Start The Countdown: 1 Year Until Election Day 2012
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The next presidential election is still exactly a year away but you might not know it, judging from the amount of campaign activity. In Minneapolis, the Obama for President Campaign officially opened its 2012 campaign office. Republicans say it's a sign of weakness.
He's the president, he's the incumbent and the Republicans can't seem to settle on a candidate. But Minnesota supporters are crafting an Obama for President Campaign that is running as if it is in trouble. And it might be.
The Minnesota campaign office of Obama for President opened with fanfare in a south Minneapolis storefront a year ahead of Election Day.
National campaign spokesman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said the campaign will focus on a strategy of a president stymied by Republicans, and an economy needing more time to improve.
"It's also a referendum on what's the next four years gonna be about," said Rybak. "President Obama, who has shown he can bring people together, or some zealots who have taken over a once proud Republican Party and want to drive it off the cliff?"
With the president's approval rating at a near record low, Minnesota's still considered a state that leans Democratic. But political analysts say it could be up for grabs.
"It depends on how well the president is able to frame the economy moving forwards," said Professor Kathryn Pearson, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. "Minnesota is consistently thought of as a swing state because, of course, we've had Republican governors, DFL governors; Republican senators, DFL senators. And so Minnesotans are willing, at the state-wide level, to vote for candidates of either party."
That's part of what Republicans are hoping for, no matter who their candidate might be. The state GOP chairman said the party expects to hammer home the bad economy and how the president handled it.
"When you're running against an incumbent president and especially in an economic situation like that, this is a referendum on his handling of the economy," said Tony Sutton, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party.
"If I was him right now, I'd be concerned," he said. "That's why they're opening an office in Minnesota -- they're worried."
Campaign spending is also at record levels from not just the campaigns and political parties but now special interested groups.
