With a healthy lead in the polls, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is spending some of her political capital in the divisive fight over the marriage amendment. In a new email to potential donors, Klobuchar says she has pledged to help raise $10,000 for the fight against the controversial state ballot measure that would define marriage as between a man and woman.

The Vice President will be in Minnesota to help Sen. Amy Klobuchar raise money for her re-election campaign. Guests invited to the private fundraiser at the Hilton Hotel are being asked to donate up to $25,000 each.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar has more than $5 million in cash reserves as she heads into a re-election campaign later this year, according to federal filings. She has already raised $1 million in the first quarter of 2012. The former Hennepin County attorney is expected to have a major cash advantage over her yet-to-be-determined Republican opponent.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar holds big advantages in fundraising and name recognition over her Republican challenger, Kurt Bills. But former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz offers a reminder that he held similar advantages in June of 1990 before he was defeated by a college professor named Paul Wellstone.

In an hour-long debate hosted by Minnesota Public Radio on Thursday, DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Republican challenger Kurt Bills mixed it up to hooting and cheering supporters on both sides. Bills sharply criticized the incumbent's stances and his fans booed her, and she shot back with pointed words of her own.

His campaign manager insists Republican Kurt Bills can win his challenge of Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. But Mike Osskopp concedes many of the GOP donors and strategists he talks with consider Klobuchar's re-election inevitable. Osskopp says a penchant for playing it safe and avoiding controversy is one reason for Klobuchar's popularity.