UPDATE: Live footage of President Clinton in Duluth here.
Former President Bill Clinton will rally voters in Duluth and Minneapolis Tuesday in support of President Obama, Senator Amy Klobuchar and, among others, former Rep. Rick Nolan, the DFL candidate in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. At this time it appears that the rallies will take place on university campuses, most likely UM-Duluth and the main U in Minneapolis. I’ll report details when they’re available.
UPDATE: The Obama campaign has issued sign-up information for the Duluth and Minneapolis rallies.
UPDATE II: Details for Duluth rally are as follows. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. at the Kirby Ballroom at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
UPDATE III: Details for the Minneapolis rally are as follows. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
A while back I lamented that we hadn’t seen the traditional October rally at the Hibbing Memorial Building. Clinton is the most logical surrogate for this area, but with him appearing in Duluth it appears that the Range won’t get its rally. I’m not terribly surprised by this. While recent polls show Minnesota tightening in the presidential race, it’s still not classified a swing state. With population losses on the Range, Duluth is the bigger bastion of DFL votes for GOTV purposes.
Clinton, star of the Democratic Convention in Charlotte this summer, will probably have a small but noticeable positive effect on the electoral fortunes of President Obama and Nolan in northern Minnesota. I’d argue Clinton is still the most popular living political figure here. His wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, carried the Range handily in 2008 despite a large statewide win for Obama.
MPR’s Tom Scheck reports that Republicans are considering an appearance by Mitt Romney and/or Paul Ryan in the waning days of the campaign.
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