September 12, 2006. DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar won the open seat over Mark Kennedy (R), U.S. Congressman. Klobuchar gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota. {{Election box begin no change | title = Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor primary<ref name="state.mn.us"> ]</ref> }} Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes was a central issue for Democrats in the campaign. In June 2006, allegations were made that many references to and photos of Bush had been removed from Kennedy's official U.S. House website; in rebuttal, Republicans said that there were 72 references to Bush on the website and that the changes noted by critics had been made some time ago, as part of the normal updating process. Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not to be invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Mr. Powers's offer to fill the space left unfilled by Ms. Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the 2006 campaign as a special guest. Mississippi Incumbent Republican Trent Lott won re-election to a fourth term. Lott ran for re-election without facing any opposition in his party's primary. While it had been speculated that Lott might retire after his home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, he instead chose to run for re-election. Fleming is an African American, which represents 37% of the state's population. However, no African American has ever been elected to statewide office. The last black U.S. Senator was Hiram Revels, who was appointed and took office in 1870. Fleming got little help from the DSCC, which only donated $15,000 to his campaign. Missouri Incumbent Republican Jim Talent was elected in a special election in 2002 when he narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan. Carnahan had been appointed to the Senate seat following the posthumous election of her husband Mel Carnahan, who had died in a plane crash shortly before the 2000 election. Talent was running for a full term, his Democratic opponent was Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill. Early on the morning of November 8, Talent conceded defeat to McCaskill, having faced considerable political headwinds. Talent lost the election with 47% of the vote, to 50% of the vote for McCaskill. The election was always expected to be very close, which seems fitting for a seat that has