Madeleine Albright Campaigns For Clinton In St. Paul
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright campaigned Tuesday in Minnesota for Hillary Clinton.
Albright appeared as part of a foreign policy roundtable at St. Paul's Macalester College. It was the latest push by Clinton's campaign to lock in younger voters in the state.
The woman who served as President Bill Clinton's Secretary of State offered a blistering assessment of Donald Trump's foreign policy qualifications. She cited Trump's opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.
"For him to just say he's going to tear it up just shows not only that he's an idiot, but also that he is somebody that doesn't understand how the system works," Albright said.
Albright, who was Secretary of State from 1997 until 2001, defends Clinton's handling of the fallout for using a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State.
"She has said she made a mistake. I think it's a very big deal for somebody to say they made a mistake, and I think that that is what people should think about," Albright said.
Albright -- who sported both a "Hillary" brooch and a glass ceiling brooch on her jacket -- urged the mostly-student crowd not to waste their votes on third-party candidates.
"For people who are in difficult and swing states, and especially in this election, a vote of conscience doesn't get you anything at this moment, and a no-vote is a vote for Trump," she said.
The Clinton campaign has brought a parade of surrogates to Minnesota in recent weeks, including Chelsea Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Professor Larry Jacobs from the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School says these appearances are aimed at getting the support of young voters -- many of whom that had supported Sanders.
"Hillary Clinton is struggling with millennials all over the country and here in Minnesota," Jacobs said.
Minnesota has not voted for a Republican for president since 1972, when Richard Nixon was elected. But the race in Minnesota is very close -- about a four-point edge for Clinton, and that is within the margin of error.