Dayton, DFL kick off GOTV tour
Gov. Mark Dayton and other prominent Democrats have kicked off a statewide get-out-the-vote effort ahead of Tuesday's election.
Dayton is not on the ballot this year, but he's working to get more DFL legislators elected to help move his agenda. The governor is also urging voters to re-elect President Obama and to reject the two constitutional amendments on the state ballot. During a rally today outside of the State Capitol, Dayton said there's a lot at stake Tuesday.
"Everybody knows how critical this election is," Dayton said. "Everybody knows what's on the line here. There's no tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. This is a fundamental difference in the direction for our country and for our state, and we've got to win it."
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Other speakers included U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Congresswoman Betty McCollum, state Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL Cook, and state DFL Chair Ken Martin.
House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said he believes Democrats are poised to win majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate. Thissen said voters are frustrated by the gridlock they've seen at the Capitol, and he blamed Republicans.
"These Republicans have taken us in exactly the wrong direction that this state needs to go, and we need to be moving forward once again," Thissen said. "The challenges are too big for us not to be doing that."
Republicans disgree. House Majority Leader Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, said he believes Republicans will retain control. Dean said he thinks the GOP focus on economic issues and job creation is a better message than what the DFL is talking about.
"Their message is 'we don't like Republicans, and Republicans are bad,'" Dean said. It's a negative message. It's one that I don't think works very well. They have a message of bipartisanship, and their bipartisan message is 'fire all the Republicans.' That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to the people that I talk to."
The DFL bus tour has more than two dozen stops scheduled through Monday.