It looks like state GOP Rep. Randy Demmer's recent promotion to the National Republican Campaign Committee's (NRCC) "Young Guns" program will start to pay off. The NRCC plans to air more than $100,000 worth of attack ads against Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, who Demmer is vying to unseat in the First Congressional District.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has elevated the race for Minnesota's seventh district, where many election analysts have said the seat is all but set for 10-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Collin Peterson.

As farmers, implement dealers, rural financiers and the rest of Minnesota's agrarian class rolled into Farmfest on Tuesday, the first sight they beheld was a group of fresh-faced College Republicans standing on the side of the road holding signs assailing the federal cap-and-trade bill.