Mankato, as DFL-watchers know, is Tim Walz country, and this time, we planned for a big turnout, knowing that the energy and enthusiasm generated by Tim’s amazing win over Gil Gutknecht last November had the town where he spent years as a high school geography teacher buzzing. Al spoke to 400 folks at MSU-Mankato, but this time, he was smart enough to speak after a Walz, not before. You see, Al spoke before Tim in Winona last July, and although Al really got the crowd going with his speech, Tim’s passion and energy blew our guy out of the water.Tim’s wife, Gwen, is just as terrific a progressive and just as talented a speaker, and she was generous enough to introduce Al, telling the story of how she and Tim got to know Al and Franni.

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Good idea: setting up a meet and greet with activists in Rochester and inviting DFLers from all over Olmsted County to come hear from Al.Bad idea: trying to fit that meet and greet in the basement of a restaurant that only holds 75 people.

That’s what we learned in Rochester. Once it became apparent that we were going to have more of a crowd than Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant could handle, our new friend Russell Hess from the Southeast Labor Council saved the day, offering us space in the Labor Temple across the street. No margaritas were available at the Labor Temple, but it allowed us to fit 300 people in to hear from Al.
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Our little mini-tour started off on a cold and (thankfully not too) snowy Friday morning in Nashwauk, which, as we enjoyed explaining to national reporters trying to cover the race, is halfway between Grand Rapids and Hibbing.Nashwauk’s population is 935. So imagine our surprise when we saw the crowd starting to form at the AFSCME Council 65 office (thanks again for hosting us, AFSCME Council 65!). We thought we were going to have between 75 and 100 folks in attendance, but when the room started to overflow, we started wondering if a town of 935 had its own fire marshal.
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Al was a little late getting to our next stop, so we TeamFrankeners in the advance car had some crowd control to do in Duluth, where an estimated 800 people packed into Wellstone Hall at the Duluth Labor Temple. It’s always a special treat to be speaking anywhere with the word “Wellstone” attached to it, and Al really blew the roof off the place (which is good, because people could sure use the breathing room).Worth noting: Al stuck around all night taking pictures with supporters and meeting new friends in the hall. Have you ever been to a political event where the candidate is the last person in the room at the end of the night? Us either.

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