Surrogate season

It will be a busy week of Democratic campaign surrogates on the Iron Range. I’ve already mentioned Sen. Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Hibbing tomorrow, but there are two others coming up this week as well.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) will tour Duluth and the Iron Range shoring up support for Al Franken. Tester, best known for his flat-top haircut, Montana rancher ways and the fingers he lost in an industrial accident (Hell, yes, that’s a senator!), is one of the best blue collar voices in the Senate. His point of view should resonate with Iron Range DFLers, who have a much more proletarian view of the party than other places where people use the word “proletarian” in conversation.

I don’t know that a senator — even a folksy, ranching, fingerless one — moves a ton of specific votes, but any sense that reinforces Franken as the blue-collar, pro-pension, pro-health care, pro-schools, pro-name your DFL issue candidate here at the end may help the Range and similar environs return “home” to deliver the election on Nov. 4. In this crazy Senate race right now, as with the rest of the state, there is a lot of unusual flux in the Range electorate. If it snaps back to normal this week or next, Franken could win this thing by a few points.

Tester’s schedule, released by the Franken campaign is below:

SAINT PAUL [10/20/08] – U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), a champion for rural America, will visit Minnesota on Wednesday to campaign for Senate candidate Al Franken. Tester will bring Franken’s campaign for change to Duluth and the Iron Range, where he will talk about Franken’s agenda for jobs and the need to bring change to Washington.

WHO: Sen. Jon Tester
WHAT: News Conference on Rebuilding the Middle Class Economy
WHEN: 3:00 pm, Wednesday, October 22
WHERE: GOTV Action Center
Obama for America
301 E. Superior St.
Duluth

WHO: Sen. Jon Tester
WHAT: Sen. Tester Mobilizes Volunteers At Virginia DFL Office
WHEN: 4:30 pm, Wednesday, October 22
WHERE: Virginia DFL Office
137 Chester St.
Virginia

WHO: Sen. Jon Tester
WHAT: Sen. Tester Brings “Rebuilding the Middle Class Economy” Tour to Chisholm Meet & Greet
WHEN: 5:30 pm, Wednesday, October 22
WHERE: Tom & Jerry’s Bar
201 W. Lake St.
Chisholm

WHO: Sen. Jon Tester
WHAT: Jobs Roundtable with Local Steelworkers
WHEN: 6:30 pm, Wednesday, October 22
WHERE: Local 2660 Union Hall
103 W 3rd Ave
Keewatin

WHO: Sen. Jon Tester
WHAT: Sen. Tester Brings “Rebuilding the Middle Class Economy” Tour to Grand Rapids Meet & Greet
WHEN: 8:00 pm, Wednesday, October 22
WHERE: Itasca County DFL Office
809 NE 4th St.
Grand Rapids

Then, on Thursday, our own Sen. Amy Klobuchar will appear at the Itasca DFL headquarters in Grand Rapids at 4 p.m. to rally volunteers. She has all her fingers, but is still pretty cool.

Comments

  1. Okay,

    Off topic (However, I am very excited about Tester coming to the Range) but I was just watching the clip where the McCain-Palin campaign spokesperson went on her rant regarding N. Virginia not being real America and that real America can be found in the southern part of Virginia. I had heard about this last week. I did not realize that part of her rant included the fact that McCain’s message is resonating on the Iron Range of Minnesota. Hello? What planet is she on. I had heard they were making a serious play for this area with the whole NRA/Guns message but they (the Repubs) do this every 4 years and it never pans out. I don’t think it is working this year either. In fact, I feel like many people, especially younger people, are a little more fired up this year than in the past. I know people who are volunteering and putting signs (yes, I know signs don’t vote) in their yard who never would have in the past. Not buying it Nancy Pf-whatever.

  2. You caught that too! I was just writing about this. (Stay tuned). The areas that Linda Pfeckless calls “real America” have the interesting connection of being areas where race is identified as a factor in this election. This should tell us that McCain’s fourth quarter strategy is to haul out Jeremiah Wright and go for a race war (set up with a front about “distribution of wealth”).

    I don’t think it will work. In fact, I think it will backfire. But if it does work, the whole country implodes in four, five years tops. Should be interesting, I ‘spose. Let’s all just work a little harder, eh.

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