KIMT-3: EVERYWHERE, CLAPPING, CHEERING, HONKING
The CBS affiliate in Mason City/Austin/Rochester reports on Campaign Bus Stops in Southern Minnesota:
United States Senate Democratic candidate Amy Klobuchar's "campaign for change" bus tour made stops in Austin and Albert Lea. Klobuchar spoke to large crowds endorsing other democratic candidates including united states congressman hopeful Tim Walz. She says he's the man for the job and support is high.
" Everywhere we go people are clapping and they're honking and they're cheering, so it's really been a lot fun," said Klobuchar.
Tim Walz is trying to knock off twelve year incumbent republican congressman Gil Gutknecht. . . .
WINONA DAILY NEWS: REPUBLICAN KICKING OFF TOUR TO SHORE UP SUPPORT IN FINAL DAYS
There may be a lot of clapping and cheering accompanying Klobuchar and Walz, but things sounded a bit more subdued at the Winona County GOP headquarters. In Gutknecht: It's about values; Republican kicking off tour to shore up support in final days, the Winona Daily News reports:
. . .The Rochester Republican spoke Friday morning to about 15 supporters at the Winona County Republican Party office, kicking off an intense three-day bus tour across southern Minnesota in an attempt to shore up support in the election season’s final days.
The 12-year incumbent Gutknecht faces DFL challenger Tim Walz in a tight race for the 1st District House seat; recent polls have shown the two deadlocked.
Gutknecht was joined by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who planned to tour with Gutknecht throughout the day. . . .
This isn't the campaign Gutknecht had planned:
Gutknecht acknowledged that the race has been tougher than his campaign originally expected, and blamed Walz’s campaign for his struggles, saying they and other special-interest groups have spent nearly $2 million on advertising and other initiatives that falsely portray his positions.
“This is not really the campaign I wanted to run,” he said. “We had some beautiful ads in the can. But starting October, we’ve been under attack from every group you can imagine. We’ve had to tell the story in a somewhat different way.”
Walz campaign spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery said Friday that Gutknecht’s accusation is baseless.
“We have spent time comparing (Walz’s) standpoints to Gil,” she said. “(Gutknecht) can think they’re negative … but we take votes right out of the congressional record.”
She added: “We have spent time talking about the positive things Tim has done and the things in his background that make him a good candidate for Congress and a good leader … we’re proud of the campaign we ran.”
Gutknecht told attendees he’s confident he can win with their support and urged them to work on his behalf over the weekend.
“If our voters turn out as I think they will, we’re going to win this race very comfortably,” Gutknecht said. “If they decide they don’t have to get out and vote, well, we could wake up on Wednesday and be pretty disappointed.”
MANKATO FREE PRESS: PEP RALLY IN ST. PETER
The story was a bit different in St. Peter, where the Walz segment of the Klobuchar bus tour ended. The Mankato Free Press reports in Klobuchar leads pep rally in St. Peter:
About two dozen young supporters waving campaign signs and chanting “Amy, Amy, Amy” greeted Amy Klobuchar as she stepped off of her tour bus at Gustavus Adolphus College Friday afternoon.
The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate was flanked by family members, campaign staff and Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 1st District. St. Peter was one of seven stops on a last-minute campaign swing through Minnesota, taking Klobuchar from Austin to St. Cloud.
The chanting grew louder when Klobuchar entered the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center and was met with a stairwell packed with college-age supporters.
One member of her campaign staff, upon stepping into the frenzy, said to another: “This is good. This is really good.”
Klobuchar later said the goal in the final days of the race against Republican Mark Kennedy is to energize the local DFL base. Student supporters planned a door-knocking campaign after the rally that would begin on St. Peter streets and end in the dorms at Gustavus.
DFLer Terry Morrow, a candidate in state House District 23A, opened the rally with a reference to a recent campaign controversy.
“There’s been a little bit of a story about E-85,” Morrow said, alluding to the apparent ignorance of the corn-based ethanol fuel blend displayed by the DFL candidate for lieutenant governor. On Thursday, Judi Dutcher seemed stumped by a reporter’s question.
Morrow pointed out that both he and Walz drive E-85 vehicles, to cheers from the audience.
When Walz took the stage, he noted that early on many people called his bid against Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Rochester, a “pipe dream.” But he said his “integrity, honesty and hard work” will prove doubters wrong.
“It can be done,” he said. Indeed, recent polls show the two are neck-and-neck.
Walz promised to “move us forward without fear, but with hope and courage.” . . .
ROCHESTER POST BULLETIN: BARNSTORMING
The P-B's Washington Bureau correspondent Edward Felker reports on the weekend's schedule of barnstorming. Felker describes Thursday night's GOTV rally in Rochester with Garrison Keillor:
. . . Gutknecht was to tour the district by bus through Monday, his campaign manager Bryan Anderson said. Walz was to do much the same, though without the bus, and planned to spend Sunday making stops with radio host and satirist Al Franken, said campaign manager Meredith Salsbery.
Sunday will mark the second celebrity campaign event in four days for Walz, who enjoyed stage time Thursday with celebrated Minnesotan and radio host Garrison Keillor and singer Martin Zellar for a DFL candidate rally at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.
Keillor was the clear draw for about 300 party faithful and others who jammed into the Rochester Art Center. He endorsed Walz and called for an end to the Republican dominance of Congress in Washington.
Keillor limited his criticism of Gutknecht to his support for the war in Iraq, at least until this summer, when Gutknecht returned from an official visit and questioned the lack of progress toward a stable democratic nation.
Keillor said he has met Gutknecht and is someone he personally likes but said voters should remember his support for the war before this summer. "He has made a terrible, terrible choice, and only in the last few months, facing the fact that he would be facing a disgusted electorate, he has begun to have qualms about his war. It is too late. You must be held responsible for what you have done."
Keillor, who held a fundraiser for Walz at his St. Paul home this summer, said later he was impressed early on with Walz's determination to mount a credible campaign. "I wanted people to know he was not a token candidate, that he was out there working for it," Keillor said.
Brad Finseth, 53, of Rochester, whose son is in the Army and recently returned from Iraq, said he liked Walz because of his military background in the National Guard. Finseth said Walz has a chance to win in what has long been considered Republican territory, due to his opposition to the war. "People are getting sick and tired of the whole thing," he said. . . .
ROCHESTER POST-BULLETIN LTES
Yet another voter brings up Gutknecht's conservation record. Jon E. Rosenblatt writes:
Gil Gutknecht declined to participate in an environmental forum held in Rochester on Oct. 5, citing a busy schedule.
Tim Walz attended and discussed a variety of subjects, including the need to seek alternative non-polluting sources of energy, global warming, ways to improve the water quality of our lakes and rivers, and preservation of our wilderness areas.
Although Rep. Gutknecht did not attend, we do have his voting record. The non-partisan League of Conservation Voters Scorecard gave him scores of 0 percent, 0 percent, 25 percent, and 0 percent over the past four years for his legislative votes on environmental issues This is the lowest score among all the members of Minnesota's congressional delegation.
Tim Walz will bring to Congress a Minnesota concern for the environment and its importance to our health and quality of life, something which has been lacking from our current representative.
In Gutknecht misled us writes Chris Clark:
Gil Gutknecht misled us in 1994 when he said he would serve no more than six terms and here he is, running for a seventh term. . . .
GOTV LIVE COVERAGE
We will be traveling around the district today, gathering snapshots and anecdotes from Tim Walz's GOTV efforts. The miracle of wireless will also allow us to keep up with the breaking news.
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