State Rep. Kurt Bills is the Minnesota Republican Party's pick to face U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the November election. The first-term Republican nabbed the endorsement to challenge the Democratic incumbent after two ballots at the Minnesota GOP Convention Friday in St. Cloud.

A new survey by Public Policy Polling Friday shows Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar with a 26 point lead over her Republican-endorsed challenger, state Rep. Kurt Bills. Coupled with Klobuchar's 57 percent approval rating, Public Policy Polling noted that the 2012 Minnesota Senate race "may be up there for the most boring one we've polled on this cycle."

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.

Bills is a first-term representative from Rosemount, where he teaches high school economics. He says he wants to bring Economics 101 to Washington. He joins two other Republicans hoping to be the party's challenger to U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Neither Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., or her Republican challenger Kurt Bills brought up new issues in the last debate of Minnesota's U.S. Senate race Sunday night at St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater -- the fourth and final debate between the two before Election Day.

Republican Senate candidate Kurt Bills appeared with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar near Redwood Falls Wednesday, and said he would have voted against the farm bill passed by the U.S. Senate in June because it was too expensive. Bills, who is vying for Klobuchar's Senate seat in November, said he would support a smaller bill if its subsidies would go only to low- and middle-income farmers.

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Republican Kurt Bills have agreed to participate in a U.S Senate debate on Nov. 4., according to Minnesota Public Radio. The MPR-hosted debate will be at 7 p.m.