Visit Our Sponsors Races President Congress Legislature Audio Highlights President Bush's post-election news conference (11/4/04) President George W. Bush accepts his victory (11/3/04) Sen. John F. Kerry acknowledges his defeat (11/3/04) Sen. John Edwards (11/3/04) John Thune accepts S.D. Senate victory (11/3/04) Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) on his victory (11/2/04) Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) (11/2/04) Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) (11/2/04) Patty Wetterling concedes (11/2/04) Sen. Mark Dayton's analysis of Minn. vote (11/2/04) Election Results See complete election returns from Minnesota and the U.S. Select A Candidate Select A Candidate Which candidates' views on the issues most closely match your own? Take our Select A Candidate survey. Conventions Democratic National Convention Republican National Convention Your Voice What goals would you set for President Bush? What focus would you like to see? What do you want from the 2004 administration?

Kerry to push for veterans' support in Minnesota visit
Sen. John Kerry plans to make another campaign stop in Minnesota Friday, on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. While in the state, the presumptive Democratic nominee will roll out a national Veterans for Kerry campaign organization. Kerry's visit comes as a Minnesota Public Radio - Pioneer Press poll shows the presidential race is virtually even in the state. MPR's David Molpus reached Kerry on the campaign trail in Florida Wednesday. (06/02/2004)

Campaign finance reform
A program at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, featuring Minnesota native Norm Ornstein, a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Politics, and Kenneth Goldstein, an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. ( 06/02/2004)

Herseth wins South Dakota's special congressional election
Stephanie Herseth is on her way to Washington D.C. where she'll become the first woman to represent South Dakota in congress. Now that the special congressional election in South Dakota is over, campaigning for the November election begins almost immediately. Democrat Stephanie Herseth will face Republican Larry Diedrich again in November for a full two year term. (06/02/2004)

Herseth wins South Dakota election to Congress
Democrat Stephanie Herseth is South Dakota's first congresswoman. She defeated Republican Larry Diedrich by nearly 3,000 votes in a special election. Herseth will serve out the remaining seven months of Bill Janklow's term. She lost to him in 2002 and he resigned in January after being convicted of manslaughter for a fatal accident. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland, who has been covering the story. (06/02/2004)

One election under God?
Spiritual speech is becoming a staple on the campaign trail. From conversion to communion, private religious practice is generating passionate political discussion. ( 06/01/2004)

MPR Poll: Growing concern about involvement in Iraq
A new poll finds growing concern about the aftermath of the war in Iraq, even though a majority of Minnesotans say the U.S. was right to invade Iraq. The Minnesota Public Radio-St. Paul Pioneer Press poll also found most Minnesotans want the U.S. to stabilize Iraq, even if it takes awhile. Yet many people say they believe the Bush administration misled the public about the reasons for going to war. (06/01/2004)

MPR Poll: Presidential race is a close one
A new Minnesota Public Radio-Pioneer Press poll shows the presidential race is extremely close in Minnesota. The poll shows Democrat John Kerry with a slight lead over Republican incumbent George W. Bush, although that lead is within the poll's margin of sampling error. The poll also shows President Bush's approval ratings have steadily dropped over the past year. (05/31/2004)

Special election coming up to replace Janklow in Congress
A special election to fill South Dakota's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is in the national spotlight. The June 1 election will fill the seat vacated by Bill Janklow, who resigned in January after his conviction for manslaughter. The national political parties are involved in the race. They're contributing money and campaign ads. Many say the parties are testing political messages, showing us a sign of things to come in November. (05/27/2004)

Iraq taking heavy toll on Bush five months before election
Five months before the election, President Bush confronts a grim picture in Iraq of rising casualties, growing violence, skittish allies and Arab anger. To the administration's dismay, the setbacks have drowned out news of an improving economy at home and have pushed Iraq to the top of Americans' concerns. Those anxieties have helped drive down Bush's approval ratings to the lowest point of his presidency and stirred deep doubts about his handling of Iraq. (05/25/2004)

Bush says U.S. will persevere in Iraq
President Bush, trying to dispel rising doubts about the war, declared Monday night the United States would stay in Iraq until it was free and democratic and suggested more U.S. soldiers might have to be sent to stop enemy forces bent on destroying the new government. In a prime-time address at the U.S. Army War College, he also promised to demolish the Abu Ghraib prison that has become an ugly symbol of the U.S. occupation. (05/24/2004)

Sen. Dayton's speech and analysis
Minnesota Democratic Senator Mark Dayton's fiery speech to the DFL convention delegates about President Bush and Senator Coleman, and analysis by Lawrence Jacobs, director of the 2004 Elections Project at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics. ( 05/24/2004)

Dayton and Coleman: No more Minnesota nice
The cordial relationship between Minnesota's two U.S. senators has disappeared. DFL Sen. Mark Dayton used a speech at the state DFL convention on Saturday to sharply criticize Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. That's after Coleman was critical of Dayton's position on U.S. involvement in the Iraq war. (05/22/2004)

DFLers enjoy a fight-free state convention
Bash Bush. Avoid acrimony. The dual mission summed up the DFL state convention Saturday, an affair that showcased an uncommonly cohesive party. Speaker after speaker - including possible vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards - denounced President Bush while talking up his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry. Along the way, delegates averted some of the infighting that has plagued past party gatherings. (05/22/2004)

Wetterling's campaign theme: Children are our future
DFLers have made it official: Patty Wetterling is the party's choice to unseat Republican Mark Kennedy this fall in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. The unanimous endorsement came before Saturday's DFL state convention in Duluth. (05/21/2004)

Minnesota politics and the road to the presidency
MPR political analysts Bob Meek and Tom Horner will be in the MPR studios to talk about the presidential campaign and Minnesota politics on the eve of the DFL State Convention. ( 05/21/2004)