We told you earlier about Jill Biden heading to Minnesota, now Chuck Todd breaks another piece to the story:
MT @chucktodd Yesterday, Obama campaign added MN to their nat’l radio buy. Today, campaign announces Jill Biden will campaign there this wk.
— Ramesh Ponnuru (@RameshPonnuru) October 18, 2012
19 Comments
SO they’re worried about MN now? I think all the ground is shifting underneath their feet…
So they’re scrambling resources to hold onto Minnesota, but we’re supposed to believe they’re leading in Ohio…
im a republican in MN. Sadly, there is no way romney can win because he will run up huge margins in mpls and st paul. A common theme though are hope and change obama supporters that will be staying home this time. I have several friends like that.
If Obama has to spend money to hold on to Minnesota, Brian is right. Romney definitely is leading in Ohio.
Jill Biden is also traveling to Iowa, and Wisconsin.
It makes you wonder what the Obama internal polls are showing.
They must be in panic if they’re spending their resources in three states they won big four years ago.
They’re showing that it’s a disaster. Nothing they can do about it either. They’re re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
A Democrat expending any resources in Minnesota in October, a state not won by the GOP since 1972, is a big alarm siren when other states like Florida, Virginia, and Ohio are supposed to be in play.
And the rumor heard here in Florida while volunteering is that the Romney internals from Ohio keep getting better and better for Romney. My family up there is very confident that Romney will take Ohio.
Hmmm. Interesting. I remembered they leaked some a couple of weeks ago being up 3-4. Wonder if they would do it again. Kevin did post the rumor they would be pulling up shop in these states after the election so I guess I’m not totally surprised.
Anyone else notice very few polls lately for the absolutely critical Ohio?
The Rasmussen poll had Obama up 1 at 48/47 with an even ID split.
Since the marriage amendment is on the ballet in MN this year, that might drive up the GOP numbers a little bit as well.
Hoping to see that pass
In person voting starts tomorrow in NC. Am impressed with the push for absentee voting in Virginia. Not sure who is doing strongest there, but that 5% there is already matched the total vote in 2008 that voted absentee. Maybe it’s both parties, but it sure is popping up over last time.
I’ll take a more political approach and say the radio buy is probably radio that either covers part of Wisconsin or part of Iowa. Jill Biden is low low level for campaigning, my guess would be requested by a democrat candidate. I would not read too much into it.
Agree that the Jill Biden visit is a non-story, but the radio buy in MN is significant. If it really was a radio buy mainly targeted for IA/WI, then Obama would simply buy radio time in WI and IA. The fact that the Obama team feels it needs to spend EVEN A DIME in MN is quite telling. I suspect Romney’s recent surge, and the gay marriage proposition in MN has convinced Obama’s team that slightly more GOP voters are going to vote in MN come November.
There are certainly areas of both Wisconsin and Iowa where the most popular radio station in the area is going to be one located in Minnesota. So a lot would still depend on where in Minnesota its play. Also its radio not TV, an expenditure of resources, but radio is so much cheaper than TV its relatively easy to spend radio to some extent without really having to take away from spending meaningful resources elsewhere. So it could be everything from trying to help out a down ballot Democrat to pumping up Democrats to vote to help block the marriage amendment etc. In any case an additional telling point would be if Romney or others start spending in Minnesota. It’s certainly not going to turn red unless Romney makes some effort at some point to win it.
If it was Biden or Obama then I would say they are worried about their own numbers. Being Jill Biden that still tells me that are shoring up the base for the marriage amendment and the down tickets. What they don’t want to have happen is where MN goes for Obama and then republicans straight ticket and pass the marriage amendment. MN seems to me to be a state like Missouri is. We will vote BIG for Romney but also re-elect a Dem Gov, Atty General and probably US Senator while also putting a super majority of republicans in the state general assembly.
Again, until Biden or Obama goes to MN, my political gut says this is a shore up of down tickets.
Where is the radio buy and does it reach a Wisconsin market?
It will most certainly be close here. Although there are insane amounts of Obama signs and supporters, the Pro-Conservative signs have been growing a ton over the past couple weeks. Ultimately it’s nearly impossible for Mitt to win here though since Soros’ appointee Mark Ritchie is the sec. of state and he has already thrown at least two elections for Dems.
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