Capitol View: November 4, 2012 Archive

Poll: Opposition outweighs support for amendments, Obama up by 8

Posted at 7:48 AM on November 4, 2012 by Catharine Richert (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012: Presidential Race, Marriage Amendment, Voter ID Amendment

A new poll out just days before the election shows that majorities now oppose both constitutional amendments on Tuesday's ballot.

Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm linked to Democrats, says 52 percent of Minnesotans will vote against the proposal to define marriage as between one man and one woman in the state constitution, while 45 percent will vote for it largely because of a generational divide between the state's oldest and youngest voters.

A majority of seniors support the amendment, but every other age group opposes it, according to PPP. Roughly 62 percent of people under 30 say they will vote against the proposal.

Meanwhile, 51 percent of Minnesota's voters say they'll oppose a constitutional amendment that would require voters to show photo identification at the polls while 46 percent will support it. Democrats and Republicans are equally opposed to the amendment, with Democrats shifting to oppose the amendment in the last few months.

The survey, which was conducted between Nov. 2-3 of 1,164 likely voters, has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

PPP also looked at the presidential race and found President Barack Obama leading by 8 percentage points in Minnesota. Obama has 53 percent support here while Mitt Romney has 45 percent.

Those numbers reflect most other recent polls that give Obama a comfortable lead here, but they contradict a recent story line that Minnesota is in play for Republicans, one bolstered by last-minute visits from each campaign.

Today, Romney running mate Rep. Paul Ryan will hold a rally at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and Obama surrogate Bill Clinton will be visiting St. Cloud.

Josh Romney to campaign in Minnesota

Posted at 6:54 PM on November 4, 2012 by Catharine Richert
Filed under: Campaign 2012: Presidential Race

Mitt Romney's son, Josh, will be in Minnesota tomorrow.

He'll be at at the campaign's Plymouth Victory Center in Plymouth. The event starts at noon.

Romney's visit comes a day after his father's running mate, Paul Ryan, headlined a rally at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport Sunday.

Romney's campaign has been making a play here in recent weeks, but two polls out today show Obama with a lead here.

Ryan rallies Republicans at MSP

Posted at 7:33 PM on November 4, 2012 by Brett Neely
Filed under: Campaign 2012: Presidential Race, Campaign 2012: U.S. House, Michele Bachmann

Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan made a fly-by stop to Minnesota on Sunday afternoon.

Before a capacity crowd in a hanger at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, Ryan energized the crowd with the question, "Minnesota, are you going to help us win this election?"

Republicans characterized Ryan's visit as a signal that the sleepy presidential race in Minnesota was waking up and that Republicans were preparing for an upset victory in a state that has reliably voted for Democrats at the top of the presidential ticket for 40 years.

Ryan, who represents a U.S. House district in the southern part of Wisconsin, portrayed himself as a near-native son, mentioning family members who now live in Minnesota, a summer he spent working in Eden Prairie and shared traditions between the two states.

"In DC, people say, 'Oh yeah, Ryan. You're that budget guy from Minnesota, right?'" said Ryan. "No I'm from Wisconsin, close. We're the Catholic deer hunters, they're the Lutheran deer hunters."

All four of Minnesota's Republican U.S. House members were at the rally and gave brief speeches to fire up the crowd. U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, who's facing the toughest re-election challenge in the state, was given the prime slot and introduced Ryan as his daily exercise buddy in Washington.

"You should see him do an insanity workout," said Cravaack.

Despite Republicans' enthusiasm and certainty that the state could wind up in their column, no opinion polls have shown President Obama with a less than 3 percentage point lead over the Republican ticket.

Still, Ryan's visit could energize Republican volunteers in a state where the GOP Senate candidate, state Rep. Kurt Bills, has failed to gain traction and the state party has suffered financial woes.

Before Ryan's plane landed and taxied up to the hanger, at least 60 volunteers were making phone calls in a phone bank off to the side of the hanger to remind voters to vote and to tell them who the candidates in their district were.

"Whatever your plans were tonight, cancel them, change them. Get out to the phone bank. Knock on doors. Drop lit. There are phone banks set up literally all across this state," said U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Tom Arnold of Blaine, said as he entered the rally that until 10 days ago, he had received little to no contact from the Romney campaign despite being an active Republican.

"It's incredible how the Romney campaign literally turned the machine on and has been making contacts like you wouldn't believe,"

Whether a last-minute surge in enthusiasm by Republicans will be enough to counter an Obama turnout machine that's been present in the state for 14 months will become clear Tuesday night.

The Obama campaign noted that Sunday's rally was the first public event that the Romney campaign has held in Minnesota in eight months.

Listen to Paul Ryan's entire speech here:
Listen

Clinton makes closing case to overflow crowd in St. Cloud

Posted at 10:45 PM on November 4, 2012 by Mike Mulcahy
Filed under: Campaign 2012: Presidential Race, Campaign 2012: U.S. MN CD6

From MPR's Conrad Wilson:

More than 4,000 people turned out to hear former President Bill Clinton speak at St. Cloud State University Sunday night.

The hall where Clinton spoke held about 1,000 people and 3,000 more overflowed outside.

In the closing weekend of the campaign, Clinton was in St. Cloud campaigning for President Obama as well as 6th district DFL congressional candidate Jim Graves.

Clinton criticized Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, saying Romney's policies were a return to old ideas.

"The first thing I want to say is, I'm for Barack Obama more enthusiastically than I was four years ago because I have seen him work and make change. And that is even better than talking about change" Clinton said.

Before the event Graves -- who is challenging Congresswoman Michele Bachmann -- said in an interview that Clinton wouldn't have come to St. Cloud if former president didn't believe Graves could win.

Clinton thanked Graves for running against Bachmann, calling it a "a heavy, important, wonderful battle to replace Michele Bachmann in the United States Congress."

"He understands real economics," Clinton said of Graves. "That we're all in this together works a lot better than you're on your own."

GOP Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan held a campaign event at the Minneapolis-St Paul Airport earlier in the day.

You can listen to Clinton's speech here: Listen