Gary Miller at TvM is a little down in the dumps over the Ramstad retirement:

Jim Ramstad is the embodiment of everything I loathe about RINOs.  He is an SOB but he’s OUR SOB and losing Ramstad would almost certainly mean losing this “first ring” seat. 

I’m not quite as down on Ramstad as Gary; day in and day out, he did usually vote with the good guys; the American Conservative Union rated him a feeble but not-catastrophic 68% (equal to Norm Coleman, better than John McCain), while at least one lefty source isn’t exactly scattering palm fronds in his path.  Of course, he screwed the conservative pooch on many vital issues; he first earned my ire by voting for Clinton’s 1994 “Crime Bill”, a greater impingement on civil liberty than anything the Bush Adminstration has even suggested in the left’s most paranoid delusions.  In balance, he’s generally on the right side (compared to Minnesota’s DFLers), but frustratingly unreliable.

Of course, we’d like to shoot for better than “sucks less”:

Congressional majorities are comprised of true believers and heretics.  Congressman Ramstad is a card-carrying member of the latter but his departure would make it that much more difficult to regain the Speaker’s gavel in the next few election cycles. 

The obvious answer, of course, is to win the Third District for a conservative.

Gary’s stablemate First Ringer is on the case with the best wrapup of potential candidates I’ve seen yet.

Look for more – much more – on TrueNorth, where this race is going to be one of the big priorities for the next year.

And someone tell Gary to cheer up.  This is an opportunity.