Alert reader Mike Campbell caught me in an error Wednesday and I stand corrected.

In my modest scoop about the possibility that Jim Ramstad would unretire, I stated a couple of facts to illustrate that Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, after decades as a Republican redoubt, has been trending blue recently. One of the facts was a couple of bricks shy of full factiness. Specifically, I stated that Al Gore had carried the district in 2000. I quoted this unfact – thinking I had seen it in some of the recent coverage — without checking (bad ink-stained wretch). In 2000, Bush beat Gore in the Minnesota Third by 49.8 percent to 45.3.

(In 2004, by the way, Bush beat Kerry 51-48. I would not claim that the small shrinkage in Bush’s margin is an indicator indicator of growing Democratic strength in the district.)

The underlying point remains true, according to pretty much all analysts. Looking at more results over recent cycles, legislative, gubernatorial and senatorial,the district is no longer a lay-down hand for the Repubs, which is certainly among the reasons the National Republican Congressional Committee has been wooing Ramstad and why it will be a very big deal if he does. (By the way, disregard these insulting official quotes that the NRCC has been putting out about there being“no ‘top-down’ effort to keep Ramstad in the race.” The NRCC, from the top down, is working hard to do exactly that.

Anyway, my bad. The underlying truth is no defense of an unfacty fact. Bush beat Gore, without benefit of hanging chads, in the Minnesota Third. I stand corrected.