Warren Stumps For Franken At Carleton; McFadden In Central MN
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) — With about three weeks until Election Day, candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard.
At a rally in Northfield, incumbent Sen. Al Franken brought with him a rising political rock star--and a real musician.
He was joined at Carleton College by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minneapolis-based singer-song writer Jeremy Messersmith.
The politicians shared their views about affordable education and consumer protection. Following the campaign speeches, Messersmith performed and met with potential voters.
Warren invoked the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, echoing his populist tone in urging voters to give Franken a second term.
She rallied a crowd of 400 dotted with old Wellstone T-shirts at Carleton College, where Wellstone taught and planted his political roots. Warren and a slew of other Democrat speakers — including Franken himself — recalled the former professor and U.S. senator in delivering an urgent message to help keep the former senator's political dream alive, often repeating Wellstone's signature line: "We all do better when we all do better."
Wellstone served in the Senate from 1991 until he died in a 2002 plane crash. Republican Norm Coleman later won the seat.
"Paul was one of those people where you knew where he stood," said Franken, who is fighting to retain Wellstone's old Senate seat after beating Coleman in 2008. "He fought for the little guy."
McFadden Tours Central Minnesota
Franken's Republican challenger, Mike McFadden, toured central Minnesota to talk one-on-one with voters.
At his stop at Hutch Cafe in Hutchinson, he spoke about what he calls his "contract with Minnesota."
It's an outline of the policies he'd work towards during his first 100 days in office.
They include repealing the medical device tax and co-sponsoring a bill to support the Keystone pipeline.
He made two other stops Saturday afternoon, in Litchfield and Willmar.
