Campaign 2004 The race for president The race for Congress Resources MPR talk shows on campaign issues & candidates Select A Candidate Audio Kerry adds Minnesota to Super Tuesday rout (story audio) Listen to Kerry's primary night speech Listen to Sen. John Edwards' primary night speech Photos Sen. John Kerry An enthusiastic Kerry supporter Sitting in at the GOP caucus View full slideshow (4 images) More from MPR Super Tuesday election returns (03/02/2004) Minnesota caucus night culminates campaign flurry in state (03/01/2004) Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

	E-mail this page			Print this page

Kerry adds Minnesota to Super Tuesday rout
by Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio
by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio
March 3, 2004

Convenor Kerry Gauthier runs a DFL caucus in West Duluth. Participants introduced resolutions on labor rights, international trade, and smoke-free restaurants. (MPR Photo/Stephanie Hemphill)

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was the top vote getter in Minnesota's DFL caucuses Tuesday night. Unofficial returns show the Massachusetts senator received more than 50 percent of the vote in a binding presidential preference ballot. The vote will determine how Minnesota's 72 delegates to the national convention are apportioned. Kerry was followed by North Carolina Sen. John Edwards with 27 percent, and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich at 17 percent. Kerry supporters say they're confident that Minnesota Democrats will unite behind Kerry, now that he has the presidential nomination locked up.

St. Paul, Minn. — John Kerry laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination after a decisive round of primary and caucus victories cleared the field for a feisty head-to-head battle against President Bush - a struggle already in motion.

Kerry's New York-to-California victories in the 10-state Super Tuesday series knocked the fight out of his spirited rival, John Edwards. The North Carolina senator, who had been the only one left with the ghost of a chance against Kerry, let the word out that he was quitting even before polls closed in the West and just as Minnesotans gathered in caucuses.

	Sen. John Kerry

Suddenly, the Democrat-to-Democrat sniping is over, replaced by calls for unity, and Kerry is left with his hard-fought reward - as well as the weight of Democrats' expectations that he can beat Bush in the fall.

"Tonight, the message can now be heard all across our country: Change is coming to America," said Kerry, 60, a four-term Massachusetts senator whose understated ways disguise a hotly competitive streak. "We will fight to give America back its future and its hope."

There were grace notes in the first blush of his victory: a polite exchange with Bush, who called to congratulate him. But there is to be no grace period in their campaign fight.

The Republican president opens a multimillion-dollar TV ad blitz Thursday to try to win back favor in a time of slipping poll numbers, and has a war chest of more than $100 million to draw from in the months ahead, more than Kerry can muster.

Minnesota was one of a few states where John Edwards had hoped to slow Kerry's rush to the nomination. But shortly after the caucuses got underway, Edwards gave a speech that stopped just short of conceding. Kerry supporters were ecstatic.

	An enthusiastic Kerry supporter

"That's fabulous, especially if we can get all these people to know it," said Deborah Whitman, who was waving a Kerry sign to greet caucus goers at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. Whitman says she's convinced Kerry is the best candidate to defeat President George W. Bush, and she hopes all Democrats will now get behind him.

"I have a child with disabilities, very severe disabilities, and I am scared to death that if we do not get the Democrats mobilized and get Bush out of office that he will lose all of his rights to education, any kind of help with insurance that we get."

Whitman and more than 100 other Kerry supporters celebrated his Minnesota victory at a Minneapolis bar after the caucuses wrapped up.

In Duluth, about 100 DFLers attended caucuses from a half dozen precincts. Many were at a caucus for the first time. They were eager to vote in the straw poll to decide how the DFL would apportion its delegates to the national convention.

"The kids were interested, we wanted to make sure that Bush is put out of office," said Ron Vormwald, who brought his teenagers.

	Sitting in at the GOP caucus

The presidential race was on most people's minds. But these neighborhood political gatherings are about more than politicians. They're a chance for people to discuss issues important to them by offering resolutions that could make their way into the party platform.

At one DFL caucus, the issue that generated the most debate was a resolution supporting a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants. Others dealt with labor and trade issues, alternative voting systems, and all-terrain vehicles.

With the caucuses over, and with Edwards out of the race, the general campaign will begin early.

One of Kerry's Minnesota co-chairs, Buck Humphrey, says he's already talked to organizers of the Edwards and Howard Dean campaigns in Minnesota, and thinks they will support Kerry. He says he's not surprised by Dennis Kucinich's strong showing in Minnesota, but thinks Kucinich supporters will also back Kerry now that the caucuses are over.

"I've talked to many of them myself, and while they were principled about this, they also know that John Kerry is now the nominee and we need to move forward, and so I think a lot of them will do so," said Humphrey.

The mood was much more somber at a post-caucus gathering of Edwards supporters. Kipp Dubow of St. Paul says he's disappointed that Edwards is dropping out of the race, because he thinks Edwards could have energized the country. He's prepared to support Kerry now, and thinks Edwards would be an excellent addition to the Kerry ticket.

"For the Democratic Party and for the nation, the best decision is for him to accept the vice presidential nomination and I really think if it's offered to him, he will take it at this point, it would be a fantastic ticket, and really a tough one across the country."

Edwards supporters think Edwards would have done even better in Minnesota, if news of his decision to drop out of the race hadn't spread through DFL caucuses as some people were still voting. Caucus turnout was heavy, more than four times the 12,000 Democrats who turned out four years ago. Party officials called it the best caucus showing since the Vietnam era.

While most of the attention was focused on the Democrats, Minnesota's three other major political parties also caucused. Green Party members voted in a nonbinding presidential straw poll, and the Independence Party demonstrated instant runoff voting and allowed members to vote for a party mascot. The buffalo led in early returns. Republicans used the caucuses to organize for President Bush's re-election campaign.

State party chair Ron Eibensteiner told Republicans gathered at Roosevelt High School that he believes Bush will carry Minnesota this year. Bush lost the state by fewer than three percentage points in 2000. The caucuses marked the official beginning of what's likely to be a contentious battle for Minnesota's ten electoral votes.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

Respond to this story

	Talk about this story in the MPR News Forum
	Submit a commentary
	Help us cover this story

News Headlines

Related Subjects