, who resigned as Republican House leader to run for governor, said he was surprised to receive such a strong showing from both urban and rural convention delegates.

Now that the waiting is over, the state that was evenly split over whether it wanted Al Franken in the Senate is still unsure about Minnesota's junior senator.

Fully 30 percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed for the Minneapolis Star Tribune weren't sure enough to venture an opinion about how Franken's doing, according to the poll conducted Sept. 21-24.

Of the rest, Franken's two months of work as a senator won the approval of 41 percent of respondents and the disapproval of 29 percent.

Sen. Al Franken still has some convincing to do to his constituents in Minnesota, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll taken Sept. 15.

Franken, a Democrat, unseated Republican Sen. Norm Coleman by 312 votes in a race that was decided only after a long recount of the ballots.

The Rasmussen poll found that 41 percent of likely voters in Minnesota think he is doing an excellent or good job, while 31 percent say he is doing a fair or poor job. Not surprisingly, Democrats (79 percent) say he is doing an excellent or good job while Republicans (56 percent) say he is doing poorly.

If former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman has designs on the governor's office that fellow Republican Tim Pawlenty is vacating in 2010, he didn't help himself with the way he handled the recount battle with newly-minted Sen. Al Franken, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted July 7-8.

Voters said by 54 percent to 26 percent that Coleman's handling of the recount made it less likely they'd support him for governor or some other office while 20 percent said it made no difference. Coleman is viewed unfavorably by 52 percent of voters and favorably by 38 percent with 11 percent not sure.

In one of the final polls before Election Day in 2008, Minnesota voters said by 52 percent to 45 percent that they had an unfavorable view of Al Franken. Now that he is about to be seated in the Senate, a survey by Rasmussen Reports, conducted July 1, says that voters nationwide regard Franken unfavorably by 44 percent to 34 percent with 22 percent undecided.

Among those who feel the strongest, 29 percent have a very unfavorable few of Franken while 12 percent have a very favorable view. Fifty-one percent of Republicans and 32 percent of unaffiliated voters view him very unfavorably, while only 19 percent of Democrats are in the "very favorable" category.

Minnesota's Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, up for re-election in 2010, was matched up against nine potential opponents and beat them all, although two were by relatively close margins, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted May 18-19. However, SurveyUSA cautions that, with the election 18 months away and many possible contenders still little known, this is just "a first look at the landscape).

The most competitive contenders are Minneapolis Mayor R.T.Rybak who is within five points of Pawlenty and former Sen. Mark Dayton is within four points. (One hallmark of Dayton's career is that he defeated Sen. Eugene McCarthy in a Democratic primary in 1982, although he later lost the general election).

Pawlenty has leads ranging between 11 and 19 points over state Rep. Paul Thissen, state Sen. Tom Bakk, state Sen. John Marty, Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, former Minnesota House Leader Matt Entenza and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.

Minnesotans are starting to get restless about their lack of a second senator, a survey by Public Policy Polling shows.

The poll found that 63 percent of voting-age Minnesotans surveyed said they believe Republican Norm Coleman should concede his race against Democrat Al Franken.

The telephone survey conducted April 14 and 15 also asked whether Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty should sign the election certificate naming Franken the winner and whether Franken should be seated right away.

Today we update Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Virginia and Oklahoma in our round-up of state-by-state general election match-ups between Barack Obama and John McCain. One set of the new polls is Quinnipiac University's swing state surveys of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania which like the AP-GfK and Pew Research Center surveys we posted earlier show Obama benefiting from the first presidential debate, greater voter trust in him on the economy and falling favorability ratings of Sarah Palin.

Obama also gained significant ground in polls conducted in five battleground states in a CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research poll released today. CNN polling director Keating Holland said, "Obama has gained ground among moderates in all five states." He added, That may have something to do with the first presidential debate. Some commentators knocked Obama for agreeing with McCain as often as he did, but moderates tend to like it when candidates appear willing to see the other side's point of view." The states were Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia.

We've updated Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, California and Florida in our round-up of state-by-state general election match-ups between Barack Obama and John McCain. We are also putting three states into different categories. Indiana and North Carolina move from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican." And Poll Tracker sheepishly admits it got out of synch with our race ratings team, and is moving Pennsylvania from "Democrat Favored" to "Leans Democratic."

Visit our Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.

Today we update New Hampshire, Colorado, Minnesota, Kentucky, Virginia and Kansas in our round-up of polls on Senate races. CQ Politics is also changing its rating on the New Mexico race from "Leans Democrat" to "Democrat Favored."

To keep up with our race ratings, you can also go to our Senate Races to Watch page. Here's a summary of the categories:

• No Clear Favorite, for races that are deemed to close to call.

• Leans Democratic and Leans Republican, for highly competitive races in which the named party is perceived to have at least a slight edge, but in which an upset is a highly plausible possibility.

• Democrat Favored and Republican Favored, for races in which the named party has a clearer advantage and is likely to win, though an upset cannot be completely ruled out.

• Safe Democratic and Safe Republican, for races in which the named party is viewed as certain to win.

Our latest round-up of match-ups between Barack Obama and John McCain updates Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, New Hampshire, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Illinois, New Hampshire, Georgia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Ohio. One series of polls that stood out was a new "Big Ten Battleground Poll" co-directed by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientists. Of six states they surveyed, McCain and Obama were exactly tied or statistically tied in five: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania with only Obama's home state of Illinois being non-competitive. Some of these were also among the 33 updates we posted yesterday. Also, check out CQ Politics' election forecasts for detailed stories on races in each state from the tops of the tickets down. Also go to our Presidential Election Maps to see our calls and use our Scenario Builder to make your own.