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Presidential visit makes Minnesota a campaign battleground
June 13, 2003

President Bush, shown speaking in Connecticut on Thursday, visits Minnesota on June 19. (White House photo)

President Bush will travel to Minnesota next Thursday to talk about the economy. The president's visit comes one day before most of the nine Democratic presidential candidates plan to speak to a national Democratic meeting in the Twin Cities. The events mark the start of the 2004 presidential campaign in Minnesota, a state that looks increasingly like a battleground for both parties.

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold in the presidential race; the state hasn't voted for a Republican for president since 1972. But the race was close in 2000, with Democrat Al Gore beating Republican George W. Bush in the state by just 57,000 votes, or less than three percent of the votes cast.

State Republican Party chairman Ron Eibensteiner predicts that Bush will carry Minnesota in 2004.

Looking at someplace like California these days is not going to help Mr. Bush, but looking at someplace like Minnesota, particularly given the 2002 election, it certainly looks like it's a viable option to at least consider. - Lily Goren, College of St. Catherine

"We almost carried the state for President Bush the first time around in 2000," he says. "And then with the smashing victories that we had in 2002, it just makes it very evident that the Republican National Committee and, specifically, the president is targeting Minnesota, and they will do everything possible to make sure that we, in fact, do carry the state for the president."

Eibensteiner says it's merely a coincidence that the president is coming to Minnesota one day before a meeting of top Democratic officials from around the country.

State DFL Party Chairman Mike Erlandson says he doesn't think there's anything coincidental about it. He says the president wants to make sure that news coverage isn't dominated by his Democratic rivals. He says the visit shows that the White House is very concerned about Bush's re-election. Erlandson says Bush is vulnerable on the issue of the economy. He says Bush inherited a substantial surplus, and pushed the nation into record deficits with a series of tax cuts.

"This is a reckless approach to fiscal policy in our country. It's an approach that has not stimulated the economy at all since he has taken office. Minnesota alone currently has 126,000 unemployed people," according to Erlandson.

Republican chair Eibensteiner says the stock market crashed before Bush took office, and Bush inherited an economic mess. He says the Bush tax cuts and other policies should lead to a strong economy by the summer of 2004.

Political scientist Lily Goren says Republicans see an opportunity in Minnesota. Goren, who chairs the political science department at the College of St. Catherine, says Republicans were bolstered by the 2002 Senate race, when Republican Norm Coleman defeated former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale.

"Mr. Bush needs to have a more secure victory than he did last time in the electoral college, and you're looking for states to help to do that, and I think looking at someplace like California these days is not going to help Mr. Bush, but looking at someplace like Minnesota, particularly given the 2002 election, it certainly looks like it's a viable option to at least consider," according to Goren.

Goren says while most people aren't paying any attention to the 2004 presidential race, she says Minnesotans tend to follow politics so closely that some are starting to notice the candidates.

Most of the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls are scheduled to address the annual summer meeting of Democratic National Committee executives and state party chairs from around the country next week in St. Paul.

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