Dispatch from Heartland Tour’s Range stop

The Barack Obama “Heartland for Change” tour wraps up today with events in Duluth. I attended the Hibbing stop at Grandma’s Restaurant. I have to declare the event a success, but that’s mostly because it combined my great loves: politics and drinking beer when the sun is up.

The Iron Range swing of the tour started in Ely yesterday, continued south to Virginia and west to Hibbing. State Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud) along with local legislators State Sen. David Tomassoni and House Majority Leader Rep. Tony Sertich also spoke. Chisholm Mayor Mike Jugovich also addressed the assembled crowd of about 35 people (ranging from students all the way up to retirees, which I mention only to point out that wasn’t the same people who show up to most other DFL events). People are finally starting to connect that this long, drawn out campaign is coming to its climax and activists on both sides have to gear up if their guy is going to win. People in Hibbing were worried about education and health care, two issues that are winners for the Obama campaign.

Observations from Friday:
  • Sen. Clark is often mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate. Her presence on the Range swing of this tour lends credibility to that possibility. She’s well spoken and very good at retail politics.
  • Jugovich is the most articulate Iron Range mayor I’ve seen. (Don’t get too excited; it’s not exactly Toastmasters up here). But I wasn’t expecting that, so I’m mentioning it.
  • There is a narrative forming that will help Obama here. Our Iron Range ancestors looked different and had hard-to-pronounce names, but they made our lives better by standing up to corporations and demanding fair pay for hard work. All Americans have better wages today because of the Range-wide strikes of 1907 and 1916, even though they weren’t successful at the time. This is the same story in a new century. Change comes slow to the Iron Range, but when it does the whole country benefits. We need change now more than ever.

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.