Minnesota: Clinton Leads GOP By Double Digits

In Minnesota, Senator Hillary Clinton (D) holds double digit leads over each of the top three Republican Presidential candidates. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found Clinton leading Fred Thompson by 11 (51% to 40%), Rudy Giuliani by 13 (50% to 37%), and Mitt Romney by 18 (52% to 34%).

Bill Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner’s husband, won the state’s 10 Electoral College votes twice by double digits in the 1990s.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/minnesota_clinton_leads_gop_by_double_digits

Substantially bigger lead now for Hillary than the final margins achieved by Gore and Kerry...

Minnesota had been trending purple the last few cycles but appears it might have made a turn back in our direction...very good to see

won the election. I think it was fixed. You, like I, know that he was beat til the last minute. And most of the votes came from Minneapolis area the same area that elected the dingbat butt Bachman.

(First of all, saying it was fixed is ridiculous. The Dems won everything in Minnesota but the Governor's seat)

First, his running mate, Judi Dutcher, admitted she had never even heard of E85 a week before the election. That's bad enough, but his ham-fisted "damage control" made things worse. First, he complained that Pawlenty "just wants to beat up on a woman." Playing the gender card when the issue is your running mate's incompetence doesn't look good. Calling a Duluth News-Tribune reporter calling to ask for your side of the story "Republican whore" and hanging up on him generally does not build a good public image either (especially not when the Republicans have been smearing you as "angry" all campaign)

Hatch ran a piss campaign all year, and imploded in the final week. Pawlenty stayed mostly upbeat, played the center, and scraped away with a win.

the republicans tried to get him angry and he never bit... so they made it up....

I use E85 in my van... can't find a station half the time... one station in my city of poplation over 65,000... Dutcher knew it as ethanol... who cares... big to do about nothing... Hatch lost to the people who decided to leave and vote for the Indendence Party... because of the claim by reporter of the "Republican whore" line... claim was never aired until after the election... and he never said it... Pawlenty got less than 50%....

then after the paper stood its ground, he turned around and admitted he might have said "whore" after all. It was never "found false" by anyone. The reporter was pressuring him to give a comment on Dutcher, but honestly, if you can't handle a reporter demanding an answer to a question, you shouldn't be governor.

http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_307130427.html

By the way, that story there? That would be from BEFORE THE ELECTION. Why would you say the claim was never aired until after the election? Are you just making shit up now?

Dutcher did not know it as ethanol. When prompted "E85, the gas," which should be enough for anyone to make the connection, she still had no clue whatsoever what it was. Even when told "it's ethanol," she still had no idea what Hatch's position on it was. She was clueless.

Dutcher: E85 -- the JOBZ zone you're talking about?
Reporter: I’m just basically asking about E85 in general, how we’ve turned around a lot economies out here, saved some small towns…
Dutcher: Can’t even comment on it, I’m sorry. It’s like you’ve asked me the college quiz bowl question. What is E85?
Reporter: That’s fine, that’s fine.
Dutcher: What is it?
Reporter: E85, the gas.
Dutcher: E85 gas…
Dutcher: He’s asking me about E85 gas. It’s like the college…
Man off camera: It’s Ethanol.
Dutcher: Thank you, Thank you. What has he said about ethanol?
Man off camera: Oh, Mike ? He’s 100 percent for ethanol.
Dutcher: Yea, but, I can’t tell you specific programs. I’m sorry.

Hatch lost because he ran a bad campaign and imploded in the final week.

Hatch has a temper... who gives a shit!!! he said he wasn't sure what he said... but that the reporter was not independent ... he was working for the republican agenda... which was true... Hatch said air the tape... the reporter did not b/c it was false... when it aired later after the election... there was no "whore" word stated... and even if he did "who cares" non-issue...

and as to the E85... who cares... no one uses E85... the stations are rare.... milk and grocery prices went up when the talk about corn based fuel hit the news... but there is no more real change in E85 consumption....

the third party candidate made the biggest difference in MN governor race... take him out of the race and Hatch would be governor today.... Pawlenty does not prove MN's are purple...

if Pawlenty was so concerned with transportation, then why did Minnesotans end up in the river?

Nice try. I personally don't think his insult was that big a thing. Judging by the election, Minnesotans disagreed. As to the E85--well, given its potential importance to the Minnesotan economy, and given the public reaction, I would say that Minnesotans cared. You might not. Most people might not. But enough of them did that Hatch badly underperformed.

Minnesotans have had a strong IP for years now. The IP turned in its weakest showing in years--this was the first time in a long time that the Democrat broke 40%. Nice try blaming them, but that won't cut it. Hatch was a bad candidate.

WTF is that last part about? When did I ever suggest Pawlenty was a champion of infrastructure repair?

it quietly came out... No "whore" comment... I heard it if you did not....

Hatch had the lead... the republicans stirred things up at the last minute.... Pawlenty went on the bandwagon against Dutcher... who even knew who Pawlenty's running mate was until the bridge fell in the river?

