This was a big week on the campaign - we held a joint rally with the Obama campaign with President Bill Clinton. President Clinton fired up the thousands of DFLers in attendance and encouraged them to get out and volunteer to Get-Out-The-Vote in the last few days of the campaign to make sure that we elect Barack Obama to the White House and Al Franken to the U.S. Senate.

Forum:

Buoyant Democrats rushed into an expansive convention hall Thursday hoping former President Bill Clinton would help propel their party through the campaign’s final stretch.

A few thousand Democrats turned out Thursday evening at the Clinton-headlined rally excited about Barack Obama’s position days before the long presidential campaign ends and cautiously optimistic about Al Franken’s U.S. Senate bid.

As the long campaign draws to a close, the former president is appearing on behalf of the Illinois senator leading in the 2008 presidential race. But the Minneapolis rally was to energize the campaigns of Obama, who is leading Republican Sen. John McCain in Minnesota, and Franken, who most polls show
in a dead heat with Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

The all-ages crowd rushed into the cavernous Minneapolis Convention Center hall wearing Democratic buttons and Obama shirts and carrying Franken signs. A Franken aide said more than 4,000 people contacted the campaigns in advance.

Pioneer Press:

Clinton called Franken a good friend and great candidate. He said Obama will need his vote in the Senate to change America’s course.

AP:

“Barack Obama can lead us in changing the way Americans think about America, the role of government and the way we work together,” Clinton said. “We learned the other way is not worth a flip. We’ve got to work together.”

Clinton also offered high praise for Franken, who he’s known since the early 1990s, and in a way that indicated he’s tuned in to Franken’s tight race with incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

…

Clinton cited Franken’s race as one of several that, if Democrats are successful, could give the party the 60 votes it needs in the U.S. Senate in order to overcome Republican filibusters that could block major pieces of Obama’s policy agenda.

For Franken, Clinton’s two terms in the White House served as a handy shorthand for the direction he’d like to see the country take going forward. Franken talked about the time he’s spent recently campaigning on college campuses, meeting students who were 10 years old when Clinton left office.

“They don’t remember what it was like to have a president who knew how to run the economy,” Franken said. “They don’t remember what it was like to have a president who knew how to talk to our allies. They don’t know what it was like to have a president who knew how to lead.”

With a crowd of about 3,800 people in attendance, it was likely Minnesota’s last large-scale rally of the election season. Neither presidential candidate is scheduled to appear in Minnesota again before Tuesday, although last-minute surprise appearances can’t be totally ruled out.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 13:04 and is filed under Blog, From the Trail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.