FEELING MINNESOTA

THE PARADOX OF THE 1996 ELECTION is that the country is moving in a Republican direction, and it’s Republicans who are on the defensive. President Clinton and the Democrats have shamelessly hijacked dozens of their ideas — from a balanced budget and tax cuts to teen curfews and Megan’s Law – – and Republicans have gotten little or no political benefit from it. Instead, they’re frantically defending themselves against Democratic assaults on the few ideas Democrats have not embraced (Medicare restructuring, cuts in federal education aid, regulatory reform). The one exception to the national trend is the Minnesota Senate race.