Dayton in trouble

This is certainly not encouraging for the upcoming 2006 elections:

Minnesota Sens. Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman both took hits to their public image in the past year, with their job approval ratings falling below 50 percent, according to the latest Minnesota Poll.

Dayton, a Democrat who's up for reelection next year, took the heaviest blow: His approval rating declined by 15 points in a year, from 58 percent to 43 percent. The approval rating for Coleman, who just began his third year in office, fell by 7 points, from 54 to 47 percent.

Dayton's job approval decreased among all categories of Minnesotans, grouped by age, education, income, party and ideology, with the largest drop among men -- down 27 points -- and 18- to 24-year-olds -- down 31 points.

While the Coleman numbers make it a little easier to swallow, most of Dayton's problem seems to be lack of recognition, with almost a third of his constituents having no opinion of him:

Dayton, a fifth-year senator who defeated then-incumbent Republican Rod Grams, finds himself in much the same position as Grams, who had an identical 43 percent approval rating in January of 2000.

Like Dayton now, Grams then was a question mark to a large number of Minnesota voters -- 28 percent had no opinion of him. Grams never got that number below 25 percent and was soundly defeated. That could suggest that Dayton's reelection might depend on his ability to make an impression on the one-third of Minnesotans who have yet to form an opinion of him.

"Very definitely -- and reaching them before my opposition does," said Dayton. He said he believes that he's "on the side of the best interests of the people of Minnesota" on issues such as pressing the Bush administration for "better answers to the situation in Iraq" and fighting for more federal aid to pay for prescription drugs for senior citizens and to educate disabled children: "I need to do a better job of explaining that to people."

Hopefully this will help:

Sen. Mark Dayton, whose advocacy of lower prescription drug prices for seniors helped propel him into the U.S. Senate in 2000, announced Monday that he will be the lead senator in the Democratic minority on the issue of prescription drugs as he heads into a reelection cycle.

Flanked by about 25 senior activists from Minnesota in the State Capitol, Dayton unveiled a sweeping proposal that essentially rewrites the Bush administration's legislation of a year ago. Its chief feature is authorizing the federal government to act as a bargaining agent for 41 million Medicare beneficiaries and to negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies.

"This is about survival," Dayton said. "People are being ravaged by escalating drug prices that are out of control." He charged that Bush's prescription drug policies essentially have been written by pharmaceutical companies and other corporate health-care interests.

Dayton said that his multifaceted proposal would be "the major reform legislation of the Democratic caucus in the next year." It includes provisions that would lower Medicare premiums, reduce gaps in coverage and prevent seniors from being forced into HMOs against their will.

By giving Dayton the lead on such an issue, Democrats hope to shore up his creditials and raise awareness of Dayton and what he stands for. Hopefully it is not to late.