Talking Points: The 2012 Election Will Be A Toss-Up
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A new Star Tribune poll shows a surge for Mitt Romney in Minnesota - the poll of likely voters puts Obama at 47 percent to Romney's 44 percent -- that is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.
Just last month that same poll had Mitt Romney up by 8 percentage points.
In an election that is a toss-up, that has some analysts wondering if the Romney campaign has made a mistake by not putting resources into the state.
In the final stretch before the election neither of the Presidential candidates have campaigned in person in Minnesota. But the Obama campaign has 12 field offices throughout the state and has planned a significant Get Out the Vote effort to win Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes.
Romney on the other hand has no field offices here. He does have more than a dozen campaign offices in both Iowa and Wisconsin -- both swing states. Minnesota has not voted for a Republican for President since Richard Nixon in 1972 but with the race so tight should Romney be making more of an effort here? Political analyst Professor David Schultz appeared on WCCO Sunday Morning.
"Maybe Mitt Romney should have put a little more effort here, but when you consider the fact there are other states that are probably more doable for him -- its opportunity costs, it's how much time how much money does he have," Schultz of Hamline University said. "Barack Obama should probably make one more visit to the state to hold onto it, Romney maybe could have made more of a play here, but given the fact that other states seem to be closer, he is probably going to spend time there."
In response to tightening polls, Romney did start running ads in the Twin Cities over the weekend but it was a small ad buy that was countered by a small number of ads run by the Obama campaign.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Matt Brickman every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
