Dayton: 'Difficult road ahead' on poverty front

Governor-elect Mark Dayton says the budget outlook means it's going to be difficult to enact many of the initiatives he proposed during his campaign.

Dayton spoke at the Statewide Gathering to End Poverty Thursday night at the University of Minnesota's McNamara Center. He warned the audience the road ahead would be tough, but Dayton said he'd remain focused on goals like full funding for early childhood education, optional all-day kindergarten, and providing living wages.

"Let's pledge that if I come back here at the end of my second term, which I hope to do, and give a valedictory -- say we are in 2018 ready to say that we have ended poverty in Minnesota," Dayton said.

About 300 people attended the Statewide Gathering to End Poverty in Minneapolis. Organizers said several hundred more watched online.