I buy E85... one station in a major metro city of 65,000 plus... I drive up and no wait.... why... no one buys it... should they? sure.... most vehicles won't run on it, unless it is mixed... talking points is all.... bullshit.... bigger issues than E85... if it were a big deal then I wouldn't have to drive all over town to get gas..... I am not seeing any new stations open up....

many times I have heard something mid-day one time... then the news never covers it again.... dang "liberal press"...

another fine peice... Pawlenty brags he helped to make a surplus in the MN budget.... truth "estate-tax"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Binger

Couldn't find any reference to it on a search of WCCO's, KSTP's, KMSP, or KARE's sites. No reference to that on a Google search either, so apparently you're the only one who heard that.

Pawlenty won with a plurality (both times) not a majority. A majority of Minnesotans voted for someone else - which is why we need instant runoff voting.

the Republicans will regret having their convention in MN... we are not going to turn RED or PURPLE... we elected democrats in the state house and senate in the western suburbs that is thought to be RED... not so... I stood out on the street on election day with signs and got the thumbs up by 90% of the passers by...

MN has always gone BLUE and that is where we will stay... we have same day voter registration and paper ballots... and Mark Richie will keep it honest...

in elections past we have had Minneapolis areas that ran out of ballots so the democratics in the inner city could not vote... Coleman will not steal this one... it won't happen in '08!

I say the either the Al Franken election team or the DNC should have an information booth outside the men's room at the airport so when all of the GOP delegates come off the planes, they have to pass by the Sen Craig Memorial Men's Room & Spa and be boldly reminded of their hypocracy.

They could also offer tours and placards of proper men's room etiquette.

How was that possible for him to do...pay off the pollworkers at dozens of precincts who were counting the votes?

Besides that fact that it was decided that a vote for Wellstone would not translate as a vote for Mondale as no one could be sure that a Wellstone voter would have voted for Mondale. However, Coleman's absentee ballots were counted - though I never understood why it could be assumed that someone who voted for Coleman over Wellstone would necessarily have voted for Coleman over Mondale.

I know several people who received calls telling them that it was not too late to file or refile an absentee ballot (that much was true) then the stories changed. As there was not time to reprint ballots, Wellstone's name was still on it. A couple people were told that if the marked Wellstone's name, the vote would count for Mondale (not true - the vote would be ignored). Most were told that they should cross out Wellstone's name and write Mondale's beside it. This was also not true - it would count as a spoiled ballot. On an absentee ballot, Mondale's name had to be written in the area for write ins. A couple people managed to trace the calls back to the Republicans by *69ing. Others did call the AG's office. In the end Hatch (the AG) did announce that any ballot where the voters' intention was clear would be counted. - Though absentee ballots cast for Wellstone, where Mondale's name had not been added, were still not counted.

uncounted absentees and votes that were counted for Wellstone there were not enough votes for Mondale to win. Here are the numbers:


Green RAY TRICOMO 10119 0.45
Independence JIM MOORE 45139 2.00
Republican NORM COLEMAN 1116697 49.53
Democratic-Farmer-Labor PAUL WELLSTONE 11381 0.50
Democratic-Farmer-Labor WALTER F. MONDALE 1067246 47.34
Constitution MIRO DRAGO KOVATCHEVICH 2254 0.10
Write-In WRITE-IN (OTHER) 1790 0.08
Write-In ED MCGAA** 7 0.00
Write-In "DICK" FRANSON** 3 0.00
Write-In MICHELLE MARIE HARBECK** 3

Voter Turnout: 2,282,860

2,254,639

28,221 votes not cast for a candidate

Assume all those not cast votes were for Wellstone and add them to the votes counted for Wellstone and Mondale's
The total would be 1,106,848 a lot closer race but Coleman still would win. I do not deny that there were call such as what you mentioned. Par for the course of voter supression by the Republicans but I don't think it mattered in this case.

I guess I get irked by the idea posted by some that Diebold stole this election...when this was a race that was completely hand counted because it was too late to reprint ballot for election day voters.

Nixon in 1972, MN has gone blue ever since, including 1984 the only state Mondale won....

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about 2008...The ONLY thing that's troubling is that proposed electoral vote split non-sense in California, the highly partsian initiative to give Re-thugs a share of CA's EV in 2008...If that can be defeated, I really think the Democratic nominee will win next Nov....

These numbers are from the MN Secretary of State's office:

2000:
DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY GORE AND LIEBERMAN 1,168,266 47.91%
REPUBLICAN PARTY BUSH AND CHENEY 1,109,659 45.50%
GREEN PARTY NADER AND LADUKE 126,696 5.20%

2004:
Democratic-Farmer-Labor JOHN F. KERRY AND JOHN EDWARDS 1,445,014 51.09%
Republican GEORGE W. BUSH AND DICK CHENEY 1,346,695 47.61%
Green DAVID COBB AND PAT LAMARCHE 4,408 0.16%

Note that the Green Party took just over 5% of the vote in 2000 (and probably a lot of DFL votes), but in 2004 it received less than 1%.

Also, Amy Klobuchar creamed her Republican opponent in the 2006 senate race. Though, given the way she's been voting, she would probably lose a lot of progressive votes if she was facing reelection today.

We need to win places like MN comfortably if we are going to be able to put resources into GOP-leaning states like VA imo.