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Pawlenty asks Clinton supporters to back McCain
Crews spent Monday afternoon preparing Saint Paul's Xcel Center for its first huge speech of this political season. Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama will speak there Tuesday night, after voters in Montana and South Dakota cast the final ballots in the Democratic primaries. Governor Tim Pawlenty is welcoming Obama to Minnesota -- by asking frustrated Hillary Clinton supporters to consider voting for John McCain in November. Pawlenty says it's good for Minnesota to be the focus of so much national political attention. But he predicts that as Minnesotans weigh their choice they'll respond to McCain's experience and reject Obama's more liberal views. The governor says Clinton voters frustrated at her loss might consider McCain since he and Clinton had similar messages about experience and strength and because Clinton tended to attract more moderate Democrats. Donna Cassutt, the vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, predicts that all Democrats will unite behind Obama. Obama's campaign says it expects to draw more than 20,000 people to the same arena Republicans will fill when they hold their national nominating convention there in September. "For three days, this will be a great place for Republicans to be," said Minneapolis Mayor and Obama supporter R.T. Rybak, about the convention that will take place Sept. 1-4. "But for the next four years, it's going to be a great country for Democrats to be in, (and) we're going to remind people of that." It will be Obama's second arena rally in the Twin Cities. Last time, he filled the Target Center before Super Tuesday. This time, all primary votes will have been cast, and with help from super delegates, he could have the nomination wrapped up. "By coming here, he is sending a message to the Republican Party and to America that he is now ready to take on John McCain," said Larry Jacobs, director of the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. Republicans chose the Twin Cities for their summer convention because they see the entire Upper Midwest as a battleground, though Minnesota itself hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972. State Republican Chairman Ron Carey said he doesn't think Obama will fare as well here. "He's in Minnesota because the Democrats know that Minnesota is in play," Carey said. "It's a battleground state that the Republicans are poised to win." Carey said even if thousands attend Obama rallies, the crowds represent just a fraction of the more than three million Minnesotans who will vote in November. Still, Jacobs points out that early polls show Obama beating McCain in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. In Minnesota, a poll taken last month by the Star Tribune gave Obama a lead of 51-38. In Iowa and Wisconsin, an average of polls complied by the web site Real Clear Politics shows Obama with a six-point lead and a two-point lead, respectively. "And in a sense, Obama is coming to Minnesota to poke his finger in the eye of the Republican Party and do a little bit of taunting," Jacobs said.As it stands Monday night, according to NBC's tally, Obama needs only 39 delegates to wrap up the Democratic nomination. In Montana and South Dakota, 31 pledged delegates are up for grabs. Beyond those, many news organizations are reporting a flood of super delegates will endorse Obama Tuesday - enough to push him over the edge before his speech at the Xcel Center.
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